House Tree Person
(HTP)
Projective Personality Test
The Projective Techniques
Projective tests allow the examinee to respond to vague stimuli with
their own impressions
Assumption is that the examinee will project his unconscious needs,
motives, and conflicts onto the neutral stimulus
Word association tests, inkblot tests, sentence completion tests,
storytelling in response to pictures, etc.
Cont..
Three features:
Disguised: no face validity
Global: the whole personality
Reveals unconscious aspects of personality
Types:
Inkblot: Rorschach
Picture interpretation: TAT
Sentence completion: Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank
Picture construction: DAP
Merits & Demerits
Merit: Because of the scope provided by the tests, individuals project
their own personalities onto the stimulus, often revealing personal
conflicts, motivations, coping styles, and other characteristics while
scoring.
Demerit: Compared to the more objective questionnaire-type
personality assessments, projective tests are difficult to score which
required supervised training, and questions are often raised about their
degree of reliability and validity
Cont..
The one main good point of projective tests are that the test taker
doesn't know how the tester will use the responses. This will decrease
the possibility of the test taker faking in a test.
The second good point is these indirect approaches can be useful to
reveal unconscious parts of the person's personality. However, these
responses should be interpreted with caution, for there is a great risk of
inaccuracy
Cont..
In most cases, not enough research has been done on such tests to
determine scientifically how effective they actually are in assessing
personality.
In addition to their weaknesses in terms of reliability and validation,
projective tests also require more time and skill to administer than more
objective testing methods.
However, they continue to be employed because of their usefulness in
helping psychologists obtain a comprehensive picture of an individual's
personality
Cont..
The results are most useful when combined with information obtained
from personal observation, other test scores, and familiarity with a
client's previous history.
In addition, projective tests make it especially difficult for subjects to
skew their answers in a particular direction as they may sometimes
attempt to do with other types of assessment
HOUSE TREE PERSON
House Tree Person
Author: John N Buck
Developed in 1947 with revisions in 1948, 1949, and 1992
Based on the Draw-A-Man personality test created by Florence
Goodenough in 1926, it was originally designed to assess children’s
intelligence.
House Tree Person
HTP is a projective personality test, wherein a person responds to a
given stimuli, and the responses give clues about the person’s hidden
emotions or internal conflicts.
The individual taking the test is asked to draw primary objects like a
house, tree, and a person; that’s why the name. These drawings render
a measure of self perceptions and attitudes inherent in a personality.
Purpose
Designed to aid clinician in obtaining information concerning an
individual’s sensitivity, maturity, flexibility, efficiency, degree of
personality integration, and interaction with the environment.
Provides a structured context for the projection of unconscious material.
Buck felt that artistic creativity represents a stream of flow onto graphic
art. He believed that through drawings, subjects objectified unconscious
differences by sketching the inner image of the primary process.
Recommended Use
Use in combination with other projective measurement instruments,
usually given first as an “ice-breaker”
Age limits
Anyone over 3 years of age
Especially appropriate for individuals who are non-English-speaking,
culturally different, educationally deprived, or developmentally disabled
Administration
The therapist provides all the necessary materials like paper, pencils, and
an eraser.
The person taking the test is first asked to draw house, tree and a person
on a white sheet of paper
While the person is drawing, the analyst takes the opportunity to pay
attention to their attitudes, words, and anything else that they
demonstrate. For example, frustration, anger, joy, or any other emotion.
The client is allowed to erase, but the therapist takes into account
how they do this. For instance, completely erasing the picture once it’s
finished has one meaning. While only erasing a part of it with the intention
of improving it has a different significance.
Later questions based on his/her illustration are asked
Time Factors and Considerations
No time limit
Paper given to client to draw on should be blank
This is a projective, not a diagnostic test
Not “standardized”- No norms/no standardization data available
The test is used by clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, and
educators
An effective tool in evaluating brain damage in patients with
schizophrenia
Post-Drawing Questions
House
Is it a happy house?
What is the house made of?
Who stays in the house?
What goes on inside the house?
Do people visit the house?
Cont..
Tree Person
Is the tree alive? Who is the person?
What kind of a tree is it? How does that person feel?
What season is it? Is that man/woman happy?
How old would that tree be? How old is that person?
Who waters the tree? What does the person like
doing?
Interpretation
The interpretation of the HTP test is said to be a difficult task.
The older version included both, quantitative and qualitative elements
for interpreting results. However, the quantitative assessment methods
are no more considered appropriate, with the progress in testing
methods.
So, interpretation relies heavily on subjective reading of the pictorial
representations.
Every sketch can symbolize many ideas: the level of satisfaction
with the house at present, degree of rigidity of the subject’s
personality, contact with reality, fears or obsessions, intra-
personal balance, the person’s subconscious picture of his/her
development, etc.
Interpretation
The house projects the home, present family situation and relationships
with others
The tree represents the patient’s deepest or inner concept.
The person is a kind of self-portrait or self-image that includes their
consciousness and defense mechanisms.
Cont..
HTP test, measures the person’s psychological and emotional
functioning. The house reflects the person’s experience of their
immediate social world. The tree is a more direct expression of the
person’s emotional and psychological sense of self. The person is a more
direct reflection of the person’s sense of self.
For example,
A very small house might indicate rejection of one's home life.
A tree that has large expansive branches might indicate a need for
satisfaction.
A drawing of a person that has a lot of detail in the face might
indicate a need to present oneself in an acceptable social light
Cont..
The quality of the information obtained will depend on the
attitude with which the patient faces the task. It’ll also depend a great
deal on the skill of the analyst in differentiating between elements that
are relevant from those that are not.
House
Roof: The intellectual side of a person. It is associated with fantasizing and
ideation too. Too little focus on the roof may suggest fears of ghosts in the
attic.
Wall: An indication of how strong one’s ego is.
Doors and Windows: The relation of the person with the world outside. It
hints at the receptiveness, interaction with others, and perception about the
environment.
Size: If the house is small, it might mean a rejection of one’s life at home.
Pathways: Those leading directly to the door exemplify accessibility and
openness, unlike when there is no pathway, indicating a closed, solitary, and
distant state of mind. A fencing around the house could be a sign of
defensiveness.
Tree
Tree Trunk: The inner strength of an individual might be suggested
from the tree trunk drawn. A slender trunk and large branches may
suggest a need for satisfaction. Dark shadings of the trunk suggest
anxiety about one’s self.
Branches: These might also hint towards an individual’s relation with
the external world. A tree drawn without branches might indicate less
contact with other people.
Tree crown: The tree crown stands for ideas, thoughts, and self-
concept
Person
The person drawn of the same gender is usually taken to be the test-taker
himself or herself.
Arms and Hands: The hands give information about affectivity and
aggressiveness. Position of the hands, open of closed fists, and specific
gestures, if any, indicate behavioral traits.
Legs and Feet: Drawing or not drawing feet, and the stance or the overall body
posture is reflected from little strokes of lines, helping gauge inherent emotions
like fear.
Face: A lot of details concentrated on the face of the person drawn can be
representative of one’s desire to present oneself in an
acceptable/satisfactory/adequate social light.
Head: The head symbolizes intelligence, communication, and imagination.
Eyes: The eyes indicate the perception of the world.
Other Aspects of Drawings
Dimension of objects
Location of objects
Level of detail
Strokes and lines
Test takers attitudes
Cont..
Dimensions of objects
The dimensions of objects in a drawing are thought to indicate the level
of self-esteem and confidence. A very small house, for example, might
show the individual’s dissatisfaction with life at home.
Level of detail
The level of detail is another revealing factor in outlining the
respondent’s personality through drawing. A very detailed face might
indicate a need to present oneself in a favorable social light. On the
contrary, pictures lacking details often indicate depression.
Cont..
Location of objects
The location of objects on the page is also charged with significance.
Drawings close to the top of the page are considered being related to
dreams and imagination, while the ones at the bottom are connected to
the physical world. Drawing on the right side of the page is linked to the
future, in the center are related to the present, and left to the past.
Strokes and lines
The pressure, firmness, and solidity of strokes and lines indicate
determination and decision-making facilities. The same line drawn twice
shows insecurity, dissatisfaction, or perfectionism. Emotional strength,
high self-esteem and confidence, on the contrary, are reflected in the
firmness of the lines.
Cont..
Test taker’s attitude
In addition to all of the above elements, therapists also consider the test
taker’s attitude, words, and gestures while drawing. Any display of
frustration, anger, or satisfaction is taken into account in test analysis.
Advantages & Limitations
Good ice-breaker to use in preparation for other tests
Good for engaging reluctant clients
Used for any ages over 3
Useful for non-verbal clients
Useful for non-English speaking clients
Limitations
Interpretation may be influenced by clinician bias/prejudice
This test is not considered to be reliable or valid by many, as it is mainly
a subjectively scored personality test.
There also are variations in how the test is administered: in one or two
phases, all drawings on single or separate sheets of paper, asking to
draw two different persons (one of each gender), either using crayon or
pencil (not both), different questions asked, etc.
Video
https://youtu.be/J87xrHy748Q
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