RORSCHACH TEST. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.

The Rorschach test is a "projective" test used by some psychologists. Hermann Rorschach was a Swiss psychiatrist with an interest in psychoanalysis, who developed the test with his colleague Hans Huber in 1921. Consisting of a series of ambiguous 'ink blots', the test is administered to the client or patient who is asked to say what each ink blot looks like to them. The theory is that unconscious material will be "projected" onto the ambiguous figure, influencing the way it is perceived and thereby giving the psychiatrist insight into the psychology of the person.

The test is mentioned by Buffy in "Doppelgangland":

BUFFY: The Watcher Council shrink is heavy into tests. He's got tests for everything. T.A.Ts, Rorschach, associative logic . . . He even has that test to see if you're crazy that asks if you ever hear voices or you ever wanted to be a florist.

WILLOW: Ooo, I used to want . . . (reconsiders) Wait. Florist means crazy, right? I never wanted to do that.

The other test specifically mentioned in this dialogue is the T.A.T. This is the Thematic Apperception Test, another projective test developed by the American psychologist Henry A. Murray. The T.A.T consists of a number of vignettes or scenes, rather like cartoon pictures without the speech bubbles. Like the Rorschach, they are ambiguous and the client or patient is asked to explain what he or she thinks is happening in each picture. As with the Rorschach test, the person is thought to reveal unconscious wishes, anxieties and conflicts through the way he or she interprets the vignettes.

--Viv Burr