Today, there are hundreds of different ways to analyze our personality. Discovering how we are and how we act in different situations in life is an enigma that has always generated great curiosity in us. For this reason, throughout history, different personal analysis instruments have been developed. The house test is part of a set of techniques developed several decades ago. These psychological tests have the objective of discovering each person’s personality using our mind and its projection as the only tool.
If you want to know a little more about your personality and are interested in the house test, its interpretation and how to do it, We invite you to read the following Psychology-Online article.
Origin of the house test
There is a branch of psychology that claims to be able to analyze the personality of an individual through the interpretations of drawings and images. This discipline is very common in psychoanalysis and psychodynamics. To talk about the origin of psychoanalysis, we have to go back more than a century, to the birth of psychological therapy.
At the end of the 18th century, a series of cases of women who claimed to be sick began to be studied. These women did not appear to have any physical illness, however, they showed some mental symptoms and behavior quite serious. At that precise moment, an anatomy professor named Charcot decided to treat his symptoms through hypnosis. Shortly afterward, it was discovered that the women were no longer sick, or at least their symptoms seemed to subside. To this day, the effectiveness of this treatment continues to be discussed. In the following years, different specialists aroused his interest in the mind and its processes, among them was the renowned father of psychoanalysis.
With the arrival of psychoanalysis The curiosity also came to study the personality of individuals, past traumas and present fears. Given this need to study human temperament, a series of instruments called projective techniques. These techniques are based on interpreting what the subject says or does as if everything were an assessment of his personality and his past.
How to do the house test
This tool is one of the best-known projective techniques today. Like other instruments based on drawing such as the or the , the house test is considered a graphic projective technique since it consists of a written or verbal instruction for the individual to make a graphic response. It is an instrument that is usually applied to children since they usually respond better to drawing a drawing than to taking a questionnaire. However, the home test can also be performed on adults.
The procedure is very simple:
- We tell the subject that he has to draw a house on a sheet of paper (which we will have previously given you) and we do not provide you with any more clues, only the instructions of the drawing. The trick is that the more freedom the individual has, the more parts of his personality he will express.
- We observe how he draws, if he crosses things out (a sign of insecurity) or if it takes him a long time to make a specific part of the drawing.
- We carry out a series of questions at the end of the task such as: “This house is inhabited or uninhabited?” either “who lives in it?”. All the information projected through a simple house can be of great help for the subsequent interpretation of the personality.
- We interpret the drawing through a series of already prescribed instructions.
Interpretation of the house projective test
After defining the house test and how to do it, it is time to correctly explain the interpretation of the projective test. This is structured in the different parts of the house, which show different types of personality expressed in it.
The door
A very small door It may reflect the need to protect ourselves from everything around us. However, a big door It is a symptom of extraversion and even dependence on social relationships. Yeah the door is open It can mean that we are willing to communicate without problem and express our emotions. Yeah the door is closed and there are even locks on it, it can mean that we want to protect our privacy or that we are afraid of being judged for our feelings or thoughts.
The Windows
They can be interpreted as the medium through which we see everything that happens around us, therefore, a house no windows expresses fear or refusal to face the reality of our world. Nails large open windows They are equivalent to a great willingness to contact the outside world, to be open with others and not to be afraid. On the other hand, the closed and small windows They can be a symptom of a cautious and reserved personality towards others.
Ceiling
The roof of the house is the equivalent of our mind and our ideas. A very large roof Compared to the house, it can show a personality that is too dreamy or idealistic, with little contact with the real world. A very elaborate roof (with details drawn like the tiles) represents a very rational or creative mind, motivated by ideas but without losing sight of what connects your mind with reality. When the roof is flat It can be a sign that we feel oppressed by what surrounds us or that we have suffered problems in the family unit.
General aspects of the house
- Small house: If we have drawn the house without taking up much space, we may be showing introversion and little desire to attract attention. A small house can also reflect an inferiority complex
- Big house: A big house is usually a clear sign of joy, comfort and a good ability to love and let yourself be loved.
- Castle-like house: This phenomenon tends to occur more in young children and may reflect a lot of imagination or, if the child is older, a desire to escape from reality.
- Remote House: If we have walked a long road before catching a glimpse of the house, we may feel nostalgic or long for something from our past.
Other elements
- The garden: It is usually a good sign to have drawn a garden around the house. Shows good expression and imagination skills. However, if the garden is surrounded by walls or fences that do not allow you to see it, it may be a symptom of aggression and insecurity.
- The trees: The existence of trees in the drawing is usually an expression of abundance and a willingness to give and be part of a society.
- The way: We must analyze the path in a way similar to that of the windows or the door, we draw the paths according to how we feel in relation to the outside world (straight, with stones, forks, curves…)
- Animals: Animals show good emotional support, they are usually the projection of our social support network. Some experts claim that the existence of a sun in the drawing represents our father figure.
- Telephone cables and antennas: These elements are not usually drawn by the little ones. They show an obsessive, extremely detail-oriented personality and a strong need to maintain a routine.
House test: results
Once all the elements of the drawing have been interpreted, we can form a fairly elaborate description of our personality. However, projective techniques are criticized in modern psychology for being so general and subject to so many personal interpretations.
In this article about the house test: interpretation and how to do it, we have provided the necessary tools to be able to make a psychological profile from the analysis of a drawing. If you want to know more about your personality, we recommend taking the following questionnaire: .
What does the drawing a house test mean?
As we have commented throughout this article, this test aims to discover thoughts and elements of our personality that are difficult to access. However, it is important to comment that the meaning of drawings in psychology is a practice that no longer commonly used. It is true that it can serve as a complementary analysis for other tests and it is curious to analyze a drawing in adults or children, however, projective techniques are not usually applied in isolation to analyze the personality of an individual.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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