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jasper Regular user 189 Posts |
I've just purchased a set of inkblot cards which I think will be great for cold reading, but what other uses could thay have?
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
--Albert Einstein |
Sean Lough Loyal user NYC 214 Posts |
You could use them as coasters, I suppose.
Seriously, you could use them for suggesting or forcing images, cards, symbols--if you could alter them or create your own to match. If combined with a card stab and some stage blood (or a roughed card that has a blood stain instead of an ink blot) you could have a theatrical piece about a mad psychiatrist. Now I want a set. |
Bill Cushman Inner circle Florida 2876 Posts |
Are you referring to Rorschach Ink Blots?
The real thing? If so, I am asking you as a psychologist to please refrain from using them in a non-professional setting. Psychologists go to great pains to keep these out of the public domain so that their use will not be "contaminated" by exposure. Everything a mentalist or magician feels about exposure would apply tenfold to a psychologist about the exposure of the Rorschach cards. Now there are facsimile cards I've run across and if that is what you have it wouldn't be concieved so much as a problem. If you do have true Rorschach Ink Blot cards, I'd be interested in knowing how you acquired them as they are generally available only to professionals or students under supervision of a psychologist (at least that is how it was when I was in grad school over a decade ago. To my knowledge, this hasn't changed). Feel free to respond either on this thread to promote further discussion and get the opinion of other mental health professionals who I know frequent this board or via PM. Thanks, Bill Cushman |
David de Leon Elite user Sweden 418 Posts |
Jasper, I’m glad you brought this up! I’ve been thinking about using Rorschach inkblots for some time, but never took the time to actually work anything out. Your post got me thinking. During my morning walk I came up with the following very simple and impromptu thingamajig. This is something that I’ll definitely be using myself!
The routine might go something like this: The conversation at your corner of the dinner table eventually turns to the topic of psychology, therapy, sexual abuse and false memories. The conversation gets heated and opinion is quite clearly divided, with some of the present party scoffing at deep psychology and ”softer” methods. You bring up the Rorschach test (if it hasn’t already been mentioned) and explain its workings and background. As you do this you pour some red wine onto a napkin and fold it to create an abstract and symmetrical image, much like the actual inkblots used in the test. [You’ll have to experiment with the best way to create the blots, as I have yet to try it. I would love to hear tips on how best to do this.] Turning to a person next to you continue to explain the test and ask that person to name the first thought that the blot calls to mind. You then ask them to name some additional things that occur to them. Having done this you ask the person if they would mind helping you with a little experiment. Assuming the person agrees you continue to make a number of additional blots and for each new blot you ask that they mention the first thought that comes to mind, and then some additional thoughts. It would probably be nice to get the person and/or other people at the table involved in making the blots. You can imagine the suggestions people will come up with for what the blots resemble! Play along with this and continue making blots, and free associating around them, for as long as people seem to be enjoying themselves. Choosing your moment you create a new inkblot and instruct the person to again let the first association come to them. This time they are not to tell you what it is. You instruct the person to repeat the word silently in their mind and to see the word spelled out in front of them. As they do this you scurry around to get some paper and a pen. On the paper you number the first five lines and then hand them both pen and paper and instruct them to secretly write down their association on any one of the lines. Make it clear that you can’t see them writting. Once this is done they are then to quickly fill in the other lines with random words. You study the blot, the other blots (as if you were trying to recall the previous responses) and then reveal the correct thought. Throw in a reason for why you could pick it out if you like. The method (a method) is in Banacheck’s Psychological Subtleties, Ch 12, p. 69. If anyone has other suitable methods to suggest for this, then please don’t hesitate to mention them! This is such a simple idea, but spruces up the tests suggested in Psychological Subtleties. And I like the idea of making the inkblots on the spot! Incidentally this also gets around the ethical issue of using (and procuring) the true Rorschach inkblots and gets the audience involved. I also think making the blots on the spots makes for a more impressive feat: with the real cards you might know the stock responses, with the made up blots you must be doing something pretty cool. |
Bill Cushman Inner circle Florida 2876 Posts |
Excellent David!
Your routine has a lot going for it: 1. Inherent interest that such a procedure is bound to generate in both the main participant and the rest of the audience. 2. The potential for lots of hands on audience involvement. 3. A unique premise. 4. The unique premise will serve to shut down the analytic mind as they believe they already know how you are accomplishing the effect. And I want to personally thank you for coming up with a solution that respects both Jasper's desire to perform an effect with the ink blots and the ethical concerns I had mentioned in my post. Bill |
David de Leon Elite user Sweden 418 Posts |
Bill I’m glad you liked it! In fact working with the constraints of not using the actual cards was really what gave me the idea of creating the blots on the spot, which gave me the idea of using wine (incidentally a name for the routine could be Blotto Blots). This is another example how constraints often help, rather than hinder, the creative process.
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shrink Inner circle 2609 Posts |
"Pensation" is a marketed gimmick that would allow you to do this. I haven't got it only seen it on a website. It's pretty cheap though. You get the spectator to write something down like a date or word then other random ones and you pick out the first meaningful one.
Would work with this presentation. |
David de Leon Elite user Sweden 418 Posts |
Thank you Shrink! I’ll check it out (it's only about $10). Always glad to have several methods to chose from.
I am sure there are many ways to prepare a borrowed pen and I’m just waiting for someone to point me to a place in Tarbell. |
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