THE HOUSE-TREE-PERSON

TEST
TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
 Objective Tests
A test consisting of factual questions requiring extremely short
answers can be quickly and unambiguously scored by anyone with
an answer key, thus minimizing subjective judgments by both the
person taking the test and person scoring it.
 Projective Tests
Any psychological test the subject is asked to respond to vague
material. It is thought that unconscious ideas are thus projected,
which when the responses are interpreted, reveal hidden aspects of
the subject’s personality.
Examples: word association tests, inkblot tests, sentence
completion tests, storytelling in response to pictures, the thematic
apperception tests (TAT).
HOUSE-TREE-PERSON
PROJECTIVE DRAWING TECHNIQUE
HISTORY OF HOUSE-TREE-PERSON
PROJECTIVE DRAWING TECHNIQUE
 The House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) projective technique
developed by John Buck.
 The House-Tree-Person was developed in 1948 and
updated in 1969.
 These test was designed to measure personality’s
aspects, was originally based on Goodenough scale of
intellectual functioning. The H-T-P is both qualitative
and quantitative measurement of intellectual ability.
 The administration and scoring manual is consist of 350
pages because the scoring and interpretation is mostly
subjective which is difficult.
PURPOSE OF H-T-P
 The test is a diagnostic tool for clinical psychologists,
educators, and employers
 Measure aspects of a person’s personality.

 Assess brain damage and general mental functioning.

 Projecting inner world onto the page.

 Measure overall neurological functioning in brain.

DESCRIPTION TO USE WITH
 Use in combination with other projective measurement
instruments, usually given first as an “ice-breaker”
 Test taker should be over the age of three, mostly
children and adolescents because this test requires
drawing.
 The test usually requires 150 minutes but take less time
with normally functioning adults and much more time
neurologically impaired individuals.
 Especially appropriate for individuals who are non-
English-speaking, culturally different, educationally
deprived, or developmentally disabled
PRECAUTIONS
 Itis mostly subjective,
 Scoring and interpreting the HTP is difficult.

 Anyone administering the HTP must be properly

trained.
 The test publishers provide a detailed 350-page
administration and scoring manual.
 Use three pieces of plain white 8.5x11 paper.
ADMINISTRATION

Phases

First phase
Second phase
FIRST PHASE
 Test takers are asked to use a crayon to draw pictures of
a house, a tree, and a person.
FIRST PHASE
 Each drawing is done on a separate piece of paper and
the test taker is asked to draw as accurately as possible.
 Upon completion of the drawings, test takers are asked
questions about the drawings.
 There are a total of 60 questions that examiners can ask.

 Examiners can also create their own questions or ask

unscripted follow-up questions.
QUESTIONS
Ask questions after each picture is drawn: 
House 
 Who lives here?

 are they happy?

 What goes on inside?

 What's it like at night?

 Do people visit here?

 What else do the people in the house want to add to the

drawing? 
QUESTIONS
Tree 
 What kind of tree is this?

 How old is it?

 What season is it?

 Has anyone tried to cut it down?

 What else grows nearby?

 Who waters the tree?

 Trees need sunshine to live so does it get enough

sunshine?
QUESTIONS
Person 
 Who is this person?

 How old are they?

 What's their favorite thing to do?

 What's something they do not like?

 Has anyone tried to hurt them?

 Who looks out for them? 

SECOND PHASE
 During the second phase of the test, test takers are asked
to draw the same pictures with a pencil.
SECOND PHASE
 The questions that follow this phase are similar to the
ones in the first phase.
 Some examiners give only one of the two phases,
choosing either a crayon, a pencil, or some other writing
instrument.
VARIATION
 One variation of test administration involves asking the
individual to draw two separate persons, one of each sex.
VARIATION
 Another variation is to have test takers put all the
drawings on one page.
HOW TO START
Use three pieces of plain white 8.5x11 paper, give the
first and say "Here I want you to draw as good a house
as you can "
HOW TO START
 Question, give the next sheet. "Draw as good a tree as
you can"
HOW TO START
 Question, give the next sheet. "Draw as good a person as
you can," (if a profile or head only, say, "Wait, I want
you to draw a whole person, not just the head or
profile").
DRAWING ANALYSIS

Drawings are interpreted using two “paths”; intra-

subjective and inter-subjective
 First path, intra-subjective, considers the content and
quality of the three drawings; also explores the depth of
material behind the drawing
I. Lack of many details, incomplete wholes, and use of very
faint lines are a combination found in subjects who are
deeply depressed.
DRAWING ANALYSIS
II. A ground line sloping downward and away from
the drawn whole on either side may reflect a
feeling of isolation, exposure, and helplessness in
the face of environmental pressures.
• Second path, inter-subjective, considers features
indicative of a certain emotional tendency
HOUSE INTERPRETATIONS
 Associations concerning home-life
 Interfamilial relationships

 Attitude toward their home situation (children)

 Relationships to parents and siblings

 Married adults

 A very small house might indicate rejection of one's

home life
LINES AND WALLS
 the walls might represent the test taker's degree of ego
strength
 Represent boundaries and strengths of the ego,

 Weak lines in the structure of the house are weaknesses

in the ego,
 Strong lines are problems with anxiety and a need to
reinforce boundaries.
ROOF
 The roof might represent one's intellectual side
 Symbolizes the fantasy life, and

 Extra attention to it can indicate extra attention to

fantasy and ideation,
 An extremely large roof suggests that a person is highly
withdrawn or extremely involved with an inner world
fantasy.
ROOF
 If windows are drawn on the roof, the person might tend
to view the environment through a world of fantasy
images.
 While incomplete, tiny, or burning roofs can indicate
avoidance of overpowering and frightening fantasies
(think about fears of ghosts in the attic - these are based
on the association for us) a highly constricted, concrete
orientation.
WINDOWS AND DOORS
 The doors and windows are the portions of the house that
relates to the outside world.
 Small bolted' up houses, or barred windows are doors
suggest that the person might be withdrawn, and
inaccessible, or possibly suspicious or even hostile.
 This is further exaggerated if the doors and windows are
entirely missing.
 An open door and/or many windows suggest strong
needs for contact with others. are all ways that others
enter or see into the house, they relate to openness ,
willingness to interact with others, and ideas about the
environment.
WINDOWS AND DOORS
 However, if the indicators of openness are overdone, the
person might be highly dependant.
 Very large windows , especially in the bedroom, or
bathroom, suggests exhibitionism.
 The absence of windows on the HTP, in combination
with several other features such as enlarged heads,
absence of feet, and extremely geometric figures, have
frequently been found in the drawings of abused children
PATHWAYS
 Pathways that are wide and lead directly to the door
suggest the client is accessible, open and direct.
 In contrast, the absence of a pathway indicates the client
may be closed, distant removed.
 Pathways that are long, and winding may reflect
someone who is initially aloof, but can later warm up
and become accessible.
 If the pathway is extremely wide, the client might
initially express a superficial sense of friendliness but
later become aloof and distant.
PATHWAYS
 The presence of Fences suggests defensiveness.
 If many irrelevant details are included, the client might
be indicating strong needs to exercise a high degree of
structure over his or her environment, perhaps because
of an inner sense of insecurity

 shades, shutters, bars, curtains, and long and winding

sidewalks indicate some unwillingness to reveal much
about yourself (think about expression like windows to
the soul or the door to the mind).
CHIMNEY
  A chimney can relate either to a person’s availability
and warmth, or the degree of power and masculinity he
or she feels.
 A missing chimney suggests passivity or a lack of
psychological warmth in a person’s home life.
 Whereas normal amounts of smoke highlight warmth in
the home.
 An excessive amount of smoke suggest inner tensions ,
pent-up aggression, emotional turbulence, and conflict.
 However, interpretations or chimneys need to take into
consideration biasing factors, such as geography (e.g.,
tropics)and season (summer vs. winter).
ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE
 Cars could be signs of visitors coming or people in the
home leaving.
 Lights could be signs to welcome visitors or reveal
prowlers.
 Locks and knobs Defensive personality and poor
interpersonal relationship with siblings
 Sun Need of warmth and attraction
ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE
Mountain Show depression and anxiety, some sort of
sexual role conflict in female and in males it is breast
fixation.
 WATER PONDS Need of having sexual relations at

unconscious level.
 DOUBLE STORY HOUSE Double standards of the

person.
 BACK DOOR: Shows some secretes in life and don’t want

to express these, also guilt feelings in males shows sexual

relations.
 LAWN AND FLOWERS Some sort of pleasant

personality, good interpersonal relations. Person is satisfied

family life.
ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE
 COMPARTMENTS MEANS ROOMS: Tight
boundaries at home.
 TIGTHLY LOCKED DOORS: Pathological tendency,

tight boundaries at home.

 BARS ON WINDOWS: Higher level of pathological

tendency.
 SHADING: Anxiety, depression.

 KITCHEN: Also indicate warmth and affection, in some

cases shows nourishment.
 DOUBLE HOUSE: Psychotic personality, dual
personality in forensic cases
ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE
 SNOW ON ROOF: Indication of severe depression.
 PERSON WALKING ON WALKWAY TOWARD
HOME: Good interpersonal relationship.
 WALKING AWAY FROM HOME: Poor interpersonal
relationship.
 SWINGS, CARS, POTS ETC..: Good interpersonal
relations.
 BIRDS: Anxiety

 CLOUDS, SKY (SHADING): Anxiety

 SWING WITHOUT CHILD: Issue

PSYCHOTICS
 Psychotics tends to show
 ground lines (their need for grounding),

 clear visions of the insides of the house (they believe

their thoughts and mind are open to view by others),
 strange angles (like their strange thought processes), or

 a house on the verge of a collapse (like their ego).

TREE INTERPRETATIONS
TREE INTERPRETATIONS
 The tree has been the symbol for life and growth.
 A tree that has a slender trunk but has
large expansive branches might indicate a need for
satisfaction. 
 The branches might indicate the test taker's relation to
the outside world and the trunk might indicate
inner strength.
TREE INTERPRETATIONS
 Initially, a general impression of the tree can be
obtained by noting its overall feel and tone. Based on
this impression, an idea of the relationship the person has
with his or her environment can be obtained.
 If the tree is withered by the environment it might
reflect a person who has been broken by external
stress. 
 A tree with no branches suggests the person has little
contacted with people.
TREE INTERPRETATIONS

02/09/2021
 SPLIT: Spilt in ego, dual personality
 CLOUD LIKE TREE: Confused thinking.

 HUMAN LIKE TREE OR BUG LIKE TREE:

Tendency of schizophrenia and high pathological
risk
FRUIT AND FLOWER: Strong tendency to have
children
 MORE BEAUTIFICATION: Very high tendency to

have children.
 BASELINE: Strong thinking, desire to be independent.
49
THE TRUNK
 The trunk can be seen as representing inner strength, self-
esteem, and intactness of personality.
 The use of faint sketchy lines to represent the trunk
indicates a sense of vulnerability, passivity, and
insecurity.
 These same concerns might also be represented by shading
on the trunk, or lines that are heavily reinforced
(defensiveness) or perforated.
 Scars or knot-holes suggest traumatic experiences, and
the age when the trauma occurred can often be determined
by the relative height of the scar or knot-hole (i.e., a knot-
hole halfway up the trunk, drawn by a ten year‘s old
suggests the trauma occurred at age five).
THE TRUNK
 Very thin trunks suggest a unstable level of adjustment.
 If the bark on the trunk is drawn very heavily, it suggests
anxiety! bark that is extremely carefully drawn might
reflect a rigid, compulsive personality.
 If the tree is split down the middle, a sever
disintegration of the personality is suggested
 small trunks are limited ego strength,

 large trunks are more strength... (think about the saying

that a tree that bends lasts through the wind, but one that
doesn't snaps, like the ego that is flexible and healthy
lasts through the world, but the inflexible and neurotic ego
ends up broken).
LIMBS
 Limbs are the efforts our ego makes to "reach out" to the
world and support "things that feed us" what we need.
 Limbs detached are

 difficulties reaching out, or

 efforts to reach out that we can't control.

 Small branches are limited skills to reach out,

 While big branches may be too much reaching out to

meet needs.
BRANCHES
 The branches function as a means by which the tree
extends itself out into and related to its environment.
 They reflect a person’s growth and degree of perceived
resource.
 If the branches are moving upward, the person might be
ambitious, and “reaching” for opportunities.
 Theresa downward reaching (weeping willows)
branches suggest low levels of energy.
 Branches that are cut represent a sense of being
traumatized, and dead branches indicate feelings of
emptiness, and hopelessness.
BRANCHES
 Tiny branches suggest that the person experiences difficulty
getting attention from his or her environment, and small
branches might represent either no personal growth or
psychological immaturity.
 If a tree house is drawn in the branches, the person might be
expressing a need to escape from a threatening environment.
 Big branches may be too much reaching out to meet needs.

 Club shaped branches or very pointy ones represent

aggressiveness.
 Gnarled branches are "twisted" and represent being
"twisted" in some efforts to reach out.
LEAVES
 Leaves are signs that efforts to reach out are successful
 leaves growing mean the tree is reaching out to the sun
and getting food and water.
 No leaves could mean feeling barren,

 Leaves detached from the branches mean the nurturing

we get is not very predictable.
 Pointy leaves could be aggression, obsessive attention to
detail on the leaves could be Obsessive Compulsive
tendencies.
ROOT
 The roots refer to the person’s hold on reality but also reflect
a relationship to the past issues.
 If a person’s is having a difficult time “getting a grip” on
life, the roots my be small and ineffective, or the drawing
might compensate by making them piercing.
 No roots can mean insecurity and no feeling of being
grounded,
 Overemphasized roots can be excessive concern with reality
testing,
 Dead roots often indicate emptiness, and anxiety consistent
with obsessive-compulsive, especially if there us excessive
detailing in other areas.
ROOTS
OTHER DETAILS
 Christmas trees after the season is over can mean
regressive fantasies (thinking about holidays and family
and good times to make yourself feel better).
 Knots or twists in the wood, like gnarled limbs,
indicate some part of the ego is twisted around some
issue.
 Knotholes are an absence of trunk, and thus an absence
of ego control.
 Sometimes they are seen as indicating a trauma,
OTHER DETAILS
 Height up the tree represents the age of the trauma (so,
halfway up for a 10 year old is at age 5).
 Squirrels and small animals are an Id intrusion into an
area free from ego control.
 Research does show that weeping willow trees are more
common in depressed people.
 People with high needs for nurturance draw apples.
PERSON INTERPRETATIONS
 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.
PERSON INTERPRETATIONS
 Here, the idea is that the person of the same sex is like
you, and the person of the opposite sex is what you may
not admit is like you, the opposite sex is the anima or
animus.
 Typically, the person is centered or just below vertical
center on the page, is symmetrical, pleasing to look at,
and sufficiently detailed. They tend to be clothed,
although pregnant women or women who have recently
given birth may draw naked women, and women having
recently seen the gynecologist may draw naked women.
 Erasures led to improvements, and the person
seems contented with the drawing, perhaps
laughing at it a bit. Usually the same-sex person
is drawn first, and the opposite-sexed person
second.
 Drawing the opposite-sex first as a sign of gender
confusion, which has not been well-supported.
ARMS AND HANDS
 Arms are the way we reach out to the environment
 Open arms indicate willingness to engage,

 closed arms are defensiveness, disconnected arms are

powerlessness
 Hands are the way we effect it.

 pointed fingers or balled fists can be aggression,

 hidden or gloved hands can be anxiety or antisocial

tendencies... It could also be difficulty drawing good
hands.
LEGS AND FEET
 Legs and feet are also like the roots of trees,
 represent grounding and power too.

 If cut off at the bottom of the paper (think of cutting

someone off at the knees) it can mean loss of autonomy,
 small feet (inadequate base) can indicate a need for
security,
 big feet can indicate the same.
NECK
 The neck separates the head (cognition) from the body
(drives and needs), so
 no neck is no separation,

 long neck is desire for more separation of the two, etc...

MOUTH
 Mouth is how we get needs met (think Freud and oral
stuff),
 Big or open mouth is neediness, cupid bow o

 Luscious lips is sexualized needs,

 Closed tight mouth is denial of needs or some passive-

aggression, and frowns, sneers, and
 Smiles mean with they do in real life.

 There is limited support for oral-dependency themes, and

more for slash mouths and teeth to be consistent with
verbal aggression
 Genitalia, breasts, etc... are seldom drawn, and indicate
sexual concerns and discomfort.
 Emphasis on breasts though are not uncommon in
prepubescent girls, and both disturbed and non-disturbed
boys emphasize pectorals.
 Drawing clowns (hiding face and person), robots (loss of
emotions in a psychotic way), cowboys (masculinized
needs), snowmen (rounded bodies, regressive themes),
stick man (childish or regressive themes) etc... can mean
what is noted in parenthesis above. Excessive details are
consistent with some obsessiveness when dealing with
anxiety, while a marked lack of detail can indicate
withdrawal, low energy, or boredom.
EVALUATION OF THE HTP
 Nonverbal technique = greater applicability to children.
 Also good for patients with limited education, limited
intellectual ability, low SES, culturally deprived
backgrounds, or those who are shy and withdrawn; those
who dk speak English, or who are mute.
OTHER ADVANTAGES
 Requires little time and is simple to administer.
 Culture-free technique – do not need elaborate command
of language to get information.
DISADVANTAGES
 Verbal patients are less responsive to graphic techniques
than to other projectives, like the TAT or Rorschach.
 Psychomotor difficulties such as physical handicaps or
tremulousness (geriatric patients) impede the analysis.
Their personality expression is held back by their
motoric handicap.
DISADVANTAGES
 Patients with a paucity of inner life, such as the schizoid
patient, provide a barren personality profile. These
patients need something external to stimulate their
mental processes