Can an artist be mature? Rorschach studies of prominent Polish actors

Introduction: The peculiarities of being a prominent actor - the unity of the person and the work, recognition and significance - have made possible new and relevant from the point of view of personality and creativity psychology to analyze using the Rorschach method. Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the personality maturity, type of experiencing, social contacts of prominent Polish actors by means of a qualitative method. Method: The Rorschach Test according to the American signing system of Z. Piotrowski. The study group consisted of 120 Polish actors: 40 outstanding Polish actors, also known in the world from international films or received awards (group A), 40 actors working in theaters in large cities (B), 40 actors employed in theaters in small cities(C). The groups were matched for age (M= 44.7 years, SD 9.31). Results: Analysis of the level of differences in maturity proved statistically significant. The study showed indicators of rivalry, which can stimulate aggressive behavior, for example, but the overall profile indicates good adaptation and control of emotions. The psychogram was dominated by signatures indicating an ambidextrous, differentiated type of experiencing,signifying creative imagination, a tendency to reflect, which is at the same time balanced by external activity,good adaptation. Discussion: The respondents' life activity is characterized by decisiveness, with a tinge of aggression. This attitude can be a cause conflicts with people who may be perceived as rivals, the results of other researchers also indicate. Conclusions: The study of prominent actors using the Rorschach test was conducted for the first time on such a scale, providing many valuable findings.


Introduction
It was Irena Filozofówna's early-20th-century pioneering psychology research on the personalities of outstanding Polish actors that inspired today's scholars to follow in her footsteps [1][2][3][4].The members of the academic psychologists' circles in Poland took an early interest in the creative process and personalities of actors.That also included acting itself, attitude to characters, methodology and techniques, audience's perception, coping with criticism, stage-or film-related [5].
The tradition was maintained of subsequent reports being published which benefited from the development of psychometrics and statistics.The publications of the day would pursue a variety of topics: the actor's identity and how this experience reflected on the perception process [6], personality and styles of coping with stress in theatrical actors [7] and ergonomics-related social and psychological risks in the acting profession [8].The author of this paper has an over-20-year track record publishing research articles and books on the personalities and hierarchy of values of prominent Polish actors, inclusive of longitudinal studies [9][10][11][12][13][14].
It is worth emphasising the specifics of the creativity of acting and the differences in manifestations when they are viewed against other areas of artistic activity [15][16][17][18][19]. Firstly, the actor as a human being is identical to the 'creative product', the stage character.When a painter creates a painting, he/she needs paints, canvas, etc.A composer needs an instrument, tools to record his/her musical notations, etc. Apparently, an actor is a person and creative medium in one.Moreover, with no distance between the work, i.e., the role and the creator, the art of acting is nothing but striving to create and maintain distance, also a material distance, between the role and the performer.According to the late Gustaw Holoubek, one of the most prominent Polish actors, this intervention originates internally, within the actor, and the greater the degree of dissimilarity between the stage character and its creator, the greater the degree of independence of the character's being [20] Other prominent authors, creators and theatre people appear to share this view [21,22].
The unique quality of being an actor involves, inter alia, the challenge of getting over the contradiction between being oneself and being the character played in the performance.Yet one more reason to view actors as compelling subjects of psychology studies, including through the Rorschach test.The creative process takes place during a conscious and intentional act and is based on one's personality.This view has been expressed in speech or writing by many who practice the profession, including the subjects of this study [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34].
The foregoing makes this group of outstanding artists, who are also renown lecturers and instructors in drama or film schools, a very special group of subjects to be studied and interpreted for different personality dimensions.Furthermore, due to the very sense of identity that distinguishes actors from other professional groups, the research environment may allow for many isolated aspects of personality to be identified and explored.
For example, the need for maturation may have a special function, although it is always clearly discernible as a value by the artist.Ernst Kris wrote that whatever compels the artist to create, "to reveal his arspoetica, is done in order to (...) overcome the barriers between ego and other, and consequently to achieve communication between human egos" [35].

Objective: Personality maturity, emotional sphere, social relations
To define the type of emotionality, Herman Rorschach considered it essential for his method to determine the type of experiencing in order to define the type of emotionality.The type of experiencing reflects personality maturity and an individual's preferred core lifestyle, values and behaviours.Above all, it indicates personality maturity or its lack [36].
With actors constantly developing and recreating a wealth of resources they utilize in various artistic projects, the Rorschach's approach seems to be instrumental to analyse the personalities of outstanding actors.It is also easier to understand some of the elements specific to this professional group, such as creative crises, breakdowns or various nuisances and the struggles against them, if viewed from the angle of studied personality.The Rorschach Inkblot Method is an excellent tool for assessing these conditions [37][38][39].
In view of the problem tackled in this research paper and the goal of this publication, which is to determine the type of relationship among the different elements of actors' personalities, such as maturity of personality versus immaturity, emotional sphere (type of experiencing), and the role of interpersonal relationships, it seems justified to draw on Piotrowski's and other researchers work to isolate and analyse the following areas more closely [40][41][42][43][44]11]: Ԡ personality maturity -corresponds to such codes systems as FC, M, FM, m Ԡ emotional sphere (type of experiencing) -Słowa kluczowe: Test Rorschacha, typ przeżywania, dojrzałość emocjonalna, relacje interpersonalne corresponds M : C Ԡ interpersonal relations -corresponds to such code systems as H with Hd, M, and A with Ad.There are many systems for recording and interpreting inkblots in the Rorschach inkblot test.The system used in this article is that of Z. Piotrowski, i.e. the American-based response code [40].
There are many definitions of a mature personality.Maturity of personality can be approached in many ways, with the majority of approaches emphasising the importance of having a well-developed and extensive selfimage, the ability to self-understand and self-manage one's internal needs, the ability to maintain one's emotional security, function with a certain degree of optimism and the ability of self-objectification and to follow a coherent hierarchy of values.It is not uncommon for studies of mature people to emphasise the ability of self-control [45,46].
A mature personality defined in a model way is firmly linked to a correct adjustment process.Interpersonal skills that manifest themselves in an individual's behaviours have a key role in their adjustment to the conditions of the environment.The level and extent of human adaptation can be explained as the relationships between the structure of personality, its traits and a set of interpersonal skills [47].
Personality maturity can be defined and measured with the use of the response codes applied by Rorschach and his followers FC; M, FM m (including the types of movements: Extensor, Flexor, Blocked).They indicate the control of the behaviour of the emotional sphere by rational inference, awareness and adjustment [40,41,48,44,39,50,51,46].
The concept of movement in Piotrowski's M code [40] reflects the subject's deep and most individual tendencies.These define one's life goals and attitudes to life and oneself.It can be said that seeing a human figure in motion reflects the core of mature personality.Piotrowski refers to it as the model role, or the prototypal role, which shapes a person's entire life.The prototypal role does not have to be fully conscious, but individuals giving a sufficient number of appropriate M responses are capable of effective self-control and delayed gratification; these individuals also have better insight into other people and themselves.Animal movement responses (FM) or inanimate movement responses (m) reveal tendencies less strongly integrated with personality as a whole, often unconscious and related mainly to the sphere of drives [52,53].

Method -description of the target group
Obtaining reliable results from psychological research often depends on non-test variables, such as establishing rapport with the subject.This element proved particularly important in the case study of prominent artists.Theatre and art have been at the centre of the author's interests for decades, and it facilitated the interactions.Although the actors had very busy schedules, they would fit the interviews in to take part in the study.The technique of conducting the inkblot task developed by Rorschach was carried out strictly according to instructions.Actors were admitted to the group of outstanding artists, subject to evaluation by the panel of eight competent judges who were renown stage directors, theatre and film critics, scriptwriters and producers.The evaluation criteria included, inter alia, the level of professionalism, talent and general public approval.
The tests were administered individually in Warsaw, Krakow and Wrocław, either in the artists' private homes or in theatres, in isolated locations.The artists showed a great understanding of the test and interest in the research.They were willing to share their observations regarding both the method itself and problems in their professional or personal lives.The subjects (except for one) were genuinely interested in the outcomes.The author therefore met with the artists again to communicate the outcome of the research.The overwhelming majority of subjects expressed positive surprise at the accuracy of the picture obtained in the psychological instruments.
The study group consisted of 40 outstanding Polish actors (19 women and 21 men) who enjoyed international recognition in film roles and awards.The subjects ranged in age from 32 to 63 years (mean age 44.7 years; SD = 9.31).All the actors were professionally active and worked in theatres in Poland and abroad.The study participants (in alphabetical order) were: Mariusz Benoit, Jerzy Bińczycki, The age ranges of the two groups and the main Group A were similar.
The Rorschach examines various aspects of personality: the emotional-volitional side, the structure of needs, interpersonal relations and, indirectly, the intellectual sphere and type of mentality.In terms of how this test was administered, the subject perceives irregular inkblots and makes choices as to what they see in them.There are no precepts without selection.Selection is a function of personality, its mental level, interests, quality and intensity of emotions.Therefore, a selection from among the precepts is an important indicator of the subject's psychological attributes [42,44].While the subject is invited to select his/her associations with the categories of location, form, colour or content, there is also an option to accept no verbal response or the option of another emotional response.
According to Piotrowski, the subject's treatment of the blots speaks of functioning and responding in a social environment.Both hesitance and emotional exaggeration in a response can be indicative of the subject's general behaviour [41].
The inkblot task Rorschach used in the present study of outstanding Polish actors can be used to produce a quantitative and qualitative description of the subjects' personalities.The statistical analysis of the psychogram results involves ranking, mean separation and application of the test of differences (chi-square), which is also recommended by other rorschachists [43,54,40,48,55,52].

Results and discussion
The outcomes of the Rorschach study, as presented by Piotrowski [40] and Grzywak-Kaczyńska [44], provide a general psychogram for the group of outstanding artists, an analysis of maturity scores, types of experiencing and an assessment of interpersonal relations with statistically significant differences highlighted.Psychogram number 1 below shows global scores of the group of outstanding Polish actors.
The number of responses given by the study group to the Rorschach was average (24).The percentage of responses to cards IV+VI (18%) and to cards VIII-X (30%) appears to have been coded concordantly.The former result indicates an above-standard way of coping with difficult situations and also the ability of the outstanding actors who were subjects to successfully tackle distressing states.The latter result indicates a slightly reduced influence of emotional stimuli from the environment on intellectual activity.With concordance between the two indicators, a picture is drawn of a personality that frequently experiences difficult situations or challenges and requires the ability to distance oneself from them, which clearly and adequately identifies the nature of the actor's work.Bearing in mind the fact that the mean age of the subjects was almost 45, they were all mature people.The proportion is probably related to a history of experiencing frustrating situations and coping with them successfully.In view of the choice of so stressful and socially challenging a profession, this ability must not be underestimated by any of the subjects in the future.Without many years of training in overcoming frustrations and failures, without being quick at 'getting your act together ' after a defeat, no one can dream of success in this profession.Outstanding Polish actors are a group that is highly immune to stressful situations.They seem to draw on them as drivers for action to carry out their creative work.The subjects acknowledge this themselves: "The audience is a challenge for me, I treat them as opponents, I put up a fight against them.I have to control, win and convince them for the sake of the role I play" [28,56].
A slight difference between the mean initial response time to coloured cards (12.9 seconds) and the mean initial response time to dark cards (10.3 seconds) indicates a tendency to succumb to emotions and moods.Nonetheless, the responses support the foregoing interpretation of coping with difficult situations with promptness.This is undoubtedly unique to this particular group [12,18].One of the actresses, the rector of a theatre school, provided more evidence in support of this specific discipline by saying, "Celebrate and ponder on your success for one day, of your defeat for three days and then get back to work" [19].
There is a slight predominance of W over D in the way the blot areas are taken in and comprehended.The sequence order is loose.Outstanding actors present a mixed type of mind, with the ability to analyse surpassing that of synthesising, for not all W-responses are positive.Notably, the actors in this group tend to be premature in their generalisations.They do not, however, focus on details.Such results were interpreted likewise by Hunca-Bednarska [57] and Matsuda [46].The subjects generally did not attach weight to the precision of their thinking, although their intellectual levels can be classified as higher.In view of W + (9), movement codes (M = 3.9), the percentage value of A + Ad (35.5),which indicates the level of stereotypy, % F + (85), which reflects the ability of controlled, critical thinking and the percentage of original responses (22.3%), this indicates the quality of responses.It is only fair to say that the foregoing figures reached a level indicative of high intellectual potential in the actors who were part of the study.
In the psychograms of creative individuals, inclusive of actors, a distinction is made between original abstract responses concerning the whole blot (W), which are usually fewer in number (they are characteristic of creative theorists, researchers, scholars, scientists), and those characteristic of artists (W, D, combined SW, SD) [58,48].The Polish actors, who were the subjects of the study, often combined different elements of the blot in their responses, producing rich/eloquent, combined statements.Examples of such original responses (W) often % W 53.6 % D 40.6 % DR 5.7 S 0.4 W : M = 14.4 : 3.9 M : C = 3.9 : 5.9 FC : /CF + C/ = 2.5 : /2.0 + 1.5/ FC : CF : C = 4.7 : 1.9 : 1.0 M : /FM + m/ = 3.9 : /0.Source: own research combined responses (WD, SW) include the following: I -Tsar's crown (W) -the sea with turtles dying on the shore (WD) V -theatre costume of Elizabeth I (W) VI -A bird's head sticking out from a hollow (DW) VII -Mother Courage pulling a trolley (SW) IX -a strongman letting gnomes out of a bottle (WD) X -a Japanese fan (W); Paris by night with all the lights on, here is the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées, bunting/flags (DW).Many Rorschachanists emphasise the role of M responses in artists' protocols [41,48,52,51,59].They report that it is proportional to W response and original responses, and inversely proportional to the percentage A + Ad, which was confirmed by the analysed psychogram.
M responses are specific representations of creative ability, artistic talents and religious experiences and reflect the level of maturity.This code may cover three types of movements: extensor, blocked and flexor, with their numbers showing the level of intuitive, artistic thinking.Complex, combined expressions are characteristic of artists.Silhouettes often appear in the background; characters are combined into stories [48,9,19].
From the psychogram of the outstanding Polish actors we can infer the level of maturity of the subjects, their insight into their own personalities, their lives and professional experiences.With regard to the type of experiencing, the subjects scored (M : C = 3.9 : 5.9), which can be assessed as ambiequivalent, differentiated [48].It denotes creative imagination and propensity for reflection, which is balanced by external activity and considerable emotionality.
The psychogram is dominated by codes reflecting the emotional sphere by the intellect (FC : CF : C = 4.7 : 1.9 : 1.0), good adjustment (P = 4.2).The W to M ratio is favourable (14.4 : 3.9).It indicates the artists' life momenta, plans and imaginations as much as their ability to realise their potentials.Life activity is characterised by decisiveness (EM extensor movement 4.3), with high activity, even aggression shading (c' 2.0).This attitude can cause conflict with people who may be perceived as rivals (H + Hd = 23.6%).The tendency also emerged strongly in the response content.There was a lot of criticism of the characters who were seen in the blots or the qualities they present.That was usually due to the projection mechanisms of the subjects, e.g.: "people arguing; someone standing watching the duellists, the result is up to him; two women gossiping; people shouting at each other".
The Rorschach cards elicited shock responses in the actors.The highest saturation of such responses was found in the cards with sexual content (VI 0.5, VII 0.4, IX 0.4), and card IV -the 'paternal' card (0.4 chiaroscuro shock).Cards I and V did not produce shocks.It should be noted that sexual associations were often explicitly projected by subjects (hence a reduced number of sexualcontent responses hidden in codes At, Ats, Rtg -1.4 in total), but were largely evoked by card II (0.2). Colour shock, according to Piotrowski [41] and Bohm [48], is typical of artists.
Overall, the psychogram of this group can be considered rich.It should also be noted that many of the individual psychograms were characterised by a wide variety of content and form.

Maturity of personality as a goal and mode of functioning of artists
The need for maturity encompasses many aspects relating as much to the emotional sphere as the sphere of social relations/interpersonal relations.It is certainly worth one's while to ask the following question: Does the artist need maturity of personality?Or the converse: Will an immature personality give the artist a more powerful argument in his/her artistic work?
The author has already proven in the course of her original research that the more coherent the hierarchy of values held by actors and the higher the sense of purpose in their lives, the greater the integrity of their self-image as well as the higher the sense of purpose and fulfilment in life [11,19,14].Considering that all the subjects of the study were outstanding persons, the following thesis fits with the test outcome and can be put forward: the actor needs maturity as a person who functions in a complex reality, let alone a non-artistic/off-stage reality (e.g., as a manager of his/or her own theatre, a foundation or private non-artistic activity), somewhat more than as a performer.The opinions of the subjects sounded remarkably unanimous in this department.Nonetheless, when asked for the purpose of the Rorschach protocol, they would say that "the actor needs maturity to build more mature roles on the stage" and "to improve the acting technique, artistic technique" is needed.In the psychological interview, subjects asked about this sphere said: maturity is necessary for an actor to build a more mature role on stage", and it is necessary "to improve one's professional and artistic skills", because "in changing times, as a mature person I can cope better", because "maturity means responsibility", and "an immature actor is a ham actor".
Since this issue has already been resolved by the subjects themselves, it remains to be seen how this personality trait is shaped in the results of the Rorschach tests.
Assessing the level of maturity involves a number of codes.It concerns, inter alia, such spheres as reflectiveness, insight, constructiveness and attitude.Maturity of personality guarantees better insight into oneself; it is the ability to empathise, to reflect, and last but not least, it means satisfying interactions with other people.Below are listed some of the Rorschach indicators considered relevant to level of maturity.They generally include: Ԡ an above-average number of responses Ԡ many M+, W , D -combined responses Ԡ a high percentage of F+ Ԡ a large number of original responses Ԡ few common responses Ԡ low percentage of A + Ad Ԡ loose or inverted sequence Ԡ ambiequal, differentiated type of experiencing, M > C frequently Ԡ many occurrences of m Ԡ scenic, fairy-tale and mythical descriptions Ԡ frequent impressions in content, descriptions of emotions (colour shocks) [40,48,60,59].
In an assessment of maturity and empathy in the Rorschach test based on the configuration of M, FM, and m codes, Braun-Gałkowska distinguished six types of dependency.Her concept was followed to identify the following spheres in the present study [54]: 1. M > (FM + m), with M > 2. The subject has a good ability to understand other people and their dominant characteristic is maturity, i.e., their behaviour is guided by reflection rather than reflexes.
2. M > (FM + m), with M < 3. The subject has low reflexivity, however, with low vitality it is sufficient for them not to act hastily.3. M < (FM + m), with M > 2. The subject has the ability for empathy: his behaviour is characteristic of youthfulness with vivid responsiveness, with spontaneity predominating reflection.4. M < (FM + m), with M < 3. The subject is unable to empathise with other people; their behaviour is driven by impulses ignoring reflection. 5. M = (FM + m), with M > 2. The subject's personality is dynamic, active.It is predominantly characterised by a high degree of vitality, although he or she is capable of reflection and empathy.6. M = (FM + m), with M < 3. The subject is not very dynamic and has no tendency to act with haste.Many of these coding criteria are confirmed in this study.Nonetheless, these qualities are also indicative of a certain level of maturity that is essential for an artist.It is also a source of ideas and creative realisations.
For comparison, actors from cities (B) and small towns (C) were examined in two control groups of 40 subjects each.This part of the article only reveals a small profile of the results obtained by these groups.They will be presented in a separate article, also due to the extensiveness of the results.The results of the dependencies among particular groups of the subjects (A, B, C) and maturity types are presented in Table 1.
The examination of the level of differences was completed, with the chi-square test proving significant for these sets (chi 2 = 22.9; p>0.001).This means that there is a high statistical dependency between a given type of maturity and the group tested.
It should be noted that as many as 65.9% of the actors out of the 120 strong group found themselves in the categories that emphasise the predominance of reflective over reflexive action.The outstanding percentage (34.1)was characterised by either reduced vital dynamics or decidedly impetuous, immature behaviour.As many as 45.0% of the remaining artists fell into the first category, where the emphasis on mature mechanisms is the strongest of all the categories.The fourth category by Source: own research way of analogy brings impetuous, immature behaviour to the fore, with the lowest number of subjects in this group (6 people, i.e., 15.0%).
These results are the converse of those that would have us see all artists as egocentric, immature or narcissistic individuals.In general, outstanding artists turn out to show a good level of reflection, responsibility and activity [55,61].
Repeatedly emphasised by Rorschach [36], Piotrowski [40] and Bohm [48], the importance of establishing the type of experiencing (M to C ratio) for the assessment of creative ability is equally stressed in this study.This ratio was analysed, as it logically complements the assessment of maturity in the subjects.
The subjects were divided into three types to reflect their richness of experience: 1. Rich experiencing type.Regardless of their typological tendencies towards introversion or extraversion, subjects have a developed emotionality and a good level of reflective capacity (M and C > 2). 2. Subjects have no reflective capacity or rich emotionality.They are not very active (M and C < 3). 3. Intermediate type in terms of richness of experience (M > 2, C < 3, or M < 3, C > 2 [54].
The results of the groups of the actors who were the subjects in this study are shown in Table 2.
In this group of dependencies, the significance of differences reached a high level (chi 2 = 13.8;p> 0.007).This means that there are statistically significant differences between the study groups which manifest themselves through the listed categories.The results show that the majority of the artists, who were subject of the study (55%), were characterised by a rich type of experiencing.Their reflective capacities reached a significant level.Only 6.7% of the subjects showed little emotional and intellectual activity.The remaining percentage fell into the intermediate type [62,63,64].

Conclusion
To summarise the outcome of the Rorschach test, it should be noted that it contains an immense diversity of personalities and a wealth of information.This relates to the very matter of the projective method and personal attitudes to the test.The actors genuinely appreciated being offered an opportunity to present their imagination and thereby express their own intellectual activities and initiatives.
With the employment of a projective tool, such as the Rorschach method, the outcome is a multifaceted presentation of personality.This richness deserved to be and was recognised despite the dictates of the statistical methods that required the analyses to be based on quantitative data.The method provided many valuable insights into the overall interpretation of the outcomes.It indirectly showed a capacity for empathy, general personality maturity and adequate interpersonal relations among the actors in the main study group.Therefore, the answer to the question posed in the title of the article may be positive.The study revealed indicators of competition, which can stimulate, for example, aggressive behavior, but the overall profile indicates good adaptation and control of emotions.
As individuals, artists, who are endowed with these qualities, present an incalculable value to themselves as much as to any art recipient.The maturity of personality that they display can be a measure of mature creativity and certainly a model for other actors.
The outcome of the above research has already been successfully utilised in drama schools and by independent providers of acting courses in Poland, where working with a psychologist is based on a properly designed course covering training in acting techniques and work methodology as well as shaping such dimensions of the personality that support further development.
In light of the foregoing, the coming years should see more psychological research reports on this compelling professional group of subjects.
I confirm all the subjects have provided appropriate informed consent.

Table 2 .
Levels of the type of experiencing in different study groups: A. outstanding actors, B. large-city actors, C. small-town actors (N = 120).
Source: own research