Bats and Butterflies: Semiotic Issues in the Rorschach Test

Abstract

The Rorschach test of interpretation of random forms was conceived by its author simply from the practical application of the boards to psychiatric patients with different mental illnesses, without any major theoretical concerns, in the search for the codification of a zone of normality of the mental functions. This article analyzes the Rorschach Test from a semiotic point of view, mainly referring to the works of Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce and Roman Jakobson. Beyond the psychological approach to the test, this article aims at providing new considerations based on the theory of signs and linguistics, in order to contribute with the improvement of theoretical considerations on the Rorschach boards, by focusing on Saussure’s concept of sign, Peirce’s concepts of icon, index and symbol, and Jakobson’s functions of language. The main objective is, far from trying to answer all the questions surrounding the test, to present some analytical considerations that may add new aspects to the dynamics of the interpretation of forms, considering at the same time the positions of the examiner and the examinee and the interaction that takes place between them when the test is being applied, including the language dimensions peculiar to each of those positions.