I stumbled upon this term in my Critical Thinking course and immediately took this test. And I was 85% normal. But before that let's look at a few concepts here.
IPL is going on and most of us are supporting one team or the other. The superstitious ones among us are wearing their ‘lucky’ jerseys because that will enable their team to win — such kind of association is purely coincidental. So when we see an association between two variables when they aren’t actually associated is called Illusory Correlation. This phenomenon is based on ‘what you expect to see is what you see’.
There are two sorts of illusory correlations: expectancy-based and distinctiveness-based illusory correlations. The former occurs when we mistakenly see relationships due to our preexisting expectations surrounding them. Like, sudden increase in the share price of Bombay Oxygen Corporation — investors saw a correlation between the name of the company and its role in supplying oxygen cylinders. The latter happens when a relationship is believed to exist between two variables due to focusing too much on information that stands out. Like, people assuming that China and Russia will be strong allies because of their stance on governance and mutual disdain for the US.
Rorschach Test is one such application of illusionary correlation used by psychologists to identify mental illnesses. Developed in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach, it was inspired by the observation that schizophrenia patients often interpret the things they see in unusual ways. Originally thought of a perceptual concept than a diagnostic test, Rorschach wanted to read the “human soul in a single sitting”. He created 10 inkblots, penned down the total number of answers (based on movement, colour and totality) and tried grading the answers into — good or poor. He conducted extensive analyses and generalised his conclusions — like, people with schizophrenic depression, will reject more cards, will occasionally give colour answers, will very often give movement answers, and will see a much smaller percentage of animals and significantly more poor forms. He proclaimed that this differential diagnosis was a real medical breakthrough. Lot of meglamaniacs, we have! :)
Despite decades of controversy, today the Rorschach test is admissible in court, reimbursed by medical insurance companies and administered around the world in job evaluations, custody battles and psychiatric clinics. Critics call at an embarrassing vestige of pseudoscience, influencing sensible people to belief in this travesty. But in many cases it has been used to prove the victim’s suffering and to assess the defendant’s psychological characteristics (in some cases to prove insanity or extreme violence).
So, I took the Rorschach Test on brainfall and the results claimed I was 85% normal. I took it 2 more times and the results were different each time — one time I was 82% sick. So, this brings me to the question — is it really easy to bring out someone’s veiled, somewhat dark side through 10 pictures? Who decides which answer is good and which is bad? Can a test really prove that someone is a psychopath?
Until next time.
