Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
RISB
• Most commonly used SCT
• Taps into personality
• Part of assessment battery
• Developed for clinical purposes
• Consistent with many theories of personality
• Used in different settings (school, clinic, industry)
• Theoretically scores can range from 0 to 240 (40 items with scale between
0 to 6).
• Practically, scores range between 70 to 200 with 110 to 150 being most
common.
Adjustment
• The relative freedom from prolonged, unhappy dysphoric states
(emotions) of the individual, the ability to cope with frustration, the
ability to initiate and maintain constructive activity, and ability to
establish and maintain satisfying interpersonal relationships.
• Cutoff score: 135
• More stringent cutoff: 110
• More tolerant cutoff: 149
• Cutoff depends upon the purpose
Maladjustment
• The presence of prolonged unhappy/dysphoric
states (emotions), inability to cope or difficulty in
coping with frustration, a lack of constructive
activity or interference in initiating or
maintaining such activity, or the inability to
establish an maintain satisfying interpersonal
relationships (page 5)
Scoring RISB
• 7-point scale (0 to 6)
• Reflects degree of adjustment for each sentence stem
• 3 types of responses (numerically scored)
• Conflict (C) – pessimism, hostility, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts
• Positive Responses (P) – humor, optimism, acceptance, positive feelings about
self and others
• Neutral (N) – do not fall in either type of responses ( e.g. stereotypes,
catchphrases, song titles, cultural clichés)
• Scoring still largely dependent on clinical judgment
6 – (C3) Severe Conflict: suicidal, severe family problems, strong negative
attitudes, bizarre
5 – (C2) Moderate Conflict: inferiority, generalized social difficulty,
psychosomatic complaints, concern over failure
4 – (C1) Mild Conflict: specific conflicts, not deep-seated or incapacitating (e.g.
world state affairs, financial problems, specific school difficulties, physical
complaints)
3 – (N) Neutral: neither + or – lacking emotional or personal reference
2 – (P1) Specific Positive: + attitude towards specific things (e.g. school,
hobbies), general warm feelings towards others
1 – (P2) General Positive: general + feelings, optimism, humor, social adjustment
0 – (P3) Very Positive: clear and intense humor, optimism, acceptance of others
Conflict response
C1 (4 points)
C2 (5 pts)
C3 (6 pts)
Positive Responses
P1 (2 pts)
P2 (1 pt)
P3 (0 pt)
Neutral ( 3 pts)
Some guide in scoring
• Unusually long responses (more than 10 words excluding stimulus)
scored in favour of C one point higher except when the score is
already 6
• Not advisable to use interchangeably the suggested manuals (male vs.
females)
• When an item does not contain a particular response but the
response is found in another item, this is called cross-referencing and
it is acceptable.
Prorated scoring of RISB
(Total score of completed responses) x (40)/(# of completed responses)
= Overall adjustment score
Example – Given: 111 (total score of completed responses)
35 (# of completed responses)
111 x 40/35 = 127 as overall adjustment score
Practice scoring
Qualitative Component
Analysis
Format report RISB
• Quantitative (Score): (Explanation)
• Qualitative Component
• Family Attitudes
• Social and Sexual Attitudes
• General Attitudes
• Character Traits
• Summary
