Feigning Severe Psychopathology on the Rorschach Task

Abstract: Empirical work on feigning in the Rorschach task is scattered across decades and different methods, leaving the overall landscape of this research largely unmapped. This scoping review examines feigning studies using the Rorschach to determine their characteristics, variables hypothesized to be impacted, and the frequency of research on these variables. We also assess study quality, focusing on the reliability and blinding of the assessors, and offer recommendations for future feigning research. We searched online databases to identify relevant studies. From each, we extracted over 40 categories of information across three levels: study level (e.g., author, year, language, Rorschach system), comparison level (e.g., within vs. between contrast, malingering context, students vs. nonstudent), and variable level (e.g., variables studied, hypothesized vs. not). Out of 350 studies screened, 22 met the inclusion criteria, encompassing 41 group comparisons (e.g., feigning group vs. comparison group). This review systematically identified study-, comparison-, and variable-level features, highlighting gaps in the literature and proposing standards for future research. The few available studies vary in method, design, and specific characteristics. This review improves upon previous reviews and provides a foundation for meta-analytic studies on the effect of feigning on individual Rorschach variables.