Identification With a Violent and Sadistic Aggressor: A Rorschach Study of Criminal Debt Collectors

This study examined personality functioning in a group of 27 incarcerated criminal debt collectors as assessed by the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM; Rorschach, 1921/1942) and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003 ). To explore whether these individuals represent a distinct subgroup within the violent offender population, we compared them to a group of incarcerated homicide offenders (n = 23) without a previous history of significant violence and a group who had committed less serious violent crimes (n = 21). Results revealed significantly more Rorschach indicators of past trauma (Trauma Content Index), aggressive urges (Aggressive Potential) and identification (Aggressive Content) among the debt collectors than the 2 other groups. In addition, debt collectors displayed significantly more interpersonal interest (Sum Human content), and significantly higher scores on the PCL-R. Our findings suggest that the debt collector might be viewed as a hostile variant of psychopathy.