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—could reveal genetically inherited “drives” that shape their fate.
The test has received criticism for its psychometric limitations and theoretical foundations. 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. This opinion survey was not based on any reliability analysis, test–retest study, meta-analysis, or standard error estimation. Moreover, the test was perceived as less valid particularly when the judgment was expressed by professionals adhering to a competing paradigm (CBT) and by respondents who reported being unfamiliar with the test.
Despite the criticism, the Szondi test continues to be used in some European psychoanalytic and projective diagnostic traditions, and has recently been reexamined in the context of modern affective science and epigenetics.
Theoretical background
Drive theory and drive diagram In contrast to Freud's work, Szondi's approach is based on a systematic drive theoryLeopold Szondi (1952) Experimental Diagnostics of Drives, Introduction of the first edition, as quoted in Mélon (1996): 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,Szondi (1972) p.25Szondi (1978) ch. 3.1 p.65 each corresponding to a collective archetype of instinctive action.Szondi (1978) ch. 2.11 pp.62–3 They are: the h-drive need, (named after hermaphroditism, which represents the needs for personal or collective love, tenderness, motherliness, passivity, femininity, bisexuality),Szondi (1978) ch. 3.3, pp.74–5 the 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), the hysteric drive need the catatonic drive need the paranoid drive need the depressive drive need the maniac drive needSzondi (1972) p.35 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.
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), 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:Szondi (1978) ch.3 p.72Ellenberger, H. (1970) The Discovery of the Unconscious, p.866 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).Szondi (1972) pp.34–6 quotation:
Szondi's drive diagram has been described as his major discovery and achievement. quotation: It has also been described as a revolutionary addition to psychology, and as paving the way for a theoretical psychiatry and a psychoanalytical anthropology.Livres de France (1989), Issues 106–109 quotation:
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-),Szondi (1972) pp.156,160,191,198,320, and p.421 Abb.40 stupor (-hy),Szondi (1972) pp.109,113 somatization and pain disorder as organ neurosis,Szondi (1972) pp.402; and Szondi (1963) Schicksalsanalytische Therapie, pp.113, 375–380 conversion disorder (in Pe+, Phy and Schk- danger classes), dissociative fugue (Sch±- and C+0),Szondi (1972) pp.163–4, 189 paroxysmal attack (Sch±-),Szondi (1972) pp.163–4 depersonalization disorder and alienation (Sch-±), obsessive–compulsive disorder and obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (Sch±+).Szondi (1972) pp.60,167
The drive factors and vectors in detail
Fate analysis and anthropology Szondi analysis of destiny approach is based an anthropological preoccupation. 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).Szondi (1972) Intro.., p.9
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.
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. 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.Szondi (1972), fifth conference, p.97Chapter 3 – Genotropism and Family Relationships, szondiforum
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.Szondi (1978) Schicksalsanalyse, Ch.XV Erbkreise und Berufskreise, pp.260–2Szondi (1978) ch.20 Trieb und Beruf, pp.336–342 Most jobs can satisfy more than one drive need.
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.
Jobs of the hermaphrodite type are hairdresser, esthetician, dermatologist, gynecologist, bath house, beauty parlor and spa worker, fashion illustrator, performing artist (vaudeville, acrobat, circus performer), singer, ballet dancers, dance artists, servant, waiter, hotel manager, confectioner, cook. Criminal, or most socially negative, activities of hermaphrodite type are fraud, embezzlement, spy, prostitute, pimp, procuring. The most socially positive professions are gynecologist and sexual pathologist.Szondi (1978) pp.78 Tab.2, 316–7 Tab.16
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.
Sadistic jobs type are truck driver, farm servant, animal tamer, veterinary, manicure, pedicure, animal slaughter, surgical nurse, surgeon, dentist, anatomist, hangman, forestry worker, lumberjack, stonemason, miner, road worker, sculptor, chauffeur, soldier, wrestler, physical education teacher, gym instructor, masseur.
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 towers," monasteries; the sensory perceptions are turned off; work instruments are books; professional activities are writing, reading.
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.Szondi (1978) pp.80 Tab.4, 285–6 Tab.14
Jobs of the schizoform, katatonic, drive striving k-: aesthetician, art critic; accountant, lower officer, cartographer, technical drafter, graphic designer; postal worker, telegraph operator; 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.
Criminal, or most socially negative, activities of katatonic type are work aversion, lone vagrancy, world wanderer, burglary. On the other extreme of the spectrum, the most socially positive professions are professor, logician, philosopher, aesthetician, theoretical mathematician, physicist.
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.
The hebephrenic group belongs to the schizoform professions and partially overlaps with the paranoid professions. Hebephrenic jobs include graphologist and astrologer.
Paroxymal professions
Epileptiform professions