Rorschach testing has value

“Rorschach Tested” (May 19) hypes a few dramatic criticisms and gives short shrift to the considerable scientific support for the Rorschach. A test is evaluated according to how closely its results correlate with the independent criteria it is supposed to measure. Rorschach scores correlate with personality functioning as well as Pap smears detect cervical abnormalities and as well as screening mammograms predict breast cancer within one year.

All tests are imperfect, but their results are utilized in context of other information for what they have been shown to contribute. It is important to differentiate the personal prejudices of some critics from a balanced scientific analysis.

Stuart Meisner

Los Angeles

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The article misrepresents the value of the Rorschach test, the use made of the data it provides and the assessment process itself. The reader is left with the impression that the test is of no value, that psychologists arbitrarily assign meaning to a variety of variables and that diagnoses can be determined based on one test. Fortunately, any psychologist worth his or her salt knows differently.

Michael Dishon

Century City