9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Take a look at this image. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What might this be? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A frightening monster? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Two friendly bears? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Or something else entirely? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For nearly a century, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ten inkblots like these have been used 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as what seems like an almost [br]mystical personality test. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Long kept confidential for psychologists [br]and their patients, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the mysterious images were said to draw[br]out the workings of a person’s mind. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But what can inkblots really tell us, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and how does this test work? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Invented in the early 20th century [br]by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Rorschach Test is actually less about [br]the specific things we see, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and more about our general approach [br]to perception. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As an amateur artist Hermann [br]was fascinated 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by how visual perception varies from [br]person to person. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He carried this interest to [br]medical school, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where he learned all our senses [br]are deeply connected. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He studied how our process of perception [br]doesn’t just register sensory inputs, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but transforms them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And when he started working at a [br]mental hospital in eastern Switzerland, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he began designing a series [br]of puzzling images 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to gain new insight into this [br]enigmatic process. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Using his inkblot paintings, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Rorschach began quizzing hundreds [br]of healthy subjects 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and psychiatric patients with [br]the same question: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what might this be? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, it wasn’t what the test subjects [br]saw that was most important to Rorschach, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but rather, how they approached the task. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Which parts of the image did they [br]focus on or ignore? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Did they see the image moving? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Did the color on some inkblots help them [br]give better answers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or distract and overwhelm them? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He developed a system to code [br]people’s responses, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 reducing the wide range of interpretations[br]to a few manageable numbers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now he had empirical measures to quantify [br]all kinds of test takers: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the creative and imaginative, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the detail-oriented, the [br]big-picture perceivers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and flexible participants able [br]to adapt their approach. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some people would get stuck, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 offering the same answer [br]for multiple blots. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Others gave unusual and [br]delightful descriptions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Responses were as varied as the inkblots, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which offered different kinds of [br]perceptual problems– 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some easier to interpret than others. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But analyzing the test-taker’s [br]overall approach 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 yielded real insights into [br]their psychology. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And as Rorschach tested more [br]and more people, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 patterns began to pile up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Healthy subjects with the same [br]personalities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 often took remarkably similar approaches. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Patients suffering from the same [br]mental illnesses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 also performed similarly, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 making the test a reliable [br]diagnostic tool. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It could even diagnose some conditions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 difficult to pinpoint with other [br]available methods. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In 1921, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Rorschach published his coding system [br]alongside the ten blots he felt 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gave the most nuanced picture of people’s[br]perceptual approach. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Over the next several decades, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the test became wildly popular in [br]countries around the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By the 1960s, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it had been officially administered [br]millions of times in the U.S. alone. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Unfortunately, less than a year after [br]publishing the test, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Hermann Rorschach had died suddenly. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Without its inventor to keep it on track, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the test he had methodically gathered [br]so much data to support 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 began to be used in all sorts [br]of speculative ways. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Researchers gave the test [br]to Nazi war criminals, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hoping to unlock the psychological roots [br]of mass murder. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Anthropologists showed the images to [br]remote communities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as a sort of universal personality test. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Employers made prejudiced hiring decisions[br]based on reductive decoding charts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As the test left clinics and entered [br]popular culture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 its reputation among medical [br]professionals plummeted, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the blots began to fall [br]out of clinical use. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Today, the test is still controversial, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and many people assume [br]it has been disproven. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But a massive 2013 review of all the [br]existing Rorschach research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 showed that when administered properly [br]the test yields valid results, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which can help diagnose mental illness 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or round out a patient’s [br]psychological profile. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It’s hardly a stand-alone key [br]to the human mind– 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no test is. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But its visual approach and lack [br]of any single right answer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 continue to help psychologists paint[br]a more nuanced picture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of how people see the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Bringing us one step closer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to understanding the patterns [br]behind our perceptions.