AMITY UNIVERSITY, MUMBAI

AMITY UNIVERSITY OF BEHAVIORUAL AND ALLIED SCIENCES (AIBAS)

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICAL JOURNAL

Name: Shravani V. Phatak

Roll No.: PSYMSCB2118

Enrolment No.: A702131821002

Degree: Master of Science of

Psychology Year: 1st year

 AMITY UNIVERSITY, MUMBAI
FIRST YEAR MASTER OF PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICALS
SEMESTER II
Roll no.: PsyMScB2118 Year: 2021-2023

Sr.no Page Teacher’s

Title of Test/Experiment Remarks
. no. sign
State- Trait Anger Expression
1.
Inventory-2
Multilevel Leadership
2.
Questionnaire

3. Mirror Drawing Experiment

4. Learned Optimism Scale

5. Home Tree Person Test

This is to certify that Ms. Shravani V. Phatak has completed all five
psychological tests/ experiments of semester II.

Faculty name & designation

Test No: 5 Facilitator: Shravani Phatak
Date:20/5/22 Subject: SK

House Tree Person Test

-???????

Aim - To assess the personality traits and presence of pathological indicators in an individual.

Introduction

Projection refers to unconsciously taking unwanted emotions or traits you don’t like about
yourself and attributing them to someone else. Projective test examines that commonly
employs ambiguous stimuli, notably inkblots and enigmatic pictures ,to evoke responses that
may reveal facets of the subject’s personality by projection of internal attitudes, traits, and
behaviour patterns upon the external stimuli. Responses that reflect the personality, cognitive
style, and other psychological characteristics of the respondent.

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Projective tests allow people to express their Due to the ambiguity of the stimuli and the
thoughts and ideas without the fear of unstructured nature of this technique, highly
judgement or social constraints, as is the qualified professionals and experts are
case with structured testing methods such as required to administer and determine the
questionnaires or formal interviews. results of projective tests. Rigorous
interviewing and analysis is required to
draw conclusions from projective
techniques. This, coupled with the need for
trained professionals, makes it an extremely
expensive process.
When people are able to express themselves Projective techniques also come with the
more freely by giving responses to risk of interpretation bias. This means that
ambiguous stimuli, psychologists can study the people interpreting and analysing the
subconscious and unconscious mechanisms responses of the examinees could
which can help them understand problems misinterpret the results and perhaps assume
of a more personal or sensitive nature. that a benign response is seemingly hostile.
Drawing inaccurate inferences from
projective tests could seriously harm the
examinee because it could point towards
personality flaws or shortcomings.
Different Types of Projective Tests

 Rorschach Inkblot Test - The Rorschach inkblot test is very frequently used by the
experts for the purpose of projective tests. In this test, there are various inkblots which
are plotted symmetrically, but in an irregular position. The person is then asked what
they are seeing in these blots. They get various responses from this test – the response
is then analysed keeping in mind various parameters.
 Thematic Apperception Test -This test is another well-known test – it is more
popularly known as the TAT test. In this type of test, the individual is asked to look at
various scenes which are ambiguous. The respondent is given time to analyse the
scenes and also to understand different aspects of the picture or scene.
 Sentence Completion Test - This test as the name suggests needs the respondent to
complete certain sentences. This has to be done in their own words when the
respondent completes the sentences it reveals the conscious and unconscious attitudes
of the person, beliefs, and motivation. The person could be in any state of mind while
completing the sentences – this will show in this test – thus providing the expertise to
evaluate the nature and state of mind of the person.
 Make a Picture Story -This projective test completely depends upon your imagination.
As the name goes, here you need to draw a person, and that image is then analysed by
the test interpreter. The examiner by analysing the image looks for a few factors like,
Size of particular parts of the body, The detail is given to the figure and the overall
shape of the image.
 Holtzman Inkblot Test -The Holtzman test is a variation of the Rorschach test. Here
the images used for the respondent is much more as compared to the above test. The
major difference between the two tests is that in this particular test the objective
scoring is more important – the experts actually check the reaction time of the
individual during the inkblot test.

HTP Test and Personality Disorders

The Primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s personality through
interpretations of drawings and responses to questions. It is also sometimes used as a part of
an assessment of brain damage or overall functioning. In HTP, if the subject is excessively
detailing the drawings, it shows he/she might show some characteristics of Obsessive
compulsiveness and anxiety. If their details are lacking in any of the three drawings, they
might show some characteristics of withdrawal type. The essential/ Important details while
drawing House is one hall, roof, door, windows and chimney. If the subject is emphasizing
on the chimney, it means that they have some sexual concerns that are unspoken. If they are
not drawing the chimney, it means that they are having lack of warmth in their house. When
the house is drawn dark, it means that the person is dealing with tension, anxiety and
forgiveness.

The essential details of the tree is the trunk and atleast one branch. If excess of branches are
drawn, then the person is dealing with mania. If the branches are very tall, then the person is
dealing with schizoid or may show some characteristics of the same. If the branches are dead,
then the person may have suicidal ideation. The essential details of drawing a person are the
head, trunk, arms, legs and facial features. If the arms of the person is in a wing structure,
then the person is suffering from schizoid and also the head is drawn backwards then the
person may have some characteristics of the same. If the person’s eyes are detailed,
characteristics of paranoia is possible. If the ayes are small, closed or omitted, then the person
is introverted. Overemphasis of the ears is an indication of the subject dealing with paranoia
or auditory hallucinations.

Method

Socio-Demographic Details

Name S.k

Age 22 years old

Gender Female

Marital Status Unmarried

Educational Qualification Graduate

Occupation Student

Family Structure Nuclear

Ordinal Position Second

 Mother’s Occupation Housewife

Mother’s Education Graduate

Father’s occupation Businessman

Father’s Education

Geographic Location Suburban

Mother tongue Hindi

Languages known English , Hindi and

Spanish

Description Of the Test

The HTP was designed to include a minimum of two steps. The first is nonverbal, creative
and almost completely unstructured. It includes inviting the individual to make a free hand
pencil drawing of a house, tree, and a person.

 Respondent Population: The HTP is most suitable for use with individuals over
8 years of age
 Test Users: Users of the HTP should have training and supervised experience
with individually administered clinical instruments for both children and adults
 Contents of The Manual: The manual gives detailed administration procedures
and interpretative strategies
 Administration: The HTP is usually conducted in a one-to-one setting as part of
an initial assessment or ongoing therapeutic intervention for a referred
individual.

Materials Required

 Pen/Pencil
 Eraser
 HTP Interpretation Book
 Blank Sheets
  HTP Manual

Conduction
The subject was given one blank sheet and asked to draw a house. After that, the sheet was
collected and given another sheet for the tree and then another sheet for the person drawing.

Precautions

Subject should be assured of confidentiality and there should be no distractions. The

subject should be properly instructed about how to go about the test, and it should be stated
clearly that this is not a drawing competition. The subject should be encouraged to draw
the best he/she can and erase as many times as he/she wants to.

Procedure

The subject was called inside the cubical, rapport was established, and a detailed case
history was taken. The subject was given the proper instructions.

Instructions

“I want you to draw a picture of a house. You may draw any kind of house you wish to. Do
the best you can. You may erase as much as you like. You may take as much time as you
need. Do your best.”
Repeat the same for tree and a person.

Observation

The subject was always curious in the beginning as well as buoyant but later on was too
lethargy to draw. The subject did not make use of the eraser. The subject completed the
drawing in a fairly short time. While drawing, the individual did not appear to be distracted
from the environment.
Interpretation

 House:
 i. Pathological Indicators: HTP test requires the subject to draw their perceptions
and understanding of a house, tree, and person. Too little details, the client may
reject family, too big and they may be overcome by it. Each figure has symbolic
meaning and different aspects of a figure do.
ii. Lines and Walls- Represent boundaries and strengths of the ego, weak lines in
these structures represent weakness in ego, strong lines are problems with anxiety
and a need to reinforce boundaries.
iii. Roof- Represents fantasy life and extra attention to it means extra attention to
fantasy life and idealization. While incomplete tiny or burning roofs can indicate
avoidance of overpowering/ frightening fantasies.
iv. Windows/ Doors/ Sidewalks- Are ways to enter or see the house, so they relate to
openness. Shades/ Shelters indicate unwillingness to reveal much about yourself,
thus HTP shows symptom Pathological traits. Open doors or many windows or big
windows especially in bathroom could be exhibitionistic desires.
v. Ground lines/ Strange Angles or House on the Verge of Collapsing- Are
generally shown by psychotics.
 Tree:
a) Trunk: It represents intactness in personality. Heavy lines or shadings represent
and indicate anxiety about oneself. Small Trunks are limited ego strengths, large
trunk is more strength. A tree split down the middle, as if hit by lightning can
indicate fragmented personality and serious mental illness or a sign of
organicity.
b) Limbs- Make our “ego reach out”. Club shaped branches represent aggression.
Dead branches mean emptiness and hopelessness.
c) Leaves- Pointy leaves could be aggression, obsessive attention to detail
attention on leaves show obsessive compulsive tendencies. Christmas trees after
season, can mean regression fantasies. Research shows Weeping Willow trees
are more common in depressed people.
 Person:
a) Drawing of the opposite sex first is seen as a sign of gender confusion through
research.
b) Fingers: Pointed fingers or balled fists can be aggression hidden. Gloved hands
can be anxiety or antisocial tendencies.
 c) Neck: Separate head (cognition) from the body (drives and needs). So, no neck
is no separation, long neck is the desire for more separation.
d) Mouth: Big mouth indicates neediness. Luscious lips is sexualised needs,
closed mouth is denial of needs. Passive aggressiveness. Slash mouth, teeth are
consistent with verbal aggression.
e) Genitalia: Seldom drawn and indicates sexual concern and discomfort.
f) Drawing clowns (hiding face), robots (loss of emotion in a psychotic way),
cowboys (masculinized needs), snowman (regressive themes), stick figure
(childish themes).
g) Excessive details show obsessiveness when dealing with anxiety. Lack of detail
can indicate withdrawal and low energy. Since it is a projective drawing test, it
is easier to project thoughts, feelings, or interpersonal interactions through HTP.

 Brain Damage: Neuropsychology is the study of brain functioning through structured

and systematic behavioural observations. A variety of cognitive abilities including
speed of information processing, attention, memory, language, and executive
functions. Through HTP tests, the examiner integrates the result of subject’s
personality from a cognitive, emotional, intra and interpersonal perspective. Brain
Damage and Injury can produce impairments in visual and perceptual skills. The
person may have difficulty making sense out of ordinary pictures and shapes, finding
the way around a building or a drawing or constructing objects. Some people have
difficulties recognising certain objects (agnosia) such as human feces (prosopagnosia
or face blindness)

Although vision and hand control may be good, the person may appear to be ‘seeing’
only a part of the scene. Sometimes people can only attend to one half, usually the right
side of the object, even though they can still see the other side if prompted. This
condition is known as vidual neglect and can cause people to only eat the food on one
side of the plate, only shave one side of their face or even dress only one side of the
body. Therefore, the subject’s understanding of a house, tree, person is reflected.

Impairments in visual perception may mean that a person cannot assess the speed of
oncoming traffic accurately. Language loss or aphasia is a receptive difficulty in
making sense of what is said. It is important to note long term psychological and
physiological effects will vary by person and injury. For example- perinatal brain
 damage has been implicated in cases of neurodevelopmental impairments and
psychiatric. HTP can help diagnose significant brain damage due to the subject’s
inability to reproduce a simple house, tree and a person. For example- researchers have
found significant physical defects in the brain of a person suffering from schizophrenia
which are evident through their drawings of HTP.

Visual hallucination (visual images with no external stimuli) can be cause by lesions to
occipital region or temporal lobe seizures (Kandel, Shwartz and Jessell). Through HTP
drawings, diagnoses of brain damage can be pointed out due to visual motor disability.
Subjects suffering from brain damage will not perceive left/ right and not draw the
figures/ diagrams in the centre of the page and may draw it on the extremes of the
sheet.

 General Features: The proportion, perspective and details in a drawing are general
characteristics that can provide information about the functioning of the individual in
the context of their expected level of functioning. Adequate and appropriate detailing in
the earliest to stabilize developmentally. Next is the ability to represent realistic
proportion and third is the ability to recognize and represent the need for perspective.
 Proportion: The proportional relationship expressed by an individual in his/ her
drawing of the drawing of the house, tree and person often reveals the values assigned
to the objects, situations and people by the individual.
 Detail to Draw the Image: In general, a detail of larger than average size implies over
concern and preoccupation, with what the item symbolises for the individual producing
the drawing.
 Perspective: An individual’s delineation of spatial relationship in drawing the house,
tree and person indicates his or her ability to grasp and react successfully to the
broader, more complex abstract, demanding aspects of life.
 Horizontal placement on the drawing form: The farther the midpoint of the drawn
image is to the left of the average midpoint, the greater is the likelihood that in
individual tends to behave impulsively and seek immediate, frank and emotional
satisfaction his/ her needs of desire.
 Vertical placement on Drawing Form: The father below the average midpoint of the
drawing is located, the greater the likelihood of the individual feeling insecure or
inadequate and that this feeling creates a depression of mood.
 Central placement on Drawing Form: When the individuals drawing centre around
the exact geometric midpoint of the page, he/she is generally rigid in behaviour to
compensate for anxiety and insecurity
 Detail Emphasis: Emphasis on a detail is displayed by overt comments or emotional
expression; unusual sequencing around that detail, showiness in drawing the detail,
bizarre combination and drawn impairments such as scars. Omission or incompleteness
of a detail or the refusal to comment on it may also be constructed as emphasis on that
detail. Such emphasis implies anxiety or conflict about the details in question,

Discussion
The aim of this test is to assess the personality traits and presence of pathological indicators
in an individual. The test was conducted in a proper ventilated room where my participant
was present. Where consent was taken and provided her with three plain white papers.
Rapport was built. After that instructions were provided. After the drawing were collected,
interpretations were interpreted using the manual.
House:
The subject’s attitude in the beginning was taking time and drawing it out meticulously. The
subject did not make use of the eraser at any point of time.
Proportion- The house made was small which indicates insecurity, withdrawal , discontent,
and regression. According tot the subject the house is of one storey. and it is made out of
bricks as it a hut house. The image symmetry is moderate which can indicate signs of anxiety.
Perspective - The drawing of the house is on central placement and the subject believes the
house needs to have more space and better materials as it is not very strong and spacious. The
relation to view is seen from below which interprets withdrawal, inferiority distance ,
inaccessibility , feelings of rejection, home situations out of control. But in the statements the
subject has revealed that the house reminds her childhood and fairy and magical books she
read.
Detailing -The drawing has been made which shows bizarreness , essential detailing has been
done to the one wall, roof, door, and the window. There was an omission of chimney which
indicates lack of warmth in home. Door was small which implies reticence , inadequacy and
indecision and door is locked which illustrates defensiveness. Roof is emphasised. The
subject said that the house reminded him of mushroom. It illustrates introversion and fantasy.
The walls are thin or faint which demonstrates weak ego boundaries. The windows are
emphasised which shows social ambivalence.
Non-essential Details- The curtains were also emphasized which expresses withdrawal and
evasiveness.
Irrelevant Details - The steps and walkways are long and narrow which implies withdrawal.
Line quality is light which illustrates hesitancy, feat, insecurity, and weak ego strength.
General Use of color- Color used was black just for the outline which shows superficiality,
reticence, and opposition.
Tree:
The subject’s attitude towards drawing the tree was moderate The subject did not make use of
the eraser at any point of time.
Proportion- The drawing was small which results insecurity, withdrawal ,discontent and
regression. But according to the subject the tree is big and well fed.
Perspective-The drawing is at the central placement which demonstrates rigidity. Relation to
viewer is seen from above which illustrates rejection, compensatory and grandiosity.
Groundline is made which shows security needs and anxiety.
Detailing- The tree lacks detail. The subject did not manage to cover as the subject lost her
interest midway. The tree is flat which represents because of the environmental pressure ,
denial. Tree is drawn on groundline which shows inadequacy. The tree has a trunk which has
a broad base which implies dependency. The type of tree described over her is Christmas
which indicates dependency and immaturity.
Non-essential details- Roots are emphasized which represents insecurity.
Irrelevant Details – The drawing is 2D in nature which shows loss of control. Detail sequence
is done at the tip. Line quality is fragmented which implies organicity.
General use of color- The drawing is just made with the use of outline which depicts
superficiality , reticence, and opposition.
Person:
The subject’s attitude towards this drawing was high with excitement to draw. The subject
did not make use of the eraser at any point of time.
Proportion-The drawing made is small which shows insecurity, withdrawal ,discontent and
regression. According to the subject the person is a magical fairy, and the person has no
thoughts and just enjoying with glow and confidence. Detail to image is excessive symmetry
which shows rigidity and brittleness.
Perspective- The drawing has a central placement which shows rigidity. Relation to viewer is
seen from above which implies rejection, compensatory and grandiosity. The subject feels the
person is different from others because in this world life is difficult for the person to live in.
Detailing- The subject has drawn a fairy like person which seems bizarre which indicates
psychosis. And the arms are wings which indicates schizoid. Head of the person is small
which implies inadequacy. Eyes are small and closed which shows introversion, voyeurism.
Ears are pointed in this picture which are overemphasised which displays paranoia , auditory
hallucinations. Feet and Legs are omitted stating it to be helplessness, loss of autonomy and
displaying floating stance which depicts insecurity , dependency. Emphasises is given on
waistline displaying sexual conflict. Hair is emphasized that shows sexual concerns. Fingers
are petal like which indicates immaturity.
Irrelevant Details- Line Quality is Heavy which portrays tension, anxiety, forcefulness and
organicity.
General Use of color- The subject states the person is wearing a lacy gown with sparkles but
the over here color is used just for outline which implies superficiality, reticence, and
opposition.

Conclusion
The aim of this test is to assess the personality traits and presence of pathological indicators
in an individual

The House Tree Person was designed to include a minimum of two steps. The first was
nonverbal, creative, and almost completely unstructured. It includes inviting the individual to
make a free hand pencil drawing of a house, tree, and a person. And the second was using a
booklet which consists of 68 questions.

Applications

Projective Drawing has a place in several areas of clinical activity. The task can be viewed as
an initial behaviour sample that allows the clinician to assess an individual’s reaction to a
fairly unstructured situation. Projective drawing also encourages the establishment of interest,
comfort and trust between the interviewer and client

HTP can reveal an individual’s general conflicts and concerns as well as specific aspects of
the environment that he/she finds troublesome. They can reflect the overall changes in an
individual's psychological state.
It is most commonly used with the children’s differences since it is engaging in nature, the
drawing task makes it well suited for use in any situation where direct verbal communication
about conflicted material is unlikely because of verbal or motivational acuity.

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