About the Institute

Founding & Mission

The Institute for Projective Sciences was founded in 1967 in Zürich, Switzerland, as a charitable trust under Swiss law. The founding charter: to develop rigorous methods for interpreting individual responses to ambiguous visual stimuli. Founding Chair: Prof. Alistair W. Croft.

Over five decades, the Institute has assembled the world's most comprehensive collection of standardised projective instruments, conducted longitudinal validation studies across 34 countries, established archival standards for preservation and digitisation, convened leading researchers through biennial symposia, and maintained ethical oversight of assessment methodology research.

Key Milestones

• 1967 — Founded. Prof. Alistair W. Croft appointed Founding Chair.
• 1967–1973 — Development of the Standard Perceptual Reference Set (SPRS).
• 1972 — Dr. Helena M. Voss appointed Vice-Chair. Work on the Full Inkblot Matrix (FIM) begins.
• 1973–1977 — FIM-800 classification period. 800 inkblot stimuli classified across 47 response dimensions.
• 1975 — Prof. Richard S. Taneja joins the Board. Cross-population variance research begins.
• 1985 — Prof. Judith K. Alpern joins the Board. Response latency and semantic categorisation research begins.
• 1990s — Non-clinical applications of projective classification explored.
• 2005–2012 — Active research programme concludes. Archive frozen at 4.7 million protocols.
• 2019–present — Limited governance under the Committee on Succession. Director of Research Integrity: Dr. Cordelia March.

2024 Institutional Review

In 2024, the Institute initiated a comprehensive review of its stimulus materials, validation procedures, and ethical frameworks, prompted by concerns regarding a specific archival item. All recommended remedial measures have been completed. Institutional governance has been strengthened. External oversight has been formalised. Further details.