Dear Readers, It's Friday in California, so for today's blog on demystifying psychology, I'll tell you about the second biggest "deer-in-the-headlight" moment I usually get. The biggest is when asked my profession, I say, "I'm a psychologist," which prompts you to say "can you read my mind, or are you analyzing me?" The short answer is no, (but I have tools in my trade that can get close). Scary or fascinating depends on your point of view. Scientists are honing in on the early beginnings of the universe -is their use of math in this quest scary or fascinating?
Most people have heard of the "Ink Blot" test, depicted by Hollywood as a definitive magical reveal of a person's most hidden secrets. Not so. Well, not magical anyway. 10 ambiguous cards are shown with precisely worded instructions for the client to describe what they see. The administration, scoring, and interpretation takes about three hours because of the rigorous requirements that gives this test its strong reliability and validity.
I took many grad school classes at USC that covered dozens of psychology tests and assessments in-depth in one semester. The Rorschach Inkblot Test took one full year of this test alone. I loved and hated this test at the end, but I respected it for what it was; a highly valid test for detecting psychosis and disordered thinking. It was not designed to confirm that someone is functioning "within normal limits," nor is it a stand-alone verdict -but like all tests, is to be part of a battery of assessments. It is a powerful tool that unnerves some people as they travel down psychic threads they'd rather avoid, while others shake off the experience as more psychology "smoke and mirrors." There you have it -magic debunked! -SQ
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