Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Updated : November 8, 2013 10:26 AM IST
Google tipped its hat to one of the most celebrated psychiatrists of all time today by commemorating Hermann Rorshach's 129th birthday. The Google Doodle resembled an interactive Rorschach Test or Inkblot test. Born on 8 November 1884 in Zurich, Switzerland, Hermann Rorschach was a Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, best known for inventing a projective test known as the Rorschach inkblot test.
The inkblot or Rorschach test is a psychological test which interprets a person's personality traits and emotional functioning based on their perception of different inkblots. It's particularly useful when a person or individual is unwilling to talk about their feelings openly. The interactive doodle featured different inkblot patterns that can be browsed by clicking and can also share your interpretations of each blot on social media sites Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
As a child, Rorschach was extremely fond of klecksography, the art of making inkblots and later trained under eminent psychiatrists Eugen Bleuler who was a student of Carl Jung. He authored a book called by Psychodiagnostik in 1921, which is said to be the basis of the inkblot test. He studied over 300 mental patients to standardize the test. Sadly, Rorschach died at the young age of 37 due to peritonitis in 1922. He would never go on to see the impact his creating would have on psychology.
Interestingly, the new generation, will probably learn about Rorschach from his namesake, the anti-hero in the graphic novel mini-series Watchmen which also was later made into a cult classic movie. Rorschach the anti-hero wears a mask which is constantly changing based on the ambiguous designs used in Rorschach inkblot tests and usually reflect the character's mood. The son of a prostitute, Rorschach is a ruthless crime-fighter who deals in absolutism.
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