The Relationship of Scores on Elizur's Hostility System on the Rorschach to the Acting-Out Score on the Hand Test

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the degree of relationship between Elizur's (1949) Hostility Scoring on the Rorschach to the Acting-Out Score on the Hand Test (Wagner, 1961). The subjects were 29 volunteers with a mean age of 34 years from the general population. The Rorschach and the Hand Test were administered individually to each subject in a single sitting. The Pearson product-moment correlation technique was used to compare the acting-out score with the hostility level. The correlational coefficients obtained in the study ranged from .40 to .64 and attained significance beyond the .01 level. The results of the study indicate that there is a significantly positive relationship between the two measures of aggressiveness. The Hand Test might better be utilized in predicting the direction to the aggressiveness as it also takes into consideration the positive or socially acceptable feelings manifested by the subject.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bricklin, B. , Piotrowski, Z. A. , and Wagner, E. E. The Hand Test: With special reference to the prediction of overt aggressive behavior. Springfield: Charles C Thomas, 1962.

Elizur, A. Content Analysis of the Rorschach with regard to anxiety and hostility. Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques, 1949, 13, 6-16.

Gluck, M. R. Rorschach content and hostile behavior. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1955, 19, 475-478.

Goldfried, M. R. , Stricker, G. , and Weiner, I. B. Rorschach Handbook of Clinical and Research Applications. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice- Hall, 1971.

Gorlow, L. , Zimet, C. N. , and Fine, H. J. The validity of anxiety and hostility Rorschach content scores among adolescents . Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1952 , 16, 73-75.

Piotrowski, Z. A. A new evaluation of the Thematic Apperception Test. Psychoanalytic Review, 1950, 37, 101-127.

Rosenzweig, S. Levels of behavior in psychodiagnosis with special references to the Picture-Frustration Study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1950, 20, 63-72.

Sanders, R. and Cleveland, S. E. The relationship between certain examiner personality variables and subjects' Rorschach scores. Journal of Projective Techniques, 1953, 17, 34-50.

Wagner, E. E. The use of drawings of hands as a projective medium for differentiating normals and schizophrenics. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1961, 17, 279-280.

10.

Wagner, E. E. The Hand Test (Manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services , 1962.

11.

Wagner, E. E. and Hawkins, R. Differentiation of assaultive delinquents with the Hand Test. Journal of Projective Techniques, 1954 , 28, 363-365.

12.

Wolf, I. Hostile acting out and Rorschach test content. Journal of Projective Techniques, 1957, 21, 414-419.