Correlation between the Rorschach Test coded and interpreted according to the Comprehensive Exner System and the Eysenck Personality Inventory

The relationships between the Rorschach test and the self-reported personality questionnaires are an important and unresolved issue in confirming structural and clinical hypotheses. In a sample of healthy volunteers (n = 47) we conducted a study to investigate the correlation between the Italian version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck Personality Inventory, EPI) and some selected Rorschach variables defined according to the Exner Comprehensive System. The results showed that the Extroversion Scale of the EPI corresponds with the calculated difference between the Human Movement responses and the Weighted Sum of the Color response (M-WSumC, r = –.42, p < .01), the Weighted Sum of Color responses (WSumC, r = .40, p < .01) as a single variable, and the Sum of Shading responses (SumShd, r = .29, p < .05), but had no relationship with the Human Movement responses. None of the hypothesized Rorschach variables showed a significant correlation with the Neuroticism scale of the EPI. Furthermore, the Psychoticism scale of the EPI was negatively correlated with the Rorschach index Zsum (r –.33, p < .05). Finally, the comparison between the subgroups defined by the Erlebnistypus categories showed that Rorschach Extratensive subjects scored higher on the Extroversion scale of the EPI than Introversive (Mann-Whitney U = 30.5, p < .01) or Ambitent subjects (Mann-Whitney U = 76, p < .01). These results indicate that Rorschach’s concept of Erlebnistypus as a holistic dimension and Eysenck’s construct of Extroversion-Introversion are sufficiently homogeneous for psychometric assessment, but the single determinants of Rorschach responses have no correspondence with the EPI scores.