House test: what is it, its characteristics and how to interpret it?

Let's see what is the house test and how to interpret this projective technique.

One of the most popular projective techniques is the house test, ideal for children but applicable to adults. This test basically consists of asking the examinee to draw a house and interpreting the drawing.

We will now take a closer look at what the test consists of. we will see in depth what the house test consists ofWhat elements are those in which it is necessary to pay special attention and what they can reveal on the personality of the evaluated subject.

What is the house test?

At the present time, in psychology there are many different ways of evaluating and analyzing personality.. The reason for this is that personality, also understood as temperament, has always aroused the interest of psychologists at both descriptive and predictive levels. By knowing someone's personality we can understand him or her better, understanding how he or she might face certain situations and how he or she might evolve throughout his or her life.

One of the most classic ideas in psychology, especially related to psychoanalysis and psychodynamic approaches, is that the personality of an individual can be analyzed by interpreting what he/she did. Among these interpretable acts are the drawings and images that could be made, being the main characteristic of projective tests.

Among the main projective tests we have the house test, a technique whose objective is to discover what is the personality of the subject evaluated. discover what is the personality of the subject evaluated from how he draws a house..

How to apply this projective technique

The house test is one of the best known projective techniques. It is a graphic projective techniqueIn other words, a type of test in which the subject being evaluated is given a written or verbal instruction to give a graphic type of response, in this case, he/she is asked to draw a house. Based on this, we can affirm that the house test is in the same drawer as other tests of the same style, such as the family test or the tree drawing test, which also ask the subject to draw pictures.

Given its graphic nature, this tool is usually applied with children since it allows them to respond in a more pleasant, attractive and age-appropriate way compared to other personality assessment tests that require a high degree of reading comprehension or a lot of concentration. Nevertheless, the house test is not a tool exclusively applied with infants, being possible to apply it with adults to know details of their personality.It is possible to apply it with adults to know details of their personality.

The procedure for administering the house test is very simple, consisting mainly of four steps.

1. Indication of the task to be carried out

The first step consists of telling the subject the task to be carried out, i.e., he/she is told that he/she has to draw a picture of the subject's personality, he/she is told that he/she has to draw a house on the sheet of paper that will have been given to him/her..

This is the only clue given to the subject. He is not told what size the house should be, whether it should have doors, windows, a garden... none of that will be indicated to him. The idea is that by not giving him any details, the subject will feel as motivated as possible to draw the house he likes the most, thus expressing parts of his personality with total freedom.

2. Observation

While the subject is drawing his house, the therapist should observe him. Look to see if he is crossing out parts of the house or if he is focusing too much on a particular area of his drawing. It is also important to notice if the subject is showing any signs of stress or discomfort while drawing. while drawing.

3. Asking questions

Once the person being evaluated has finished drawing the house, he/she should be asked questions about the house in order to information as much as possible about what he/she has drawn..

Some of these questions are "Is this house inhabited or uninhabited?", "Who lives here?", "Is it a comfortable house?" and other similar questions. Any information that the evaluated person gives us about his ideal or prototypical house can help us when interpreting the drawing later on.

4. Interpretation

The last step consists of interpreting the drawing taking into account the elements of the drawing.

Interpretation of the house test

Now that we understand what the house test consists of and how it should be administered to our client, it is time to see how it is interpreted. We must understand, first of all, that since it is a projective test, its interpretation is rather free, but the elements represented in the house can indicate certain characteristics in the personality of the individual that allow us to understand him/her. can indicate certain characteristics in the personality of the individual that allow us to understand him/her more in depth.. Among these elements the main ones are the following.

1. The door

First we will look at the door, an element with great symbolism as it is the entrance to the home and, in this projective test, to the inner world of our patient. A door that is too small may reflect extreme shyness or a great need to protect oneself from everything around one. from everything around him. On the other hand, a door of large dimensions is a symptom of extraversion and, in its extreme version, great dependence on social relationships.

In case you have drawn the door open it may mean that you are willing to communicate without problems and openly express your emotions, while a closed door, especially if there are locks, may mean a great need to protect your privacy. Extremely closed doors are indicative of a great fear of being known, fear of being judged by revealing your personality.

2. Windows

Windows are the elements of a house that serve to see what is happening outside. Along the same lines as with their actual functionality, windows can be interpreted as the means by which can be interpreted as the means through which we can see everything that is happening around us..

For this reason, if the person evaluated draws a house without windows, it may express a certain fear or refusal to face reality.

On the other hand, open and large windows, through which a lot of light enters, are synonymous with a great willingness to contact the outside world and meet other people. Small, closed windows, on the other hand, may be a symptom of a reserved and cautious personality.

3. The roof

In the house test, the roof is interpreted as a symbol of the mind and ideas of the person being evaluated.. A roof that is too large in comparison to the rest of the building may indicate a personality that is too dreamy or idealistic, with little contact with the real world.

If the roof has a lot of detail, such as having shingles or gutters drawn on it, it can be interpreted as a sign of a dreamy or idealistic personality, with little contact with the real world, it can be interpreted as a sign of a very rational or creative mind, motivated by ideas.motivated by ideas. If you have drawn it flat or with a roof, it could be a sign that you feel oppressed or have a problem in your family.

4. Dimension and distance of the house

The size and distance of the house are also aspects to take into account when interpreting this test. There are several meanings that can be interpreted according to these two aspects.

4.1. Small house

If you have drawn a very small house, barely occupying space on the sheet we have given you, we can interpret it as a sign of introversion and little desire to stand out. A small house can also be indicative of an inferiority complex.

4.2. Large house

A large house can be seen as a sign that the evaluee is cheerful, feels comfortable with himself/herself and has acomfortable with himself/herself and has a facility for loving and being loved.

4.3. Castle-like house

Especially in boys and girls, it is common for them to represent the house resembling a castle. This can be indicative of a lot of imagination although, if the child is a little older, drawing the house resembling a castle may be indicative of a strong desire to escape from reality..

4.4. House far away

In case the evaluated subject has drawn the house behind a long road, far away in the horizon, it can be an indication that he/she feels nostalgic about something from his/her pastthat he misses the good times.

9. Other elements to take into consideration

Finally, we will mention some elements that are not always detailed in the drawings but that can give us a lot of added information about his personality or about some aspect of his past.

9.1. The garden

Having drawn a garden is usually a good sign. If you have drawn it around the house, it can be interpreted as meaning that you have good expressive and imaginative skills. However, if the garden is surrounded by walls or fences that do not allow to see it, it can be a symptom of aggressiveness and insecurity, fear of being hurt by others and the need to be contained.

9.2. Trees

Trees are indicative of expression of abundance and willingness to be part of society, to be integrated.to be integrated.

9.3. The path

The path should be analyzed in a similar way as the door and the windows. The paths are drawn in multiple ways, according to how we feel in relation to the outside world. It can be straight, with stones, in the form of a zigzag... and each of these forms can have a different meaning. For example, straight can indicate openness and be straightforwardwhile bifurcations can be interpreted as meaning that the person who has made the drawing is confused or does not know how to express himself clearly.

9.4. Animals and sun

The animals indicate that the evaluee has a good social support, being a projection of the individual's social support network. The presence of a sun is, according to some experts in this projective test, a representation of the child's attachment figure, a representation of the child's attachment figure, which, if it also has a face and smiles, indicates a good relationship with this figure..

9.5. Telephone wires and antennas

As extra elements we can find telephone wires and antennas, which are not at all common in the drawings of the youngest children. These elements are more typical of drawings made by adults, especially those who have an obsessive and perfectionist personality, too focused on details and too much attention to detail.They are too focused on details and always have the feeling that something is left in the inkwell, feeling anxious about it.

Summary

The home test can be of great help especially with children, since because of their age, administering a personality questionnaire such as the 16PF or the MMPI can be somewhat complicated. They are tests that can be too heavy for the little ones, making it difficult for them to understand the statements. Therefore, the idea of administering the home test is that it helps us to discern a little of the personality characteristics of the subject being evaluated, based on the idea that "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Now, we must not forget that this is a projective technique, a type of technique that has been criticized in modern psychology for being too general. As we have commented, the interpretation of these techniques is very free. Interpreting the drawing made by the evaluated subject, whether a child or an adult, is not a reliable test of what his or her personality is really like, but rather gives us some general guidelines of what he or she could be like.

This being understood, the house test should be used as a complementary technique to others for the analysis and understanding of the personality of the subject evaluated. Projective techniques are not usually applied in isolation nowadays, since their reliability is too low to use them exclusively. They are good techniques for revealing difficult-to-access thoughts and elements about the personality of some patients, but one should always be aware that there is a wide margin of error and interpretability.