A Validation of the Hostility Scoring System of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique

Since the beginning of time man has been intrigued by the unknown. The ever-changing panorama of the skies, the movement of the animals who served as both enemy and prey, and even life itself mystified him, and he sought to explain them. He found that he could look within himself and encounter the greatest enigma of all--the mind. What power did this puzzling organ have over his thoughts, his behavior, the world about him? For the answers to his questions he turned to his sages, his priests, his philosophers, his physicians. As man attempted to understand the function of the mind, there evolved a science, psychology, which concerned itself with lifting the shrouds of mystery which surrounded the mind. As psychology advanced, instruments were developed to use in the exploration of the mind, in the analysis of personality. Among these were the projective techniques, devices of an ambiguous nature at which man looked and reported of what they reminded him. These reports revealed something of the personality of the viewer. One of the oldest of the projective techniques is the inkblot test