An experimental examination of the Blacky picture test

The Blacky Test is a 'modified projective technique', presented in cartoon form. It was designed by Gerald Blum as a means of testing the various stages of psychosexual development of psychoanalytic theory. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the experimental verifications obtained by Blum could be substantiated in another male sample. Blum's validation of the Blacky Test was detenained by checking the agreement between test findings and psychoanalytic theory 'in two general areas': (a) sex differences; and (b) dimensional intercorrelations. The present study was concerned solely with the Intercorrelations of the thirteen dimensions. A sample of one hundred and seven recent male graduates of the University of Houston, ranging in age from eighteen to fifty-four, was used. These men had taken physical and social science majors. The Blacky Picture Test was administered on cards at various times to small groups. The tests were scored according to the procedure used in Blum's Revised Scoring System for Research Use of the Blacky Pictures (1951 Male Form). Intercorrelations were ascertained using computing diagrams for tetrachoric correlation coefficients. The standard errors of these correlation coefficients were computed to determine their levels of significance. The resulting matrix of correlations was then compared with that presented for male subjects by Blum. In comparing the matrix of dimensional intercorrelations obtained in this study with the matrix obtained by Blum it was found that only two of the seventy-eight intercorrelations were significant in the same direction in both studies. One of the seventy-eight intercorre- latlons was found to be significant in both studies, although positive in one and negative in the other. There were seven intercorrelations found to be significant by Blum that were not found to be significant in this study. By the same token, there were ten intercorrelations found to be significant in this study that were not found to be significant by Blum. Of these seventeen intercorrelations, only nine were in agreement as to sign in both studies. The remaining fifty-eight dimensional intercorrelations were found not to be significant in either study. It was not the purpose of this study to reanalyze the psychoanalytic concepts herein measured, nor to assign different index values to them. Therefore, there can be no justification for speculation about the validity of the concepts themselves. Perhaps differences found could be attributed to: le differences in samples; 2, subjective scoring of Spontaneous Stories; or 3. the validity of the Instrument in relation to the psychoanalytic theory of psychosexual development. The results found in this study were not entirely favorable to the Blacky Picture Test as being a valid instrument for testing the psychoanalytic theory of psychosexual development. There was enough disagreement between the two studies to warrant further investigation.