Posted to Vintage Paperback Forum: I was just 20 years old when this book came out in 1972 and the idea seemed appealing. The Luscher Color Test came with tear out cardboard pages with perforated color squares. I don't remember how it worked but but it seemed like so much claptrap when put into practice. According to Wikipedia "The test ranks high on a published list of discredited procedures in psychology".

Based on original text by dr. Max Luscher

The principle of the Luscher color test is that accurate psychological information can be gained about a person through his choices and rejections of colors. A simplfied version of the test may be taken and interpreted quickly, and the layman can administer it to himself, even before reading this book. In fact, it is advisable that he do so: reading the text beforehand might prejudice his color selections. By simply following the instructions on pages I, II, and III, which explain how to use the eight bound-in color cards and the interpretation tables, the reader will find how psychologically revealing color choices can be.

The Luscher Color Test, despited the ease and speed with which it can be administered, is a 'deep' psychological test, developed for the use of psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians and those who are professionally involved with the conscious and unconscious characteristics and motivations of others. It is NOT a parlor game, and most emphatically it is not a weapon to be used in a general contest of 'one-upmanship.'

Contents

Preliminary instructions for conducting the color
Preliminary interpretation
The Luscher color test
Instructions for conducting the test
Chapter 1 Color Psychology
The origin of color significance
The physiology of color
The development of color vision
'Color blindness' makes no difference
The Luscher test
Chapter 2 Functional psychology
The significance of the eight positions
Interpreting the functions
Chapter 3 The basic and auxiliary colors
Color-coding of the eight colors
Categories of the four basic colors
Combined basic colors
Basic colors should be preferred
The auxiliary colors
Chapter 4 Grouping and marking the 8-color sequence
Chapter 5 Anxieties, compensations and conflicts
Stress-sources
Compensations
Exaggerated compensations
Intensity of the anxiety and compensation
Prognosis
Summary of rules for marking anxieties and compensations
The 'actual problem'
Ambivalence
The rejected or suppressed characteristic
'Emotional' personalities
Conflict between objective and behavior
Instability of the autonomic nervous system
Work and exhausibility
Chapter 6 The meaning of the eight colors
Grey, Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Violet, Brown, Black
Chapter 7 Structural meaning of the color pairs
Chapter 8 Test interpretation
A word of warning
Examples of test analyses
Interpretation tables
Table I: functions
Table II: x functions
Table III: = functions
Table IV: - functions
Table V: - functions
Apendix A: Allocation of !s in a samble of 1000 'normal' adults
Appendix B Optimum and sub-optimium functional groups as shown by the allocation of *s
Literature about the Luscher color est (bibliography)

I used this test decades ago, over a period of time, on girlfriends and acquaintances. I found it surprisingly accurate at the time, and one GF was upset at how well it characterized her. Whether I'd rate its qualities highly today is another story, but probably not one worth testing.

Used this test when I was a grade school teacher to determine how each child learned. I also discovered some mal-nourished students who I referred to the school nurse. ( )

I played around with this book several years ago. The results were accurate enough, but not remarkably so. It's a system of categorizing personality based on color preferences. ( )