Barry Ritzler

PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF RORSCHACH EXPERT WITNESSES A Reply to Grove and Barden (1999) Re: The Admissibility of Testimony Under Daubert/Kumho Analyses

The Rorschach Comprehensive System has been considered by W. M. Grove and R. C. Barden (1999) as inadmissible for expert psychological testimony according to the guidelines from theDaubert (1993), Joiner (1997), andKumho (1999) decisions. This article refutes W. M. Grove and R. C. Barden’s conclusions, arguing that the Rorschach Comprehensive System is (a) testable, (b) valid and reliable, (c) extensively peer reviewed, (d) associated with a reasonable error rate, (e) standardized, (f) accepted by a relevant and substantial scientific community, and (g) appropriate for a wide range of forensic issues. In drawing their negative conclusions, W. M. Grove and R. C. Barden overlooked or minimized a substantial body of empirical data supporting the reliability and validity of the Rorschach Comprehensive System and misinterpreted the language and intent of the Supreme Court decisions.

A final reply to Grove and Barden: The relevance of the Rorschach Comprehensive System for expert testimony.

Eastern Louisiana Mental Health SystemIn reply to Grove et al. (2002), the authors attempt to limit their focus on thequestion of admissibility of the Rorschach Comprehensive System for experttestimony under the guidelines of the U.S. Supreme Court Daubert/Kumho/Joinerdecisions. The article refutes the argument that a “raging controversy” exists asevidence that the Rorschach is not accepted in the field of psychology. The authorsagain argue that Grove et al. have misconstrued the intent of Daubert/Kumho andmisidentify nonclinician academics as the appropriate evaluators of the admissibilityof the Rorschach. The authors add to their previous argument (2002) that theRorschach has sufficient reliability, validity, and error rates to be admissible underDaubert and conclude by countering the Grove et al. argument that the Journal ofPersonality Assessment is not an adequate forum for peer review of the Rorschach.

Achievement orientation and fear of success in Asian American college students

One hundred eighty-five Asian American undergraduates participated in a study designed to examine the relationships among gender, acculturation, achievement orientation, and fear of academic success. Acculturation was modestly correlated with achievement orientation. Endorsement of Asian and Anglo values were significantly related to individual-oriented achievement. Marginal significance, however, was obtained for endorsement of Asian values and beliefs to social-oriented achievement. These findings suggest that persons with a bicultural identity tend to adopt a multifaceted achievement style. Achievement orientation, in turn, predicted fear of academic success, with gender and perceived discrepancies from parental achievement values contributing minimal additional variance. Social-oriented achievement was related to high fear of academic success, whereas an individualistic orientation buffered against such conflicts.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COGNITIVE STYLE AND DEFENSIVE STYLE

This study examines psychoanalytic psychology, theories of cognitive style, and cognitive developmental psychology to examine the relationship between cognitive style and defensive style. A new set of cognitive styles of visual attention is formulated at the following developmental levels: (1) global, (2) local, (3) global-plus-local at the concrete operational level, and (4) global-plus-local at the formal operational level. 50 subjects were administered global-local sorting tasks, the Sentence Preference Test, the Embedded Figures Test, and the Defense Style Questionnaire. Analysis provided mixed support for the hypothesized cognition-defense relationship. Results suggested that the “pure” character types are not typical and that their styles of cognition and defense are positively correlated, not independent as expected. However, possible measurement problems preclude any firm conclusions at this time.

Diversity and Personality Assessment: A Country Boy Goes City

Born and raised in a country community in Northern Indiana, I mainly learn about the greater world through school, especially graduate school. Diversity and its companion, bigotry, have played major roles in my life along with many individuals—mostly women. I have been lucky to have learned from some of the major individuals in the field of personality assessment, particularly Sid Blatt and John Exner. On the verge of retirement, I look back on a career with affection and some trepidation.

Personality Factors in Genocide: The Rorschachs of Nazi War Criminals

Les facteurs de personnalite associes au genocide ont ete etudies a partir des Rorschach de simples soldats Nazis danois qui ont ete evalues a l’occasion des proces pour crime de guerre a Copenhague en 1946. L’echantillon comprend 165 citoyens danois qui ont collabore avec les Nazis pendant l’occupation du Danemark et de 22 officiers allemands. Les protocoles de Rorschach ont ete cotes selon le Systeme Integre (Exner, 1993). La fiabilite de la cotation s’etablit a 80% et plus d’accord inter-correcteurs pour toutes les categories. En raison des defauts de l’enquete dans la plupart des protocoles, les criteres de cotation pour les couleurs, l’estompage et la dimension formelle furent modifies, et la somme ponderee des cotations speciales ne fut pas calculee (Ritzler & Nalenik, 1990). Avant de proceder a l’analyse des donnees, nous avons fait l’hypothese que nous allions trouver trois profils bases sur des facteurs de personnalite anterieurement suggeres en rapport avec le genocide: 1) Banalite (Arendt, 1963...

Boundary Disturbances Revisited: An Application With an Apperception Test

ABSTRACT A Rorschach study of boundary disturbance and thought disorder by Blatt and Ritzler (1974) was replicated using the newly developed Picture Projection Test (PPT), a modern alternative to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Twenty-five individuals with pathological Rorschach records were compared to 25 individuals with nonpathological Rorschachs. A coding system for the PPT was devised using concepts from the Blatt and Ritzler study and Rorschach thought disorder variables from the Comprehensive System (Exner, 2003). The pathological group showed significantly more boundary disturbance on the PPT. Only one Contamination (the most severe manifestation of boundary disturbance and thought disorder) appeared in the pathological group. The nonpathological group had no Contamination responses. It is recommended that future researchers repeat the study with a psychotic group compared to a nonpsychotic group.