Lusher-Diagnostics

Every psychological theory that wants to understand man without his striving for meaning, without harmony, sees only partial aspects. It lacks the necessary order of meaning that belongs a priori to the essence of man. (Max Lüscher)

Max Lusher's interest in physiognomics and the science of expression motivated him to study research methods intensively at the age of 16. The school psychologist and university lecturer for applied psychology Ernst Probst recognized his psychological talent. He encouraged him by giving him various tasks, such as investigating the significance of color in the Rorschach test. This was the beginning of Lusher's color diagnostics. Until the first presentation of the color test at the World Congress of Psychology in Lausanne in 1947, five years of intensive research work passed before he was able to conclude it in 1949 with his dissertation on “Color as a Psychological Means of Examination”. In his dissertation, he outlines in a few sentences the considerations on the choice of color as a psychodiagnostic method of a personality test.

Colour as an instrument

Max Lusher started from the principle that the appearance of color is objective for human perception. Starting from this fact, he directed his interest to the individual experience of a certain color appearance. With the help of categorical psycho-logic, he developed a method with which the objective meaning of the color quality can be determined. Once the objective meaning is established, conclusions can be drawn about individual inclinations and needs based on the reactive behavior of the individual. All test colors were categorically determined in this way.

If it can be determined generally and independently of culture that, for example, the test color orange-red is perceived as stimulating and therefore active, in contrast to the calming and therefore passive effect of dark blue, then the color can be used as an instrument in its psychological meaning. If the individual now experiences the actively perceived effect as more sympathetic than the passive one in the course of the test, statements can be made about the preferred behavior patterns due to the similarity of the experiences, i.e., experiences of the same category. Put simply, the clear preference for active experiences allows statements to be made about the possible behaviors in specific life situations. In addition, the test also shows the degree of intensity of the preference, so that statements can also be made about the characteristics of the behavior, such as the gradation from “engaged” to “aggressive, provocative” to “hysterical”.

If it can be determined in general and independent of culture that, for example, the test color orange-red is perceived as stimulating and thus as active, in contrast to the calming effect of dark blue, which is perceived as passive, it can be used as an instrument in its objective psychological meaning. If the individual now experiences the actively perceived effect as more sympathetic than the passive one in the course of the test, statements can be made about the preferred behavior patterns due to the similarity of the experiences, i.e., experiences of the same category. Put simply, the clear preference for active experiences allows statements to be made about the possible behaviors in specific life situations. In addition, the test also shows the degree of intensity of the preference, so that statements can also be made about the characteristics of the behavior, such as the gradation from “engaged” to “aggressive, provocative” to “hysterical”.

The colors required for the test procedure were conceptually developed within the framework of structural functional psychology in clinical studies lasting several years. The advantage of non-verbal color diagnostics lies in the spontaneous reaction of the test individuals to a sufficiently known and familiar phenomenon — the appearance quality of the color. Since the categories of psycho-logic are derived from the subject-object relation as a logical basic function, they capture all possible attitudes to the environment and fellow human beings, as well as to oneself — and thus all modes of experience and behavior.

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