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

One of the most popular projective techniques is the house test, ideal for the little ones but applicable in adults. This test basically consists of asking the evaluated person to draw a house and interpreting the drawing of it.

Then we will see in depth what the house test consists of, what elements are those in which special attention should be paid and what can reveal about the personality of the subject evaluated.

• Related article: "Projective tests: the 5 most used types"

What is the home test?

Currently, there are many different ways of evaluating and analyzing personality in psychology. The reason for this is that personality, also understood as temperament, has always aroused the interest of psychologists both descriptively and predictively. By knowing someone's personality you can understand them better, understanding how they could face depending on what situations and how they would evolve throughout their life.

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

Among the main projective tests we have the house test, a technique whose objective is 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 technique, that is, a type of test in which the evaluated subject is given a written or verbal instruction to issue a graphic type response, in this case they are 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, in which it is also asked to do drawings.

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

The home test administration procedure is very simple, consisting mainly of four steps.

1. Indication of the command to be carried out

The first step consists of telling the subject the task that he must carry out, that is, he is told that he has to draw a house on the sheet of paper that will have been given to him.

That is the only clue he is given. You are not told how big the house should be, if it has to have doors, windows, a garden... none of that will be indicated. The idea is that by not giving any detail, the subject feels as motivated as possible to draw the house that he likes the most, thus expressing parts of his personality with total freedom.

2. Observation

While the evaluated subject is drawing her house, the therapist must observe him. Look at whether he is crossing out parts of the house or focusing too much on a particular area of ​​his drawing. It is also important to note if the subject is showing any signs of stress or discomfort while she is drawing.

3. Ask questions

Once the evaluated person has finished drawing the house, they should be asked about it in order to be able to gather as much information as possible about what you have drawn.

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

• You may be interested in: "The Rorschach inkblot test"

4. Interpretation

The last step is to interpret the drawing taking into account its elements.

Interpretation of the house test

Now that we understand what the home test consists of and how it should be administered to our evaluated, it is time to see how it is interpreted. It must be understood, 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 it more thoroughly. 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 can reflect extreme shyness or a great need for protection of everything that surrounds him. On the other hand, a large door 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 problem and openly express your emotions, while a closed door, especially if there are locks, can 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. The Windows

Windows are the elements of a house that serve to see what happens outside. In the same vein as with their actual functionality, windows they can be interpreted as the means by which everything that happens around us is seen.

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

On the other hand, large open windows, through which a lot of light enters, are synonymous with a great willingness to contact the outside and meet other people. Small, closed windows, on the other hand, can 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 evaluated. A very large roof compared to the rest of the building may indicate an overly dreamy or idealistic personality, with little contact with the real world.

If the roof has a lot of detail, such as having the tiles or gutters drawn, can be interpreted as a sign of a very rational or creative mind, 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 nucleus.

4. Dimension and distance from the house

The dimension and distance from the house are also aspects to take into account when interpreting this test. There are several meanings that we can interpret based on these two aspects.

4.1. Small house

If he has drawn us the house very small, just taking up space on the sheet that we have given him, we can interpret it as a show of introversion and little desire to stand out. A small house can also be indicative of an inferiority complex.

4.2. Big house

A large house can be seen as a sign that the appraisee is cheerful, feels comfortable with himself and has a facility to love and let himself be 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, he may draw us the house similar to a castle may be indicative of a strong desire to escape from your reality.

4.4. Remote house

In case the evaluated subject has drawn the house behind a long road, far away on the horizon, it may be indicative that you feel nostalgic for something from your past, who misses the good times.

9. Other elements to consider

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

9.1. The garden

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

9.2. The trees

The trees are indicative of an expression of abundance and willingness to be part of society, to be integrated.

9.3. The way

The path should be analyzed in a similar way to how it is done with the door and windows. The paths are drawn in multiple ways, depending on how we feel in relation to the outside world. It can be straight, with stones, in a zigzag shape... and each of these shapes can have a different meaning. For example, straight can indicate overture and be direct, while the bifurcations can be interpreted as that who has made the drawing feels confused or does not know how to express himself clearly.

9.4. Animals and sun

The animals indicate that the evaluated person has 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 attachment figure of the child that, if it also has a face and smiles, indicates a good relationship with this figure.

9.5. Telephone cables and antennas

As extra elements we can find telephone cables and antennas, which are not at all common in the drawings of the little ones. These elements are more typical of drawings made by adults, especially those who have an obsessive and perfectionist personality, too focused on details and always has the feeling that something is left in the pipeline, feeling anxiety about it.

Resume

The home test can be of great help especially with boys and girls, since due to 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 sentences. Therefore, the idea of ​​administering the home test is that it helps us to discern a little the personality characteristics of the evaluated subject starting a little from the idea that “an image is worth more than a thousand words".

Now, we must not forget that it 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, be it a child or an adult, is not a test trustworthy of what his personality really is like, but rather gives us general guidelines on how to could be.

Understanding this, the home 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 today, since their reliability is too low to be used exclusively. They are good techniques for revealing hard-to-reach thoughts and elements about a person's personality. some patients, but you should always be aware that there is a wide margin of error and Interpretability.