I think there are two important issues here. First, the issue of copyright. 
Most off the tests found online are copyrighted, and their posting is a 
violation of that (unless they are posted by or with permission from the 
copyright holder). For example, publishers such as PAR have a huge problem 
protecting their properties. It may seem insignificant to many, but it does 
translate into significant money. I believe (but I'm not sure) that the Mini 
Mental Status Exam is still under copyright, but its use is so common that many 
believe its public domain (and photocopies of it abound).

The second is the issue of the use of these tests to sway legal outcomes. 
Stories such as Annette's are frequently innocuous, but when the legal 
proceedings involve workers' compensation or disability, there is a great deal 
of unscrupulous use that goes on. I am not necessarily referring to the 
Rorschach, rather to those use to indicate outcomes from head injuries, 
exposure to toxins, and so forth. 

My 2 cents.
Carol

PS--When did the cents sign disappear from keyboards? 





Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. 
Professor of Psychology
Chair, Department of Psychology 
St. Ambrose University 
518 West Locust Street 
Davenport, Iowa 52803 

Phone: 563-333-6482 
e-mail: [email protected] 
web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm 

The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone 
without permission of the sender.



-----Original Message-----
From: Helweg-Larsen, Marie [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tue 8/11/2009 9:15 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] Canadian Psychological Association and dissemination of the 
Rorschach test
 
I think it is the kind of gaming (as described in Annette's last paragraph) 
that the professional psych organizations are concerned about. I've heard that 
you can also go online and find the "correct" responses to many other tests 
used to screen applicants to police jobs and such. So perhaps (as Chris noted) 
the "sacred" or "secret" test is just not possible any more.
Marie


****************************************************
Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D.
Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology
Kaufman 168, Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA 17013, office (717) 245-1562, fax (717) 245-1971
http://www.dickinson.edu/departments/psych/helwegm
****************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 9:28 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Canadian Psychological Association and dissemination of the 
Rorschach test

I've just changed textbooks for intro this year and noted that in the 
powerpoint slides and text I will be using this year they have intelligence 
test items. I have routinely seen these in the past in other intro texts; as 
well as items from various clinical tests (anxiety and depression scales; 
various MMPI items, etc). The idea is to give the student an idea of what the 
items are like and how they address the diagnosis or assessment.

Very few intro students are likely to become professionals and many more of 
them are likely to require testing over their lifetime. I suspect this one time 
exposure to just a couple of items doesn't really compromise the test. 
Interestingly, however, I've never heard any discussion of the appropriateness 
of that practice.

Incidentally, about 15 years ago my brother went through a nasty divorce and as 
part of the custody hearings had to take the Rorschach to determine his 
suitability for shared custody. At that time he was able to find a website that 
described all the cards and how to respond to them to be judged "normal", even 
if they didn't actually show all the cards. So, is it that much more egregious 
to actually show the cards? The wiki article does NOT tell you how to respond 
depending on the diagnosis you want; only what the most common responses tend 
to be; but there is no indication as to whether or not those responses indicate 
any specific pathology (or lack thereof). The same, I believe, was depicted in 
the movie Good Will Hunting.

Annette


Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
619-260-4006
[email protected]


---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:51:15 +0000 (UTC)
>From: [email protected]
>Subject: [tips] Canadian Psychological Association and dissemination of the 
>Rorschach test
>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]>
>
>   As the topic of the publication in Wikipedia of the
>   Rorschach ink blots and their most common answers
>   was discussed recently on TIPS, you may be
>   interested in the following:
>
>
>
>   CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (CPA) POSITION ON
>   PUBLICATION AND
>   DISSEMINATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
>
>   
> http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/advocacy/2009%20CPA%20Psychological%20test%20statement%20.pdf.
>
>
>
>   Miguel
>
>
>
> ---
> To make changes to your subscription contact:
>
> Bill Southerly ([email protected])

---
To make changes to your subscription contact:

Bill Southerly ([email protected])

---
To make changes to your subscription contact:

Bill Southerly ([email protected])


---
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