Renewed debate over the scientific status of Rorschach assessment has erupted in psychology. This paper outlines a somewhat different critique. The critics who attack the Rorschach's Comprehensive System on scientific grounds only have a strong argument if one accepts their narrow premises about what legitimizes an assessment device. Constructivist psychology's emphasis on the Rorschach as a meaning-making task highlights and amplifies idiographic and meaning-focused approaches to assessment and psychotherapy. Moving in a more meaning-based and less norm-obsessed direction can help the Rorschach reclaim its reputation, utility, and theoretical status. A Constructivist Perspective on the Science and Practice of RorschachExner's Comprehensive System (CS), first presented in 1974, had the initial effect of diminishing controversy about the scientific status of the Rorschach during a time when the usefulness of this test was under close scrutiny within the psychological community (Exner, 1993). However, the very labeling of the CS as scientific, which initially rejuvenated the Rorschach, is now a topic of heated debate-with adversaries squabbling over the scientific
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