The House-Tree-Person test (HTP)

• The House-Tree-Person test (HTP) is a projective test designed to measure

• Definition
• The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective personality test, a type of test in
which the test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or
unstructured stimuli (often in the form of pictures or drawings).
• In the HTP, the test taker is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and these
drawings provide a measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. As with other
projective tests, it has flexible and subjective administration and interpretation.
• INTRODUCTION
• The H-T-P (freehand drawing of House, Tree, and Person) is a technique designed to aid the clinician in
obtaining information concerning the sensitivity, maturity, and integration of a subject's personality,
and the interaction of that personality with its environment (both specific and general).
• The H-T-P is a two-phased approach to the personality.
• The first phase is non-verbal, creative, almost completely unstructured; the medium of expression is a
relatively primitive one, drawing. During the first phase of the test, test takers are asked to use
a crayon to draw pictures, respectively, of a house, a tree, and a person.
• 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.

• The second phase is verbal, apperceptive, and more formally structured; in it the subject is provided
with an opportunity to define, describe, and interpret the objects drawn and their respective
environments and to associate concerning them. During the second phase of the test, test takers are
asked to draw the same pictures with a pencil. 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.
• There are a total of 60 questions that examiners can ask. Examiners can also create their own questions
or ask unscripted follow-up questions. For example, with reference to the house, the test creator wrote
questions such as, "Is it a happy house?" and "What is the house made of?" Regarding the tree,
questions include, "About how old is that tree?" and "Is the tree alive?" Concerning the person,
questions include, "Is that person happy?" and "How does that person feel?“
• psychological test\htp by john n. buck.pdf
• Description
The HTP can be given to anyone over the age of three. Because it requires test
takers to draw pictures, it is often used with children and adolescents. It is also
often used with individuals suspected of having brain damage or other
neurological impairment. The test takes an average of 150 minutes to complete; it
may take less time with normally functioning adults and much more time with
neurologically impaired individuals.
• One variation of test administration involves asking the individual to draw two
separate persons, one of each sex. Another variation is to have test takers put all
the drawings on one page
• Purpose
• The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person's personality
through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also
sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or
overall neurological functioning.
• The HTP was developed in 1948, and updated in 1969. Tests requiring
human figure drawings were already being utilized as projective personality
tests. Buck believed that drawings of houses and trees could also provide
relevant information about the functioning of an individual's personality.
Precautions
• Because it is 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.
• MATERIALS
The materials for the H-T-P are:
• (1) a four-page scoring folder;
• (2) a post drawing interrogation form;
• (3) a four page form sheet of white paper—each page 7 X 8J/2 inches in size—
with the word House printed at the top of the second page; the word Tree at the
top of the third page; Person at the top of the fourth;
• (4) several lead pencils with erasers;
• (5) the tentative manual.
• Reliability and Validity:
The manual contains no information on validity and reliability.
Norms:
• The standardization sample included 140 adults. No attempt was
made to randomly select a stratified sample of subjects from the
general population. Twenty adults were selected for each of
seven intellectual levels (imbecile, moron, borderline, dull average,
average, above average, and superior).
• ADMINISTRATION
• First, the subject is asked to draw as good a picture of a House as he can; he is told that he may
draw any kind of House he wishes; he may erase as much as he likes; and he may take as long
as he chooses—^but his drawing must be freehand. If he protests that he is no artist, he is
assured that the H-T-P is not a test of artistic ability. Then, in turn, he is asked to draw as good
a picture of a Tree and a Person as he can—^the whole person, however; not the head and
shoulders only. On the first page of the scoring folder the examiner notes:
• (1) the exact order in which the details of the House, Tree, and Person are drawn, numbering
the items;
• (2) any spontaneous comment (whether statement or question)' made by the subject,
recording it verbatim when possible, and any emotion exhibited by the subject, relating the
point of occurrence of either comment or emotion to the detail item being drawn, just drawn,
or about to be drawn;
• (3) any time latency shown by the subject, indicating how long it lasted and where it took
place;
• (4) the time consumed by the subject for each of his drawings.
• • After the subject has completed his drawings, the examiner turns to the post-drawing
interrogation sheet and questions the subject concerning what he has just drawn (the
questions are spiralled so as to help prevent the establishment of an "answer-set"). Experience
has shown that the act of drawing the House, Tree, and Person often arouses a strong
emotional reaction; that upon completion of his drawings it is frequently possible for the
subject to verbalize for the first time hitherto suppressed material.
• Results
• The HTP is scored in both an objective quantitative manner and a subjective qualitative
manner. The quantitative scoring scheme involves analyzing the details of drawings to arrive at
a general assessment of intelligence, using a scoring method devised by the test creators.
Research has shown this assessment of intelligence correlates highly with other intelligence
tests such as the Wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS).
• The primary use of the HTP, however, is related to the qualitative scoring scheme in which the
test administrator subjectively analyzes the drawings and the responses to questions in a way
that assesses the test taker's personality.
• For example, a very small house might indicate rejection of one's home life. A tree that has a
slender trunk but has large expansive branches might indicate a need for satisfaction. 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.
• Other methods of interpretation focus on the function of various parts in each of the drawings.
In the house drawing, the roof might represent one's intellectual side, the walls might
represent the test taker's degree of ego strength, and the doors and windows might represent
the individual's relation to the outside world. In the tree drawing, the branches might indicate
the test taker's relation to the outside world and the trunk might indicate inner strength.
• As with other subjectively scored personality tests, there is little support for its reliability and
validity. However, there is some evidence that the HTP can differentiate people with specific
types of brain damage. More specifically, it has been shown to be effective when looking at the
brain damage present in schizophrenic patients.
 REPORTING/WRITE UP

House-Tree-Person Write up
Tree: Patient (your name) sketched a centrally
Psychological Report located tree that had a full,
Examiner: Your information goes here.
Supervised by: Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D. balanced feel and tone, however, the foremost
Date of report writing: specific feature is
that it has an absence of detail, especially
Demographic Information branches….etc (this is an example).
Name: Sex: Things you might include:
Date of Birth: Age:
Date of Test Administration and
•Level of detail
•Branches
Assessment: •Interpersonal contact
Reason for Evaluation •Relationship to the environment
Test Administered and Assessment Battery •Root structure
Behavioral Observations
Personality Assessment
•Size of the tree
•Central trunk
•Lines of the tree
• House: Patient (your name) drew a Person: This patient (your name) was asked
to draw a human figure subsequent
house that appears to have to those of the house and tree. He chose a
appropriate size and structure…. …… etc. Things you might include:
Etc here you go through your •Level of detail
•Sex drawn
interpretation. Things you might •Type of view
include: •Head
•Ego intact
• Size & structure •Emotional and social adjustment
•Facial features
• General mood and level of warmth •Hair, ears, hands, feet, clothing
•Center of the paper
• Simplicity or level of detail of the •Size and symmetry of drawing.
drawing Overall impression of all 3 drawings. Make an
attempt here to integrate patterns
• An indication of ego boundaries that you might see. What might you
comment on?
• Inner world of fantasy •Placement of the figure
•Erasures
• Introverted? Accessible to others? •Pressure
•Size and symmetry of the drawings
• Accessories on the house, e.g. Common patterns
chimney, door, windows
• ANSWERS OF QUESTIONS RELATED TO DRAWINGS