View source for Szondi test

{{Short description|1935 discredited psychological test}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Lead too short|date=August 2020}}
{{POV|lead=yes|date=April 2025}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox diagnostic
| name            = Szondi test
| image           =
| alt             =
| caption         =
| pronounce       = 
| purpose         = personality test
| test of         =
| based on        =
| synonyms        =
| reference_range =
| calculator      =
| DiseasesDB      = <!--{{DiseasesDB2|numeric_id}}-->
| ICD10           = <!--{{ICD10|Group|Major|minor|LinkGroup|LinkMajor}} or {{ICD10PCS|code|char1/char2/char3/char4}}-->
| ICD9            =
}}

The '''Szondi test''' is a 1935 nonverbal projective personality test developed by Léopold Szondi. He theorized that people's unconscious choices—such as emotional reactions to photographs{{how|date=April 2025|title=Article talks about picture choices that reveal preferences. Emotions are not measured.}}—could reveal genetically inherited “drives” that shape their fate.{{clarify|reason="Fate" is used by Szondi to refer to life choices and preferences. If you mean that please clarify. If meant as quote please use quotation marks and add meaning in brackets to inform the reader what the test aims to reveal.|date=April 2025}}

The test has received criticism for its psychometric limitations and theoretical foundations.{{Specify |reason=Fails to explain the lack of evidence for validity and presents it as "limitations". |date=April 2025}} In a 2006 Delphi poll of U.S. psychologists, it was rated as “probably discredited” for personality assessment; however, the authors noted that 36.6% of respondents were unfamiliar with the test and emphasized that expert consensus does not equate to scientific validity.<ref name="norcross2006">{{cite journal |last1=Norcross |first1=John C. |last2=Koocher |first2=Gerald P. |last3=Garofalo |first3=Ariele |title=Discredited Psychological Treatments and Tests: A Delphi Poll |journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=515–522 |year=2006 |doi=10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515}}</ref>

Despite the criticism, the Szondi test continues to be used{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} in some European psychoanalytic and projective diagnostic traditions{{which|date=April 2025}}, and has recently been reexamined in the context of modern affective science and epigenetics.<ref name="mosso2023">{{cite thesis |last=Mosso-Gautier |first=Florian |title=Vers une compréhension moderne et scientifique du Diagnostic Expérimental des Pulsions |type=PhD thesis |year=2023 |language=fr |publisher=Université Côte d'Azur |url=https://theses.hal.science/tel-04399147 |id=NNT: 2023COAZ2031}}</ref>{{promotional source|date=April 2025}}{{better source needed|reason=It is a recent thesis from a Florian Mosso-Gautier, a little known French author. Does not prove "affective science and epigenetics" interest.|date=April 2025}}

==Theoretical background==

===Drive theory and drive diagram<!--linked from 'Drive theory'-->===
In contrast to Freud's work, Szondi's approach is based on a systematic [[drive theory]]<ref name="Mélon96"/><ref>[[Leopold Szondi]] [1947] (1952) [https://books.google.com/books?id=kOsUAAAAIAAJ ''Experimental Diagnostics of Drives''], Introduction of the first edition, as quoted in Mélon (1996): {{blockquote|A drive system must give us a synthetic sight of the whole of the drive activities, comparable to the total impression which white light gives us, but it must also make it possible to display 'the spectrum' of the drives just like light can be divided in colours. It is an extremely difficult task and it is not at all astonishing that we have not yet arrived at this point.}}</ref> and a [[dimensional model of personality]]. That is, Szondi means to enumerate all human drives, classifying and framing them within a comprehensive theory.

Szondi drive system is built on the basis of eight drive needs,<ref name="Szondi72p25">Szondi (1972) p.25</ref><ref name="Triebe">Szondi (1978) ch. 3.1 p.65</ref> each corresponding to a collective archetype of instinctive action.<ref name="UrformenTriebgene">Szondi (1978) ch. 2.11 pp.62–3</ref> They are:
* the ''h''-drive need, (named after [[hermaphroditism]], which represents the needs for personal or collective love, tenderness, motherliness, passivity, femininity, bisexuality),<ref name="UrformenTriebgene"/><ref name="Triebsystem1978">Szondi (1978) ch. 3.3, pp.74–5</ref>
* the [[Sexual sadism disorder|sadist]] drive need
* the ''e''-drive need (named after [[epilepsy]], which represents coarse emotions such as anger, hatred, rage, envy, jealousy and revenge, which simmer until they are suddenly and explosively discharged as if in a seizure, to the surprise and shock of other people),<ref name="UrformenTriebgene"/><ref name="Triebsystem1978"/>
* the [[Conversion disorder|hysteric]] drive need
* the [[catatonic]] drive need
* the [[paranoid]] drive need
* the [[Depressive personality disorder|depressive]] drive need
* the [[mania]]c drive need<ref name="Szondi72p35">Szondi (1972) p.35</ref>
The eight drive needs represent archetypes and are present in all individuals in different proportions; a fundamental assumption of Fate analysis is that the difference between mental "illness" and mental "health" is not qualitative but quantitative.<ref name="UrformenTriebgene"/>

[[File:Szondi Schema Triebsystem (short version).png|thumb|350px|Sex (S) and Contact (C) vectors represent pulsions at the border with the outer world, while the Paroximal (P, representing [[Affect (psychology)|affects]]) and Schizoform (Sch, representing the [[Id, ego and super-ego#Ego|ego]]) vectors at the inner part of the psyche.]]
A whole drive (''Triebe'', in Szondi's own terms), like the sexual drive S, is composed of a pair of two opposite drive needs (''Triebbedürfnisse''),<ref name="Triebe"/> in this case ''h'' (tender love) and ''s'' (sadism). Each drive need in turn has a positive and negative striving (''Triebstrebung''), for instance h+ (personal tender love) and h- (collective love), or s+ (sadism toward the other) and s- (masochism).

The four whole drives correspond to the four independent hereditary circles of mental illness established by the [[psychiatric genetics]] of the time:<ref name="Erbkreise">Szondi (1978) ch.3 p.72</ref><ref name="Ellenberger1970">[[Henri Ellenberger|Ellenberger, H.]] (1970) ''[[The Discovery of the Unconscious]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ke1jd_e7AyYC&pg=PA866 p.866]</ref> the schizoform drive (containing the paranoid and the catatonic drive needs), the manic-depressive drive, the paroxysmal drive (including the epileptic and hysteric drive needs), and the sexual drive (including the hermaphrodite and the sadomasochist drive needs).<ref name="Szondi72p34">Szondi (1972) pp.34–6 quotation: {{blockquote|Ein Triebststem muß aus Triebgegensatzpaaren konstituiert werden, die einerseits in jedem Individuum vorhanden sind, andererseits mit den pathopsychologischen, d.h. Psychiatrischen Erbkreisen genau übereinstimmen. (...) Die psychiatrische Vererbungslehre hat bisher drei selbständige Erb Kreise der Geisteskrankheiten festgestellt.}}</ref>

Szondi's drive diagram has been described as his major discovery and achievement.<ref>[http://www.szondiforum.org/docs/louvet/Louvet%20Book%20on%20Creators%20and%20the%20Szondi%20Test.htm] quotation: {{blockquote|1.1 Introduction to Theory <br />
Being different from the other projective tests, the Szondi Test contains its own theory; that is intrinsic to it.
The major discovery of Szondi resides in his drive diagram (''Triebschema'') since this diagram presides as well over the construction and working of the test as also to the theoretical elaboration of the empirical data resulting from the test experimentation.}}</ref> It has also been described as a revolutionary addition to psychology, and as paving the way for a theoretical psychiatry and a psychoanalytical anthropology.<ref name="Mélon96"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qKgwAQAAIAAJ ''Livres de France''] (1989), Issues 106–109 quotation: {{blockquote|Cherche à jeter les bases d'une authentique anthropologie psychanalytique d'après le schéma pulsionnel de Szondi.}}</ref>

Szondi theory organizes phenomenons like: [[Antisocial personality disorder]], [[paraphilia]] subtypes, [[histrionic personality disorder]] (P++), paranoid proper as "projective paranoid", [[narcissistic personality disorder]] as "inflative paranoid", [[blunted affect]] (P00), [[panic disorder]] (P--), [[phobia]] (P+0), [[hypochondria]] (Cm-),<ref>Szondi (1972) pp.156,160,191,198,320, and p.421 Abb.40</ref> [[stupor]] (-hy),<ref>Szondi (1972) pp.109,113</ref> [[somatization disorder|somatization]] and [[pain disorder]] as organ neurosis,<ref>Szondi (1972) pp.402; and Szondi (1963) ''Schicksalsanalytische Therapie'', pp.113, 375–380</ref> [[conversion disorder]] (in Pe+, Phy and Schk- danger classes), [[dissociative fugue]] (Sch±- and C+0),<ref>Szondi (1972) pp.163–4, 189</ref> [[paroxysmal attack]] (Sch±-),<ref>Szondi (1972) pp.163–4</ref> [[Depersonalization-derealization disorder|depersonalization disorder]] and [[Social alienation#Mental disturbance|alienation]] (Sch-±), [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]] and [[obsessive–compulsive personality disorder]] (Sch±+).<ref>Szondi (1972) pp.60,167</ref>

====The drive factors and vectors in detail====
{{Expand Hungarian|topic=sci|date=August 2013|Szondi-teszt|section=yes}}

===Fate analysis and anthropology===
Szondi analysis of destiny approach is based an [[anthropological]] preoccupation.<ref name="Mélon96"/> Szondi's main philosophical references for the concept of fate are Schopenhauer's ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'' (1818) and Heidegger's ''[[Being and Time]]'' (1927).<ref name="Szondi1972Ip9">Szondi (1972) ''Intro..'', p.9</ref>

Fate analysis of a patient is based on the test score, the patient medical history, and his family background through a [[genealogical tree]]. Fate analysis includes [[Genotropism]], a form of [[depth psychology]] that had some prominence in Europe in the mid-20th century, but has been ignored for the most part.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}

The starting assumption of fate analysis is that a person's life (destiny) unfolds in a series of elections: one chooses an occupation, acquaintances, partners, family, and ultimately his decisions implicitly selects his illnesses and his death. Szondi's experience in genealogy research led him to believe that these elections can not be considered only as the individual sovereign decision, but that such choices often follow certain patterns that preexisted within his family ancestors. Szondi concluded that some life choices are  genetically inherited.

===Profession choice and fate===

Szondi argued that his research showed that profession choices are determined by the dynamic and structure of the psyche, a phenomenon that he called ''operotropism''.<ref name="Berufintro"/><ref name="TriebBeruf"/>
He said, from a [[sociological]] perspective, the most important discovery made through fate psychology has been the discerning of the role played by latent inherited genes ([[genotropic]] factors) in the choice of a particular vocation or profession.<ref name="Szondi1972p97">Szondi (1972), fifth conference, p.97</ref><ref>[http://www.szondiforum.org/t484.htm ''Chapter 3 –  Genotropism and Family Relationships''], szondiforum</ref>

Of the many possibilities in which operotropism can manifest itself, he gave two examples. A man may choose a profession in which he can engage with individuals with related inclinations; this is the case of a psychiatrist with paranoid schizoform inclinations, or a lawyer with [[querulant]] inclinations and an addiction to litigation. The second example of operotropism is a man that chooses a profession in which he can satisfy in a socially acceptable manner needs that in their original primary form would constitute a danger for society. This is the case of pyromania-firefighter, sadism-butcher, coprophilia-intestine or -drain cleaner.<ref name="Berufintro">Szondi (1978) ''Schicksalsanalyse'', Ch.XV ''Erbkreise und Berufskreise'', pp.260–2</ref><ref name="TriebBeruf">Szondi (1978) ch.20 ''Trieb und Beruf'', pp.336–342</ref> Most jobs can satisfy more than one drive need.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

====Professions of the sexual circle====

=====Hermaphrodite professions=====
The work object of the hermaphrodite professions is the body (own or other); the work circumstances are bathhouse, beach, barber shop, restaurant, café, theater, circus, millinery, brothel; the main sensory perceptions are taste and sight; work instruments are jewelry, clothing; professional activities are eyelining, make-up, handcraft, weaving, embroidery, darning.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

Jobs of the hermaphrodite type are hairdresser, [[esthetician]], [[dermatologist]], [[gynecologist]], [[bath house]], [[beauty parlor]] and [[spa]] worker, [[fashion illustrator]], performing artist ([[vaudeville]], [[acrobatics|acrobat]], [[circus performer]]), singer, ballet dancers, dance artists, [[servant]], waiter, [[hotel manager]], confectioner, [[cooking|cook]].<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>
Criminal, or most socially negative, activities of hermaphrodite type are fraud, [[embezzlement]], spy, prostitute, [[pimp]], [[procuring (prostitution)|procuring]]. The most socially positive professions are gynecologist and sexual pathologist.<ref name="beruf_ehy">Szondi (1978) pp.78 Tab.2, 316–7 Tab.16</ref>

=====Sadistic professions=====
The work objects of the sadistic professions are animals, stone, iron, metal, machinery, soil, wood; the work circumstances are stall, slaughterhouse, animal breeding facilities, zoo, arena, mine, forest, mountain, operating theater, dissecting room; the main sensory perceptions are depth perception and muscle sense; work instruments are the primordial tools: [[ax]], [[hatchet]], [[pickaxe]], [[chisel]], [[hammer]], [[drill]], [[knife]], [[whip]]; the work activity is big muscle work.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

Sadistic jobs type are [[truck driver]], farm servant, [[animal tamer]], [[veterinary]], [[manicure]], [[pedicure]], [[animal slaughter]], [[surgical nurse]], surgeon, dentist, [[anatomist]], [[Executioner|hangman]], [[forestry]] worker, [[lumberjack]], [[stonemason]], [[miner]], [[roadworks|road worker]], sculptor, [[chauffeur]], soldier, [[wrestler]], [[physical education]] teacher, [[gym instructor]], [[masseur]].<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

====Schizoform professions====

=====Katatonoid professions=====
The work objects of the katatonoid professions are the reproductive and abstract sciences: logic, maths, physics, aesthetics, geography, grammar, and so on; the work circumstances are closed spaces, classrooms, archives, libraries, "[[ivory tower]]s," monasteries; the sensory perceptions are turned off; work instruments are books; professional activities are writing, reading.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

Jobs of the schizoform, katatonoid, drive striving k+: [[pedagogue]], soldier, engineer, professor (mainly linguist, or professor of logic, mathematics, physics, philosophy, social sciences). Personality traits found in this group are aristocratic exclusivity, eccletic friendship choices, systematizate, schematize, rigid formalism.<ref name="berufkp">Szondi (1978) pp.80 Tab.4, 285–6 Tab.14</ref>

Jobs of the schizoform, katatonic, drive striving k-: [[aesthetics|aesthetician]], [[art critic]]; accountant, lower officer, [[cartographer]], [[Technical drawing|technical]] [[drafter]], [[graphic designer]]; [[postal worker]], [[telegraph operator]]; [[Printer (publishing)|printer]]; farmer, [[forester]]; [[lighthouse keeper]], security guard; model. Personality traits found in this group are pedantry, accuracy, exemplarity; lack of humor, taciturnity, brusqueness; phlegm, callousness, calm; hypersensitivity; obstinacy, stubbornness; Inability to debate, self-consciousness; narrow-mindedness, bigotry; compulsiveness, automation, mannerisms; Feeling of omnipotence, autism; inability to be absorbed in the other (auto psychological resonance); taciturnity, immobility, all-having.<ref name="berufkp"/>

Criminal, or most socially negative, activities of katatonic type are [[work aversion]], lone [[Vagrancy (people)|vagrancy]], world wanderer, burglary. On the other extreme of the spectrum, the most socially positive professions are professor, [[List of logicians|logician]], philosopher, [[List of aestheticians|aesthetician]], [[Pure mathematics|theoretical mathematician]], [[physicist]].<ref name="berufkp"/>

=====Paranoid professions=====
The work objects of the paranoid professions are the pragmatic and analytic sciences (psychology, psychiatry, medicine, chemistry), music, mysticism, mythology, occultism; the work circumstances are research institutes, labs, chemical factories, exotic places, the depths of the mind and of the Earth, mental hospital, prison; the main sensory perceptions are olfaction and hearing; work instruments are ideas, creativity, inspiration.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

The [[hebephrenic]] group belongs to the schizoform professions and partially overlaps with the paranoid professions. Hebephrenic jobs include [[graphologist]] and [[astrologer]].<ref name="berufkp"/>

====Paroxymal professions====

=====Epileptiform professions=====
The work objects of the epileptiform professions are the [[Classical element|primordial elements]] earth, fire, water, air, spirit; the work circumstances are height/depth, rise/fall, waves/swirling motion (turning in circle); the main sensory perceptions are [[Balance (ability)|balance]] and [[olfaction]]; work instruments are means of transportation: bicycle, electric or conventional train, boat, automobile, aircraft; professional activities are locomotion and moving occupations for the striving e-, and praying (silence), devotion, care, help, charity for the striving e+.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/><ref name="beruf_ehy"/>

Jobs of the epileptiform, "Cain" striving e- include: [[Porter (carrier)|porter]] ([[bellhop]]), carter ([[truck driver]]), sailor, [[able seaman]], [[chauffeur]], aviator; [[blacksmith]], [[Fireman (steam engine)|stoker]], oven operator, [[chimney sweep]], [[firefighter]], [[pyrotechnician]], baker; soldier (especially [[flamethrower]]s, explosive departments like [[grenadier]], [[Pioneer (military)|pioneer]], [[Shock troops|stormtrooper]]).<ref name="beruf_ehy2">Szondi (1978) pp.79 Tab.3, 268–9 Tab.13</ref> While those of the "Moses" striving e+ group include: priest, [[missionary]] woman, [[nun]], [[monk]], "[[Protector (role variant)|protectress]]", [[public health]] doctor.<ref name="beruf_ehy"/><ref>Szondi ''Ich-Analyse'', ch.20.2a [https://www.szondiforum.org/II.%20Szondi%20Ego%20Defenses%20and%20Sublimination.pdf ''The ego and sublimation – Sublimation in the Light of Fate Psychology'']</ref>

Criminal, or most socially negative, epileptiform activities are [[kleptomania]], [[pyromania]], [[crime of passion]], while the most socially positive are religious professions, [[health care provider]], [[forensic pathology]].<ref name="beruf_ehy"/>

=====Hysteriform professions=====
The work object of the hysteriform professions is the own person; the work circumstances are audience, theatre, meeting, mass, street; work instruments and activities are playing with oneself, facial expressions, the voice, colour and movement effects.<ref name="TriebBeruf"/>

Jobs of the hysteriform group include: acting (in females, [[amazons]] and [[tragic hero]]ines roles); politics professionals: member of parliament, chief of Bureau or in factory; car driver; animal tamer; market woman, [[town crier]], [[Barker (occupation)|barker]]; performing artist ([[vaudeville]], [[acrobatics|acrobat]], [[circus performer]]), orator; model; sports: [[swordsmanship]], [[horseback riding]], [[hunting]], [[wrestling]] and [[mountain climbing]].<ref name="beruf_ehy"/>

A criminal, or most socially negative, epiletiform activity is [[impostor]], while the most socially positive are politician, actor.<ref name="beruf_ehy"/>

==Test description==
{{Expand Hungarian|topic=sci|date=August 2013|Szondi-teszt|section=yes}}
It is a [[projective personality test]], the same category of the most-known [[Rorschach test]], but with the crucial difference of being [[nonverbal]]. The test consists in showing the examinee a series of facial photographs,<ref>Thomas R. Alley ''Social and Applied Aspects of Perceiving Faces'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=MY9Dl4ULlq8C&pg=PA99 p.99]</ref> displayed in six groups of eight each. All 48 subjects featured in the photographs are mental patients, each group containing a photo of a person whose personality had been classified as homosexual, a [[Sexual sadism disorder|sadist]], an [[epileptic]], an [[Conversion disorder|hysteric]], a [[katatonic]], a [[paranoid]], a [[Depressive personality disorder|depressive]] and a [[mania]]c. The subject is asked to choose the two most appealing and the two most repulsive photos of each group. The choices will supposedly reveal the subject satisfied and unsatisfied instinctive drive needs, and the subject's dimensions of personality.<ref name="Raul2013p315">Eugenio Raùl Zaffaroni, Edmundo Oliveira (2013) ''Criminology and Criminal Policy Movements'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=UIelrPZJqk0C&pg=PA315 p.315] quotation: {{blockquote|(...) the subject is asked to choose, in each series, the two most agreeable and disagreeable types. The choice reveals what situations are approved or reproved, or the ones that evinced indifference from the examinee. Szondi wished to show with his test, that the choices made by the individual denounce the satisfied or unsatisfied instinctive needs and the reactions linked to instinctive unsatisfied inclinations.}}</ref> Each photo is supposed to be a stimulus apt to detect the pulsional drive tendencies of the examinee, from which the main personality traits can surface.<ref>''Szondi'' in Nuovi Dizionari Online Simone – Dizionario di Scienze Psicologiche [http://www.simone.it/newdiz/?action=view&id=922&dizionario=15]</ref>

Szondi further broke down the results into four different [[vector (geometric)|vectors]]: a homosexual/sadistic, epileptic/hysterical, catatonic/paranoid and depressive/manic.

To interpret the test scores, a variety of methods have been developed by Szondi himself and other researchers. They can be classified as quantitative, qualitative and proportional methods.

==Production==
The Szondi test is a [[psychological exam]] named after its Jewish Hungarian creator, [[Léopold Szondi]] in the [[Eötvös Loránd University]] in [[Budapest]] [[Hungary]]. The test was first formulated by Szondi around 1935.<ref name="Mélon96"/><ref name="Kiss">Enikő Gyöngyösiné Kiss [www.szondi.pte.hu/document/fate-analysis.pdf ''Personality and the Familial Unconscious in Szondi's Fate-Analysis'']</ref>{{better source needed|reason=szondiforum.org and szondi.pte.hu have a close connection to the subject|date=March 2025}}

In 1944, Szondi published ''Schicksalsanalyse'' ("Fate analysis"), the first of a five volume series.<ref name="HungarianDigest86p90">''Hungarian digest'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=2hwQAQAAMAAJ Issue 5], 1986, p.90</ref><ref name="Girsberger1989p525">Hans Girsberger (1989) [https://books.google.com/books?id=8H5mAAAAMAAJ ''Who's who in Switzerland''] p.525</ref>

===Forms of existence===
In 1960 Szondi began to collaborate with psychotherapeut Armin Beeli on 17 "forms of existence", divided in two main groups "forms of danger" (Gefährexistenzformen) and "forms of protection" (Schutzexistenzformen).<ref name="Bazin1984">Germain Bazin (1984) [https://books.google.com/books?id=vEcLAQAAMAAJ ''Destins de Staėl, Dostoļesky, Géricault, Nietzsche, Rimbaud''] p.26</ref> On the basis of the syndromatics (diagnotisc method) published in book 3 (1952) and 4 (1956) of the Schicksalsanalyse,<ref>(1972) [https://books.google.com/books?id=9BlFAQAAIAAJ ''Beiheft zur Schweizerischen Zeitschrift für Psychologie und ihre Anwendungen''] p.15</ref><ref>(1959) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn9qAAAAMAAJ ''The Szondi Test: In Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment''] p.76</ref> one or two (rarely three) forms of existence are detected from each test profile. First results of this research were published in 1963.<ref name="Bazin1984"/>

Szondi condensed the syndromatics into a table called ''Testsymptome zur Bestimmung der 17 Existenzformen'' (''test symptoms for the identification of the 17 existence forms''), which was published in ''Szondiana VI'' (1966) and in the final edition of book 2 (1972). However, the table alone is not sufficient, as analysis of the forms existence still demands "solid knowledge and practice of Syndromatik", in addition to thorough training in Fate Analysis thinking.<ref>(1968) [https://books.google.com/books?id=B1RFAQAAIAAJ ''Europäische Hochschulschriften: Psychologie''] p.99, quotation: {{blockquote|Für die Anwendung der Existenzform-Analyse verlangt SZONDI (1965 b) vom Diagnostiker "gründliche Schulung in der Denkweise der Schicksalspsychologie" sowie "solide Kenntnis und Uebung der Syndromatik". Diesen hohen Anforderungen suchten wir nach Möglichkeit nachzukommen.}}</ref>

===Origin of the photographs===
[[File:Atlas und Grundriss der Psychiatrie p.228 fig.71.jpg|thumb|One of the 30 images taken from Weygandt's Atlas, used by Szondi as n.7 in serie 6.]]
30 of the 48 photographs were taken from [[Wilhelm Weygandt]]'s 1901 ''Atlas und Grundriss der Psychiatrie'', which is now in the [[public domain]].
<ref>Weygandt (1901) [https://archive.org/stream/atlasundgrundri01weyggoog#page/n289/mode/2up] at archive.org</ref><ref>Szondi, L. (1952) [https://books.google.com/books?id=_lMAAAAAMAAJ ''Das dritte Buch: Triebpathologie''], ch.25, table 19</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn9qAAAAMAAJ|title = The Szondi Test in Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment|last1 = Szondi|first1 = Leopold|year = 1959}}</ref><ref>Eranos
, Volume 45 [https://books.google.com/books?id=b6bWAAAAMAAJ p.253]</ref> Of the remaining 18 pictures:
* four were from [[Magnus Hirschfeld]]'s ''Sexuelle Zwischenstufen: Das männliche Weib und der weibliche Mann'' (1918);
* two were from [[Otto Binswanger]]'s ''Die Hysterie'' (1904);<ref>[[Otto Binswanger]] (1904) [https://archive.org/stream/39002010911437.med.yale.edu#page/383/mode/1up ''Die Hysterie'' at archive.org/]</ref>
* one was from [[Theodor Kirchhoff]]'s ''Der Gesichtsausdruck und seine Bahnen beim Gesunden und Kranken, besonders beim Geisteskranken'' (''The facial expression and its paths among the healthy and the sick, especially the mentally ill'') published in 1904, Lehrbuch der Irrenheilkunde;
* one was from [[Friedrich Scholz]]'s ''Lehrbuch der Irrenheilkunde : für Aerzte und Studirende'' (1892).<ref>Scholz (1892)[https://archive.org/stream/lehrbuchderirren00scho#page/n120/mode/1up ''Lehrbuch der Irrenheilkunde '']</ref>

Six photos were from a criminologic clinic in Stockholm (the Swedish Institute of Criminal Psychiatry) directed by [[St. Strobl]].<ref>Leopold Szondi (1959) ''The Szondi Test: In Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment''</ref> and four were taken by Szondi himself in Hungary.

The shock element of the photos is crucial. Commenting an experiment with alternative pictures of mental patients, Szondi argued that since the photos used were nicer or less disturbing, they failed to trigger the responses that the test is supposed to.<ref name="Szondi1972p451">Szondi (1972) ''Lehrbuch der Experimentellen Triebdiagnostik'', 3rd edition, ''Anhang IV'', p.451 quotation: {{blockquote|Wir deuteten diese Diskordanz damit, daß der Aufforderungscharakter der Balintschen Bilder nicht groß genug ist, um die Vp zu schockieren. Balints Streben war aber, womöglich Photos von "''schönen''" Kranken in seine Serie aufzunehmen, da er meine originalen Bilder zu gräßlich und schockierend fand. So blieb aber die notwendige Schockwirkung weg. Ohne Schockwirkung sind aber Photos zur Prüfung des Trieb- und Ich-Lebens unbrauchbar.}}</ref>

==Statistical properties and criticism==
The Szondi test is not widely used in modern clinical psychology, because its [[psychometric]] properties are weak. However, it remains in the history of psychology as one of the well-known psychological instruments.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Szondi Test |url=https://psytests.org/classic/szondien.html |website=Psychological Testing Online}}</ref>

Early studies in the 1950s investigated the test's statistical properties. It was found that patients responded inconsistently to photographs representing the same factor.<ref>{{cite journal |title=An empirical test of some assumptions underlying the Szondi test. |vauthors=Lubin A, Malloy M |year=1951 |journal=The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=480–484 |doi=10.1037/h0056098|pmid=14880364 }}</ref>
Susan Deri's predictions on test results of "normals and [[Neurosis|neurotics]]", and changes in these results after therapy, were not supported by data.<ref>{{cite journal |title=An investigation of the diagnostic validity of the Szondi test. |vauthors=Mussen PH, Krauss SR |year=1952 |journal=The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=399–405 |doi=10.1037/h0059618|pmid=14937981 }}</ref>
Differentiating signs for epileptics and homosexuals, suggested by Szondi and Deri, were found to be weak and routine clinical use of the test was not recommended.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Szondi patterns in epileptic and homosexual males |vauthors=David HP, Rabinowitz W |year=1952 |journal=Journal of Consulting Psychology |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=247–250 |doi=10.1037/h0054902|pmid=12990706 }}</ref>
Another study of four experiments failed to support the underlying theory and did not recommend its use in clinical situations.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Four experiments with the Szondi Test. |vauthors=Fosberg IA |year=1951 |journal=Journal of Consulting Psychology |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=39–44 |doi=10.1037/h0060807|pmid=14814252 }}</ref>
A 1953 evaluation concluded that "data can be established with a high degree of consistency among observers" but its "interpretation remains a tenuous process of undetermined [[Validity (statistics)|validity]]".<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Szondi Test: a review and critical evaluation. |vauthors=Borstelmann LJ, Klopfer WG |year=1953 |journal=Psychological Bulletin |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=112–132 |doi=10.1037/h0058845|pmid=13056091 }}</ref>

Some studies attempted to measure the ability of (psychology and non-psychology) students to simply diagnose the subjects on the test photographs, ignoring the rest of the theory, to determine how meaningful stimuli the images were. The results showed large differences between factors and inconsistency among same-factor photographs. Homosexuals and Manics were identified in as high as half the cases, greatly exceeding chance, while Epileptics could not be reliably detected. In conclusion, the study suggested a "complete reorganization" of the test: images with "precise [[statistical significance]]" and "[[Standardized test|standardization]] for a particular population". Review of the (then available) evidence could not establish the test's clinical value.<ref name="study_Philip">{{cite journal |title=Experiments on the Rationale of the Szondi Test |vauthors=Philip LS |year=1954 |journal=Journal of Mental Science |volume=100 |issue=419 |pages=384–392 |doi=10.1192/bjp.100.419.384|pmid=13175002 }}</ref>

It was noted that picture selection may be better explained by "superficial facial clues" and "learned reactions" than Szondi's genetic theory. This would explain why smiling faces are more easily identified as manic,<ref name="study_Philip"/> or accepting and friendly faces are chosen more frequently while cruel and asocial ones rejected more often.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Factors affecting the choice of certain Szondi test pictures. |vauthors=Wallen R |year=1951 |journal=Journal of Consulting Psychology |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=210–215 |doi=10.1037/h0057513|pmid=14841293 }}</ref>
A later study attempted to measure students ability to identify known personality charactersitics (masculinity-femininity) of subjects based on images. The results failed to confirm this ability and suggested that "positive validity findings within the Szondi test are likely to be based on [[stereotyped]] perceptions" rather than personality characteristics.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Test of a Szondi assumption by means of M-F photographs. |vauthors=Sappenfield BR |year=1965 |journal=Journal of Personality |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=409–417 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-6494.1965.tb01394.x |pmid=5826698 |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1966-02919-001|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
[[Factor analysis]] of image preferences revealed that selection is largely related to identifiable characteristics like age, sex, mood or conventionality of appearance.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A factor analysis of the 48 Szondi pictures |vauthors=Gordon LV |year=1953 |journal=The Journal of Psychology |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=387–392 |doi=10.1080/00223980.1953.9712904}}</ref>

==Influences==
Szondi Fate analysis has influenced philosophers [[Henri Niel]], [[Alphonse De Waelhens]] and [[Henry Maldiney]], and psychiatrist [[Jacques Schotte]].<ref name="Mélon96">Mélon, Jean (1996) [http://www.szondiforum.org/t419.htm ''Notes on the History of the Szondi Movement''], (French original [http://www.szondiforum.org/t429.htm]) Text for the Szondi Congress of Cracow, August 1996. quotation: {{blockquote|It is undeniable that Szondi has a fundamentally anthropological preoccupation. It is why his work has, up to now, undoubtedly found a more favourable echo among philosophers (Henri Niel, Alphonse De Waelhens, and Henry Maldiney) than among psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, for whom his work is a great challenge.}}</ref> In 1949, [[Susan Deri]] published the first English language description to the Szondi test.<ref>Deri, Susan (1949) ''Introduction to the Szondi Test: Theory and Practice''</ref><ref name="Richardson2009p15"/> Some graphologists attempted to integrate the szondi test with graphological test; however, Sonzdi was not a graphologist and the goal of his test was in contrast with graphology.<ref>''The Szondi Test: In Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment'' (1959) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn9qAAAAMAAJ&q=%22goal+is+in+contrast+with+graphology%22 p.47] quotation: {{blockquote|In other words, by means of choice reactions the Szondi test aims directly at the unconscious sphere of psychic events. This goal is in contrast with graphology, which first analyzes phenomenologically the subject's behavior.}}</ref>

In 1959, the international Szondi Society was established, and holds a symposium every three years. In 1969, The Szondi Institute was formed, and published from Zurich the journal ''Szondiana''.<ref name="Richardson2009p15">Richardson, Diane (2009) [http://www.cornellpsychiatry.com/history/pdf/Annual_Report_2008-2009.pdf ''The Szondi Test''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905104332/http://www.cornellpsychiatry.com/history/pdf/Annual_Report_2008-2009.pdf |date=5 September 2012 }}, pp.15–6</ref>

Artist [[Kurt Kren]] created a motion picture, ''[[2/60 48 Köpfe aus dem Szondi-Test]]'', from the still shots of the Szondi test in 1964.

==Szondi books on fate analysis==

===Main books series===
Szondi's main work is his five volume series on fate analysis (Schicksalsanalyse). They were first published from 1944 (volume one) to 1963 (volume five). The first two were later republished in multiple revised editions. They are:
* ''Das erste Buch: Schicksalsanalyse. Wahl in Liebe, Freundschaft, Beruf, Krankheit und Tod''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=K6PRAAAAMAAJ ''Das erste Buch: Schicksalsanalyse. Wahl in Liebe, Freundschaft, Beruf, Krankheit und Tod'']</ref><ref name="ebook">{{cite book|url=http://www.ebook.de/de/product/4770257/leopold_szondi_schicksalsanalyse.html|title=Leopold Szondi: Schicksalsanalyse (Buch) – portofrei bei eBook.de|date=15 January 1996 |publisher=ebook.de|isbn=9783796505218 |accessdate=11 September 2015}}</ref> B. Schwabe, Basel, 1944. (2nd  edition 1948, 3rd edition 1965, fourth edition 1978)
* ''Das zweite Buch: Lehrbuch der Experimentellen Triebdiagnostik'' (Textband). Huber, Bern und Stuttgart, 1947. (1st edition 308pp, 2nd edition 1960 443pp, 3rd edition 1972 484pp) This is the book in which Szondi explains in details how to perform and interpret the test. Only the first edition, which would be completely overhauled in 1960, was translated into English as ''Experimental Diagnostics of Drives'' (1952). The 1972 third edition added a 40-page long appendix, that included a table to help determine the dangerous and the protective forms of existence. The Textband (text volume) is complemented by two additional (smaller) volumes, sold separately: ''Band 2: Testband'', which contains the photographs and additional material to take the test, and ''Band 3: Trieblinnäus-Band'' (classification of instincts).
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=ofzQAAAAMAAJ ''Das dritte Buch: Triebpathologie''], also called and classified as ''Triebpathologie, Band I'' (''Drive pathology, volume I''), and subtitled ''Elemente der exakten Triebpsychologie und Triebpsychiatrie''. Huber, Bern und Stuttgart, 1952. Composed of two parts: part A ''Elemente der exakten Triebpsychologie'' (Teil 1 ''Dialektische Trieblehre'' pp.&nbsp;37–156, Teil 2 ''Dialektische Methodik'' pp.&nbsp;159–234), and part B ''Elemente der exakten Triebpsychiatrie'' (Teil 3 ''Klinische Psychologie, Experimentelle Syndromatik'' pp.&nbsp;237–509). Part A and B have been republished, with no changes (unverändert Auflage), in two separate volumes: Part A as ''Triebpathologie: Dialektische Trieblehre und dialektische Methodik der Testanalyse''(1977, 234pp); part B as ''Triebpathologie: Elemente der exakten Triebpsychiatrie: Klinische Psychologie, experimentelle Syndromatik, Volume 1'' (with unchanged page numbers<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 3018993 | pmid=20945811 | volume=3 | title=The brain—the organ of the psychic (the lesions/ the defense mechanisms) | journal=J Med Life | pages=221–8 | last1 = Rotarescu | first1 = V | last2 = Ciurea | first2 = AV| year=2010 | issue=3 }}</ref>). (1977, pp.&nbsp;235–543)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=_u3QAAAAMAAJ ''Das vierte Buch: Ich-Analyse''],<ref>Partial English translation: [www.szondiforum.org/I.%20Ego%20Analysis.pdf I. Ego Analysis], [www.szondiforum.org/II.%20Szondi%20Ego%20Defenses%20and%20Sublimination.pdf II. Ego Defenses and Sublimination], [http://www.szondiforum.org/Szondi%20IV-The%20Ego%20and%20Delusion.pdf Szondi IV-The Ego and Delusion]</ref> subtitled ''Die Grundlage zur Vereinigung der Tiefenpsychologie. Zweiter in sich abgeschlossener Band der Triebpathologie.'' Huber, Bern und Stuttgart, 1956.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=gx8MRAAACAAJ ''Das fünfte Buch: Schicksalsanalytische Therapie''], subtitled ''Ein Lehrbuch der passiven und aktiven analytischen Psychotherapie''. Huber, Bern und Stuttgart, 1963. (see pp.&nbsp;157–170).

===Introductory conferences===
In 1963, after finishing the fifth volume, he published ''Introduction to Fate Analysis''; it is a short book that collects conferences he held at the [[University of Zurich]] the previous year, with the aim of introducing to a larger public the most important results of his research.<ref name="Szondi1972p4">''Avant-propos'' (1963) in Szondi (1972), p.4</ref> The conference collection was first published in French translation, as they were unpublished in German.<ref name="Szondi1972flap">Szondi (1972), dust jacket flap, quotation: {{blockquote|l'on y trouvera ici une introducion générale sous la forme encore inédite des conférences prononcées comme professeur invité a l'Université de Zurich en 1963.}}</ref><ref>Legrand Michel. Review of Léopold Szondi, Introduction à l'analyse du destin. Tome I : Psychologie générale du destin, Revue Philosophique de Louvain, 1974, vol. 72, n° 14, pp. 376–378.
[http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/phlou_0035-3841_1974_num_72_14_7975_t1_0376_0000_1]</ref> A second tome of introductory conferences has also been published:
* ''Introduction à l'analyse du destin''. Tome I : ''Psychologie générale du destin'', Translated by Claude van Reeth, 1972.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Introduction_à_l_analyse_du_destin.html?id=ogbfZwEACAAJ ''Psychologie générale du destin'']</ref><ref name="persee">{{cite journal|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/phlou_0035-3841_1974_num_72_14_7975_t1_0376_0000_1 |title=Persée : Portail de revues en sciences humaines et sociales &#124; Review of ''Psychologie générale du destin''|journal=Revue Philosophique de Louvain |year=1974 |volume=72 |issue=14 |pages=376–378 |publisher=persee.fr|accessdate=11 September 2015|last1=Legrand |first1=Michel }}</ref>
* ''Introduction à l'analyse du destin''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Introduction_à_l_analyse_du_destin.html?id=faVEAQAACAAJ ''Introduction à l'analyse du destin'']</ref> Tome II : ''Psychologie spéciale du destin'', 1983.

===Other works===
Other works by Szondi include:
* ''Analysis of Marriages. An attempt at a theory of choice in love''. ''Acta Psychologica'', 1937.
* ''Kain. Gestalten des Bösen''. Huber, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien, 1969.
* ''Moses. Antwort auf Kain''. Huber, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien, 1973.
* ''Die Triebentmischten'' (Drive separation) Bern: Huber, 1980
* ''Integration der Triebe: die Triebvermischten'' (Integration of drives: the drive mixing). Huber, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien, 1984

==See also==
* [[Big Five personality traits]]
* [[Trait theory]]
* [[Values scales]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Szondi, L. (1972) ''Introduction à l'analyse du destin'', Tome I

==Further reading==
* Achtnich, Martin (1979) ''Der Berufsbilder-Test''
* Johnston, Arthur C. (2012) [http://www.szondiforum.org/The%20Szondi%20Test%20-%202012.pdf ''Szondi Test and Its Interpretation: 2012'']
* [http://szondi.ch/publikationen/szondiana/ ''Szondiana'']
* Szondi, Lipod; Moser, Ulrich; Webb, Marvin W (1959) "The Szondi Test in Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment" J. B. Lippincott Company
* Achtnich, Martin (1979) ''Der Berufsbilder-Test''
* Johnston, Arthur C. (2012) [http://www.szondiforum.org/The%20Szondi%20Test%20-%202012.pdf ''Szondi Test and Its Interpretation: 2012'']
* Deri, Susan (1949) ''Introduction to the Szondi Test: Theory and Practice''
* Beeli, Armin ''Psychotherapie-Prognose mit Hilfe der experimentellen Triebdiagnostik. Abhandlungen z. experimentellen Triebforschung u. Schicksalspsychologie''. N. IV. H. Huber, Bern u. Stuggart, 1965

== External links ==
* [http://www.szondiforum.org/ The Szondi Forum]
* [http://www.szondi.ch/ Szondi Institute (in German)]
* [http://www.szondi.pte.hu/ International Szondi Association]
* [http://users.telenet.be/roma/site%20CEP/index.htm Homepage of CEP (Centre d'études pathoanalytiques)]
* [http://astro.ocis.temple.edu/~ruby/aaa/milton.html Faces of Madness: Seeing abnormality through photography (Explanation of test with photographs)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/19991104131108/http://astro.ocis.temple.edu/~ruby/aaa/milton.html |date=4 November 1999 }}
* [http://www.szondi.ch Homepage of Szondi-Institute (in German)]
* [http://users.telenet.be/roma/site%20CEP/index.htm Homepage of CEP (Centre d’Etudes Pathoanalytiques)]
* [http://users.telenet.be/roma/site%20CEP/ROMAE/logiciels/logiciels.htm Scoring-spreadsheet in Excel and Openoffice Calc format. Can be set to English, French, German, Dutch]
* [http://users.skynet.be/am030868/szondi.htm A minor online version of the test (in French)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015084358/http://users.skynet.be/am030868/szondi.htm |date=15 October 2012 }}
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lenin.szondi.test Szondi test app] for [[Android (operating system)|Android]]
* [http://www.edit.ne.jp/~ham/ Home page of Tokio Szondi Gesellschaft(in Japan)]
* [http://www.psiquifotos.com/2009/06/75-el-test-de-szondi.htmlImagenes en la psiqiatria – 75. El test de Szondi.]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=MkEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA67 LIFE 12 Apr 1948], pp.&nbsp;67–9
* [http://psylab.info/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82_%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B8 Sonzi test], drawings and keys of all 48 portraits of the test
* [http://ggszondi.blogspot.com.es/2009_07_01_archive.html Artistic rendering] of the 48 portraits

{{Psychologic and psychiatric evaluation and testing}}

[[Category:Projective tests]]
[[Category:Mental disorders screening and assessment tools]]
[[Category:Personality tests]]