Corresponding Author Information: Agata Ando'
Session Abstract: Ando' and her colleagues begin the symposium examining how compared to non-smokers, smokers show different patterns of cognitive processing in relation to rumination and thought suppression. They also demonstrate that variables from the R-PAS Stress and Distress domain are associated with rumination and emotional dysregulation in both groups. Vitolo et al. follow by using fMRI to examine the correlates of neurophysiological markers (resting-state connectivity, anatomical, and white matter data) of emotional distress with R-PAS variables from the Stress and Distress domain. Starin and her co-authors extend the literature documenting the near-zero correspondence between Rorschach derived and self-reported depressive constructs (Mihura et al., 2013) by showing that the same findings emerge with previously unexamined measures, namely R-PAS and the fully structured Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Finally, the symposia closes with a pair of studies that allow for replicated evidence concerning potential new variables for assessing depression via Rorschach imagery and task behavior. Both studies evaluate verbal productivity, the Elevated Mood States variable, and a measure of self-critical or helpless reassurance seeking depressive behavior. Pimentel and his collaborators study these variables in an inpatient sample of patients with depression or other disorders, while Pianowski and her colleagues study this in a patient and nonpatient sample. Both studies make use of clinician ratings in addition to diagnoses.
Chair Information: Gregory J. Meyer, PhD | University of Toledo, Ohio
Presentation 1 Title: A Rorschach study on rumination, thought suppression, and cigarette smoking behavior
Presenters:
Agata Ando', PhD | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Francesca Ales | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Patrice Rusconi | Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK
Presentation 2 Title: An fMRI study on emotional distress and R-PAS
Presenters:
Enrico Vitolo | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Luciano Giromini, PhD | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Alessandro Zennaro | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Presentation 3 Title: R-PAS and Self-Reported Depression with the MMPI-2 and MINI Interview
Presenters:
Madeleine Starin, PsyD | Alliant International University, San Diego, California
Ronald Stolberg | Alliant International University, San Diego, California
Donald Viglione, PhD | Alliant International University, San Diego, California
Arnold Rex Kintanar | Alliant International University, San Diego, California
Presentation 4 Title: Assessing manifestations of depressive behavior during the Rorschach task
Presenters:
Ruam P. F. A. Pimentel, MA | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo
Gregory J. Meyer, PhD | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Giselle Pianowski, PhD | Department of Psychology, Universidade São Francisco - Itatiba
Jeffrey S. Kline | Private Practice, Menlo Park, CA
Presentation 5 Title: Investigating external validity of depression-related variables on R-PAS protocols
Presenters:
Giselle Pianowski, PhD | Department of Psychology, Universidade São Francisco - Itatiba
Gregory J. Meyer, PhD | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Ruam P. F. A. Pimentel, MA | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Dr. Agata Ando'
I am a research fellow at the University of Turin (Italy). My research interests concern the field of psychopathology and psychological assessment. Specifically, I deal with the Rorschach (R-PAS) and the construction of multimethod assessment for evaluation of some psychological constructs related to emotional dysregulation (e.g., mental rumination).
Dr. Gregory J. Meyer
Gregory J. Meyer, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toledo, where he has been since 2003. Before this, he was at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was the director of the inpatient and outpatient Psychological Assessment Service. He was the Editor of the Journal of Personality Assessment from 2002 to 2013. His research focuses on psychological assessment, with an emphasis on the integration of personality assessment methods. Much of his work has addressed performance-based measures of psychological processes, most notably with the Rorschach. With more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, he has made many contributions to the published literature in this area, as well as in psychometrics and assessment more generally. He regularly provides invited lectures and trainings internationally. On four occasions, the Society for Personality Assessment recognized him with Distinguished Contribution Awards for articles in the published literature. He also received the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Assessment Psychology by the Assessment Section of Clinical Psychology (American Psychological Association, Section IX, Division 12). He is a Fellow of Division 5 (Evaluation, Measurement, & Statistics) of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for Personality Assessment. In addition to co-authoring the manual for the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, he co-edited a casebook entitled Using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS).
Francesca Ales
Francesca Ales is a post-doctoral research fellow at the department of Psychology of the University of Turin, Italy, and a member of the Evidence-Based Psychological Assessment lab. Her research efforts focus on personality and multi-method assessment, Rorschach test and eye tracking.
Enrico Vitolo
I was born in Turin (Italy) in 1988. I got a Bachelor in Psychological Sciences and Techniques in 2013 with a thesis named “The effects of gaze-perception on social cognition”, obtaining a grade of 106/110. In 2015, I got a Master Degree in Clinical Psychology with a thesis named “White matter and schizophrenia: a meta-analysis on connectivity anomalies in the disease’s development”, obtaining a grade of 110/110 cum laude. I started my Ph.D. course in “Psychological, Anthropological, and Educational Sciences” in 2017 under the supervision of Prof. Alessandro Zennaro. During these years, I have worked on several issues, such as psychopathological development, neuroscience, and personality assessment. In particular, I have practiced the Rorschach test within the R-PAS method, obtaining the proficiency level in administering and coding. Moreover, I have enlarged my neuroscientific background by approaching Panksepp’s theory of Affective Neurosciences. I have started a collaboration with other researchers for developing an Italian adaptation of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS). During the Ph.D. course, my main research area has been the psychological and neurological features of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Indeed, I have implemented my Ph.D. thesis project on investigating neural correlates and psychological features of emotion regulation processes. In March 2021, I will discuss my Ph.D. thesis.
Dr. Luciano Giromini
Luciano Giromini, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, and core faculty member for the Ph.D. program in Psychological, Anthropological and Educational Sciences of the University of Turin, Italy. He has taught psychological assessment and psychometrics at two Italian and one Californian universities, and is currently the coordinator of the Evidence-Based Psychological Assessment research team of University of Turin. He is one of the authors of the Inventory of Problems (IOP-29 and IOP-M) and Assessment Section Head for the journal Psychological Injury and Law.
Dr. Madeleine Starin
Madeleine Starin is a pre-licensed psychologist specializing in forensic and diagnostic assessment. She obtained her Psy.D. from Alliant International University, San Diego in 2019 and is a post-doctoral psychological assistant working under the license of Dr. Abraham Loebenstein conducting forensic psychological evaluations for use in Court. The range of evaluations include mental competency, standard psychological, violence risk, sex risk, fire risk, and threat risk for juvenile and adult populations involved in the justice system. All evaluations include the use of a Rorschach using the Rorschach-Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). Dr. Starin’s dissertation focused on detecting depression with R-PAS. She has been an adjunct professor at Alliant, San Diego for the past two fall semesters teaching PSY6504: Personality Assessment II, which focuses entirely on R-PAS. Dr. Starin continues to assist her mentor, Dr. Don Viglione, in R-PAS research projects and is collecting adolescent normative data for the IOP-29 and IOP-M. She hopes to continue teaching, presenting, researching and gaining expertise in the area of psychological assessment and specifically, R-PAS. Dr. Starin and her husband are expecting their first child, a daughter, due April 5th, 2021. They share a 13-year-old pug and a 3-year-old bengal cat.
Dr. Donald J. Viglione
Donald J. Viglione, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Diego. He is a co-author of the two international measures, the Inventory of Problems, a malingering test, and the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, a widely used Rorschach system. At Alliant in San Diego, he was the founding Director of the Doctor of Psychology degree program and later the Director of Doctor Philosophy degree. He trained with Dr. John Exner at Long Island University, where he was awarded his Ph.D and served an internship in the United States Navy. He has focused his teaching, research, and clinical/forensic practice on assessment and has published more than 100 professional papers. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychology and a Fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment.
Ruam P. F. A. Pimentel
Bachelors, Psychology, Universidade Luterana do Brasil, 2017
Masters, Psychology, Universidade São Francisco, 2019
Specialization, Neuroscience, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, 2019
Graduate Student, Experimental (Ph.D. student, University of Toledo)
Research Interest: Personality, Rorschach, Neuroscience, Data Science
Dr. Giselle Pianowski