Feigning and malingering severe psychopathology on the Rorschach Test: A series of Meta-Analyses
Creators: name: Pimentel, Ruam
name: Meyer, Gregory J.
Publisher: name: OSF Registries
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Other Psychology
subject: Quantitative Psychology
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology
subject: Rorschach
subject: malingering
subject: meta-analysis
subject: psychological assessment
subject: psychopathology

description: Introduction: The Rorschach task, widely used in clinical psychology, has scales with
evidence of validity for assessing individual perceptions and thought processes, but it
lacks scales for accurately assessing negative impression management, and it is unclear
how much its scales are susceptible to feigning and malingering. Previous literature
reviews have provided partial consensus about which Rorschach variables are influenced
by feigning, recognizing that feigners often produce atypical responses compared to
nonclinical and clinical control participants. However, the overall effects remain
unquantified. This gap presents an opportunity for a meta-analysis to determine the
overall impact of feigning on Rorschach scales, potentially guiding the development of a
negative impression management composite.

Objective: This study explores the strategies people use to manipulate Rorschach
responses when feigning severe mental disorders, such as psychotic symptoms or
schizophrenia. The primary objective is to assess the impact of feigning and malingering
on Rorschach responses through a meta-analysis of previously hypothesized variables
and, secondarily, to explore the association between potential covariates and moderator
variables with effect sizes for the most studied Rorschach variables.

Research Questions: This meta-analysis is structured to answer two key questions. (a)
What is the overall effect size of individual Rorschach scales when comparing feigners to
genuine patients? (b) What is the overall effect size of individual Rorschach scales when
comparing feigners to nonpatient controls? As a secondary and exploratory question, I will conduct some preliminary analysis to identify what methodological characteristics
may likely influence the effect sizes for the most studied Rorschach variables.
Methods: Building on Pimentel et al. (2023), this study extends their review by focusing
on the effect sizes of individual Rorschach scores. To answer the primary questions, I
will calculate overall effects of Rorschach scales used in at least two studies and
hypothesized to be influenced by feigning by at least one author, aiming to quantify their
susceptibility to feigning. For the exploratory analysis, I will correlate the most
frequently studied variables with potential covariates and moderator variables. Separate
meta-analysis will be carried out for feigners compared to nonclinical controls and for
feigners compared to clinical controls. This meta-analysis was planned and organized
following PRISMA recommendations and guidelines.

Potential Results and Implications: By calculating meta-analytic effects and exploring
potential moderators, this study aims to discern the extent of influence feigning has on
different Rorschach scales. The findings are expected to contribute to a future
development of a feigning or malingering scale for identifying feigned severe
psychopathology in Rorschach assessments. This study holds significant implications for
enhancing the reliability and validity of Rorschach assessment, particularly in contexts
where accurate assessment of mental health is crucial.