Susceptibility of Rorschach distress correlates to malingering

This study examined whether faking depression can affect Rorschach variables associated with distress. Fifty-eight nondepressed undergraduates were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups of 29 subjects each. All subjects took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Depression Scale, Rorschach Inkblot Test, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) under standard administration procedures. Immediately before taking the Rorschach and BDI, experimental group subjects were: (a) instructed to fake depression, (b) provided with a clinical description of the disorder, and (c) offered a cash incentive for the most convincing test display of depression. These conditions increased scores on the BDI, p less than .0001, Morbid Special Score, p less than .05, Bl, p less than .005, and reduced R, p less than .05, but affected no determinants. Power to detect a clinically significant effect of faking on the sum of gray-black determinants was .99 (alpha = .05). Major implications are: (a) abnormal frequencies of determinants should not be attributed to malingering, and (b) Rorschach content measures of depression are affected by impression management strategies.