Citation

Krugman M. Psychol. Bull. 1955; 52(4): 369-370.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1955, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/h0038443

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Reviews the book, The Lowenfeld Mosaic Test by Margaret Lowenfeld (1954). The book is divided into two parts: Part I deals with the description of the test, including the origin, administration, and principles of classification of designs produced by subjects. Part II describes the use of the test with children, subnormals, normals, neurotics, organics, and psychotics, and discusses its use in the study of cultural problems. The chapters dealing with the description of the test convey the impression that the designs produced by subjects can be readily classified into stated categories which lead to almost automatic diagnosis. On the other hand, the parts of the book which concern themselves with the use of the test bring the reader back to reality with a jolt. Warnings about the difficulties in classification experienced with live cases, examples of borderline and ambiguous designs, samples of overlapping diagnostic possibilities for similar designs, instances of subjective interpretation, and conflicting reports by different workers abound in the many case samples presented, and serve to disabuse the reader of any hopes for a reasonably simple and useful technique for personality appraisal, in the event that he had entertained such hopes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Clinical Psychology; Individual Testing; Psychometrics; Test Administration