Humility, Differentiation of Self, and Rorschach Assessment of Clergy Candidates in the USA: An Exploratory Study

Religious leaders occupy unique spaces as heads of communities who both provide care and support but also help face and navigate conflict within and outside of these congregations. Conflicts are becoming increasingly heightened as the world continues to polarize across various divides. Both psychology and theology have named humility as a virtue that may be helpful for religious leaders placed in complicated situations. Additionally, intellectual humility and differentiation of self (i.e., emotion regulation and capacity for boundaried relationships with others) have garnered attention as a possible critical virtue for religious leaders. These virtues may especially be critical in emerging religious leaders whose formation is still in progress. Therefore, in this study, emerging religious leaders undergoing psychological assessments for ordination were examined. Self-report measures of general and intellectual humility and differentiation of self were considered alongside performance-based assessments of personality structures (i.e., Rorschach inkblot test). Results indicated that interpersonal guardedness (V-Comp; vigilance to social threats) on the Rorschach was negatively associated with humility, with the relationship being mediated through differentiation and contingent self-esteem (self-esteem that is reliant on external validation). Another subscale, Si1 (space integration; complex thinking where various factors are considered and integrated together), was negatively associated with intellectual humility, which was moderated by differentiation. Implications on the role of differentiation on general and intellectual humility and existing personality structures are considered and discussed.