Department of Psychology

Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS)

A significant portion of Dr. Mihura and Meyer's research over the past few years focuses on their new Rorschach system, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011), which was developed as a replacement for the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) after Exner’s death in 2006.

Meyer, G. J., Viglione, D. J., Mihura, J. L, Erard, R. E., & Erdberg, P. (2011). Rorschach Performance Assessment System: Administration, coding, interpretation, and technical manual. Toledo, OH: Rorschach Performance Assessment System, LLC.

More can be learned about R-PAS at www.r-pas.org.

Drs. Mihura and Meyer are also working to develop a short form Rorschach to assess psychosis, the Thought and Perception Assessment System. Dr. Mihura has developed a new focus in assessing psychosis with several projects underway with lab students and is accepting new students in this area.

Selected Current Research Projects

Lab Student names bolded

SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS AND META-ANALYSES OF THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF RORSCHACH VARIABLES

Meta-analysis is a set of procedures used to systematically review and statistically summarize the research findings in various fields of study, including psychology and medicine. The most extensive systematic review and meta-analyses of psychological test validity to date was conducted by Mihura, Meyer, Dumitrascu, and Bombel (2013) on 65 Rorschach variables and published in the prestigious journal Psychological Bulletin. This landmark article resulted in the Rorschach critics lifting their call for a moratorium on the use of the Rorschach in clinical and forensic settings, and forms the empirical backbone for the variables in R-PAS (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg (2011).

Mihura, J. L., Meyer, G. J., Dumitrascu, N., & Bombel, G. (2013). The validity of individual Rorschach variables: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the comprehensive system. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 548-605. doi:10.1037/a0029406

COMMENT AND REPLY TO LEAD ARTICLE:

Wood, J. M., Garb, H. N., Nezworski, M. T., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Duke, M. C. (2015). A second look at the validity of widely used Rorschach indices: Comment on Mihura, Meyer, Dumitrascu, and Bombel (2013). Psychological Bulletin, 141, 236 –249. doi:10.1037/a0036005

Mihura, J. L., Meyer, G. J., Bombel, G., & Dumitrascu, N. (2015). Standards, accuracy, and questions of bias in Rorschach meta-analyses: Reply to Wood, Garb, Nezworski, Lilienfeld, and Duke (2015). Psychological Bulletin, 141, 250-260. doi:10.1037/a0038445

OTHER META-ANALYSES

Mihura, J. L., McCord, D. M., Meyer, G. J., Ales, F., Roy, M., Dumitrascu, N., & Buckingham, K. N., Boyette, L.-L., & Kleiger, J. H. (2020). A meta-analytic review of the MMPI’s (all versions) ability to detect psychosis in clinical and forensic settings [Manuscript in Preparation]. University of Toledo, Ohio, Department of Psychology.

Meyer, G. J., Hosseininasab, A., Viglione, D. J., Mihura, J. L., Berant, E., Resende, A. C., & Reese, J. (2020). The effect of CS administration or an R-optimized alternative on potential projective material in Rorschach responses from six studies and a meta-analysis of their findings. Journal of Personality Assessment102(1), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2018.1492926

Hosseininasab, A., Meyer, G. J., Viglione, D. J., Mihura, J. L., Berant, E., Resende, A. C., Reese, J., & Mohammadi, M. R. (2019). The effect of CS administration or an R-optimized alternative on R–PAS variables: A meta-analysis of findings from six studies. Journal of Personality Assessment101(2), 199–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2017.1393430

Meyer, G. J., & Archer, R. P. (2001). The hard science of Rorschach research: What do we know and where do we go? Psychological Assessment13(4), 486–502. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.13.4.486

Meyer, G. J., & Handler, L. (1997). The ability of the Rorschach to predict subsequent outcome: A meta-analysis of the Rorschach Prognostic Rating Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment69(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6901_1

Graduate students in the lab have also conducted Rorschach meta-analyses, including interrater reliability of the Mutuality of Autonomy scale (Bombel), Thought Disorder Index (Upton), and Elizur’s Hostility and Holt's aggression scales (Katko); and the validity of Aggressive Content (Kiss), the Rorschach Oral Dependency Scale [Oral Dependency Language] (Walsh), and the Mutuality of Autonomy scale (Graceffo). Two of these meta-analyses have been published:

Graceffo, R. A., Mihura, J. L, & Meyer, G. J. (2014). A meta-analysis of an implicit measure of personality functioning: The Mutuality of Autonomy Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 581-595. doi:10.1080/00223891.2014.919299

Katko, N. J., Meyer, G. J., Mihura, J. L., & Bombel, G. (2009). The interrater reliability of Elizur's Hostility Systems and Holt's aggression variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 357-364. doi:10.1080/00223890902936116

A systematic validity review of Space Integration and Space Reversal has also been published:

Mihura, J. L., Dumitrascu, N., Roy, M., & Meyer, G. J. (2017, online). The centrality of the response process in construct validity: An illustration via the Rorschach space response. Journal of Personality Assessment, 100(3), 233–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2017.1306781

  • Dr. Mihura is looking for students or other collaborators who are interested in learning how to conduct meta-analyses for psychological tests. In 2017-2018, Francesca Ales, doctoral student at the University of Turin, Italy, worked with Dr. Mihura on Rorschach criterion and construct validity meta-analyses! Dr. Mihura is also looking for other visiting scholars.

DEVELOPMENT OF A BRIEF BEHAVIORAL MEASURE OF PSYCHOSIS (PROBLEMS IN THOUGHT ORGANIZATION AND PERCEPTION)

In this project we will develop a short-form series of Rorschach cards that utilize components of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) that assess for thought disorder and psychosis. Specifically, multiple preliminary series of 3-, 4-, and 5-card sets will be selected and evaluated for reliability and validity. We will then determine which series has the most optimal balance of reliability, validity, and utility. The end result of this endeavor will be a series of alternate form 3-, 4-, or 5-card Rorschach short-forms that will result in time savings and allow for evaluating alternate forms reliability. (Eblin, Ales, Buckingham, Crittenden)

  • Dr. Mihura is looking for students or other collaborators to assist in the development of TPAS to assess psychosis.

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Last Updated: 7/15/24