PROJECTIVE TESTS

HOUSE-TREE-PERSON

HOUSE-TREE-PERSON

Take out one piece of paper. You will need to accommodate enough room on the paper to draw three distinct items.

Take 3 minutes to draw:

1. A house

2. A Tree

3. A Person

INTERPRETING THE HOUSE

Notice the size of the house: a small house represents renunciation of family life, while a large house means the person is overwhelmed by his family.

Observe the walls of the house: weak lines represent fragility in the ego, while strong lines mean the need to fortify boundaries.

Determine the amount of detail put into the roof: the more detail, the more the person concentrates on fantasies, while an incomplete roof means evading formidable ideas.

Note the inclusion of windows, doors and sidewalks, which indicate openness to interacting with other people.

Discern the inclusion of bushes, shades, shutters, bars and curtains, which indicate a person's hesitation to open himself to others.

INTERPRETING THE TREE

Notice the size of the trunk: a small trunk represents a weak ego, while a large trunk means a larger ego.

Observe whether the trunk is split in half, which indicates a split personality.

Determine what kind of limbs were drawn: detached or small branches represent a difficulty communicating with others, big branches mean connecting with others too much, pointy branches indicate hostility and dead branches represent desolation.

Note whether leaves are included: drawing leaves represents successfully connecting with others, while no leaves means emptiness and detached leaves indicates a lack of nurturance.

Discern the details of the roots of the tree: while normal roots represent a grounded person, a lack of roots means instability, exaggerated roots indicate an obsession with examining reality and dead roots represent feeling completely removed from reality.

INTERPRETING THE PERSON

Notice the position of the arms: open arms represent an inclination to connect with others, closed arms mean hostility and disconnected arms indicate defenselessness.

Observe the position of the hands: pointed fingers and balled fists represent hostility, while hidden or gloved hands mean antisocial tendencies.

Note the details of the legs and feet: figures cut off at the bottom of the paper represent powerlessness, while both large and small feet mean the need for greater stability.

Determine the details of the mouth: an open or large mouth represents dependence, a closed mouth means rejection of needs and a slash mouth or teeth indicate verbal hostility.

Discern how detailed the face is: the use of more facial details indicates a person's need to portray himself in an acceptable way.

RORSCHACH TEST

Directions: For each of the inkblots, briefly write down what you see.

IF YOU SAW

X-ray: this suggests you have things welling up inside you that you want to express, but you'd prefer to suffer in silence and not rock the boat. You find it hard to say no in general. Professor: You are benevolent, self-effacing, and a very good friend and thinker. Stingray or skate: You tend to put yourself second, and are familiar, though not necessarily comfortable, with being elbowed aside by more powerful characters. As a result you can sometimes be apologetic to a fault.

IF YOU SAW

emus: You feel the pull of the highlife  -  though, sometimes, you don't like how you feel the next day; you waver between extreme moods, taking yourself too seriously or just not caring. Beetle: You are very hard-working; success comes naturally to you. You lay your plans, and follow them through. sunglasses, bra or beard: You like dressing up, although you can worry excessively about what people think of you and seek external solutions  to internal problems.

IF YOU SAWStrong man: this suggests you are highly capable, mastering everything you turn your hand to. You are naturally gifted and extremely determined. You pride yourself on always being equal to the challenge. Scorpion: You are highly tuned, like a gymnast, so diet and sleeping can be problematic, since you are physically very sensitive, but not emotionally; anything that smacks of therapy gets on your nerves. Fallopian tubes: You have a sense of stalled potential, of putting an enormous amount into life, yet still waiting for it to start. Your idea of how things should be  -  for instance, whom you should be with, what you should be doing  -  is very vivid, and if reality falls short of expectations, your considerable achievements provide little consolation.

IF YOU SAW

Clown, face or someone sticking out their tongue: this suggests that you're social and seek out company  -  no one could cal l you a recluse. However, you do have aloof tendencies, a habit that will cause your friends concern. Lady above dolphins: You are charismatic, often in a darkly brooding way. this draws attention to you, which is good for your ego, but it does not necessarily add much to your self-esteem. Cuddly toy: sometimes, when things are difficult, you tend to dwell on your past, a time when you felt you belonged in the world and didn't have to fight constantly to prove yourself.

IF YOU SAW

Mouth: You are a real force  -  your strength of character, accomplishments and expansiveness cause rooms (and lives) to rearrange themselves around you when you walk in. Fledglings pecking: You are very nurturing, lavishing such care on others that it sometimes seems you don't need any in return. You're not entirely sure you deserve to be loved at all. Cat or viper's mouth: Sometimes your relationships can seem like a bicycle tyre with a slow puncture; you can give a huge amount, but still it's not clear that it's working for you. You feel inadequate, though you don't know why.

HEIDER-SIMMEL’S DEMOSTRATION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp8ebj_yRI4

Any response that elicits a “story” with human emotions/ actions is considered normal.

If a subject responds with what is literally happening (meaning shapes are moving) then that indicates possible autism, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses.

Typical responses involve  one of two settings: a school or a house and include themes such as:  a school bully,  an authority figure and 2 children, parents and a child or two parents and one child.

It can bring out many personal experiences that a person is presently dealing with including bullying, trouble relating to authority figures (administrators or police ) divorce, domestic problems, etc.

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PROJECTIVE TESTS: CRITICISMS

Critics argue that projective tests lack both reliability (consistency of results) and validity (predicting what it is supposed to).

1. When evaluating the same patient, even trained raters come up with different interpretations (reliability).

2. Projective tests may misdiagnose a normal individual as pathological (validity).