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Examined here are the effects of gender and Visual Imagery Reactivity in 80 consecutively selected psychiatric outpatients. The participants were grouped by gender and by the amounts of responsiveness to preceding therapy work using imagery (Imagery Nonreactors and Reactors). In the group of Imagery Nonreactors were 13 men and 22 women, and in the Reactor group were 17 men and 28 women. Compared were the responses to standard Rorschach (Conventional condition) with visual associations to memory images of Rorschach inkblots (Imagery condition). Responses were scored using the Visual Imagery Reactivity (VIR) scoring system, a general, test-nonspecific scoring method. Nonparametric statistical analysis showed that critical indicators of Imagery Reactivity encoded as High Affect/Conflict score and its derivatives associated with sexual or bizarre content were not significantly associated with gender; neither was Neutral Content score which categorizes 'non-Reactivity.' These results support the notion that system's criteria of Visual Imagery Reactivity can be applied equally to both men and women for the classification of Imagery Reactors and Nonreactors. Discussed are also the speculative consequences of extending the tolerance range of significance levels for the interaction between Reactivity and sex above the customary limit of p < .05 in borderline cases. The results of such an analysis may imply a trend towards more rigid defensiveness under Imagery and toward lesser verbal productivity in response to either the Conventional or the Imagery task among women who are Nonreactors. In Reactors, men produced significantly more Sexual Reference scores (in the subcategory not associated with High Affect/Conflict) than women, but this could be attributed to the effect of tester's and subjects' gender combined.

The Rorschach inkblot test is commonly used in the psychological evaluation of children. Yet there is little information about the Rorschach performance of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The responses of 24 children rigorously diagnosed with ADHD were scored using the Exner system and compared with normative data. Given their greater impulsivity, poor attention span, and increased responsivity to external stimuli, we predicted that, when compared to norms, the ADHD group would have more color dominant responses (CF), a lower FC:CF+C ratio, fewer human movement responses (M), lower sumM:WsumC and sumM + WsumC ratios, poorer form quality (X-%), and would have the same number of or more detail (D) responses. The results yielded support only for those hypotheses concerning M, X-%, and sumM:WsumC. Comparisons between small subgroups with and without ODD suggested differences in the frequency of Human but not Aggressive responses. Possible reasons for the discrepancies from predictions are discussed.