Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1991

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Alvin G. Burstein

Committee Members

John Davis, Lance T. Laurence, John Lounsbury

Abstract

This study examines the way a group of relatively bright, well functioning young adult subjects describe the human forms that they see on the Rorschach cards. In particular, it examines human content scoring in the Interpersonal Expectations sector of the Burstein-Loucks System. Two key aims have focused this study. One is the refinement of human articulation scoring within the Burstein-Loucks System. The other is an investigation of how three Burstein-Loucks factors associated with human content relate to other measures, internal and external to the Rorschach. This dissertation demonstrated that there is a measurable difference in the qualities of human articulation in the Rorschachs of high achieving undergraduates. Commonly held assumptions about the likelihood of human content on any particular card and the interpretation of a failure to report popular human content were supported. The Interpersonal Expectations summary variables were found to correlate only weakly with two self-report traits related to social functioning. However, human movement responses were correlated with a trait related to the tendency to become absorbed in fantasy. Human content and movement responses appear to be inhibited corresponding to a characteristic of constraint, related to behavior inhibiting tearfulness and trait anxiety. The attribution of specific identity to a human percept appears to have a different interpretive meaning than the simple overall level of articulation. The meaning of this tendency is not clear, but it is hypothesized to represent an organizing and socially validating function in the subject's communication of an association. Committee chair: Dr. Alvin G. Burstein. committee members: Dr. John Davis, Dr. Lance T. Laurence, and Dr. John Lounsbury.

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