THE INFLUENCE OF CHROMATIC AND ACHROMATIC COLORS ON THE STIMULUS VALUE OF THE RORSCHACH INKBLOTS
1964 Volume 34 Issue 6 Pages 263-274
Details
1964 Volume 34 Issue 6 Pages 263-274
This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of chromatic and achromatic colors on the stimulus value of Rorschach inkblots. Ss were two groups of college students. Each group consisted of 34male and 17 female students.
Method. The Rorschach inkblots were projected on a screen one by one from slides in standard series, and Ss were asked to rate each stimulus card on the 21-item semantic differentials in 2min period.
Exp. I. The chromatic Rorschach inkblots (C series) were presented to one group. Exp. II. The achromatic Rorschach inkblots (A series) were presented to the other group.
Results.
1) There was a marked change in the stimulus value of cards VIII and IX according to the presence or the absence of color.
2) Disagreement of stimulus value of colored cards between C and A series was significantly greater than that of non-colored cards between Exp. I and Exp. II.
3) The influence of color on the colored cards (II, III, VIII, IX, X) produced various changes in direction and intensity of evaluative, potent, and active factors.
4) In A series, there was a tendency that “disliked” cards were rated as potent and active than “liked” or “neutral” cards were. But this tendency was not seen in C series.
5) The selection of “father card” had some relation to achromatic copies of the colored cards, but that of “mother card” had no relation to the color of the colored cards.
6) The colored cards (in C series) were found by Ss to be pleasing and were responded in positive terms. This result suggested that color did not cause color shock.
7) According to the results of factor-analytic study of inter-card correlation of stimulus values, chromatic cards VIII and IX differed in their stimulus characteristics from the other colored cards (II, III, X). Every non-colored card had the same stimulus value in A series as in C series.
In short this experiment suggested that color played a more influential role than the results of many other studies dealing with the influence of color on Rorschach performance had shown. It was also noted that the effects of color were different among cards, which suggested that the responses to color should be treated differently for each card.
