House-tree-person test

Definition
The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective personality test, a type of exam 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.

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.

Variations
First variation:

Test administration involves asking the individual to draw figures on 4 separate pages. The house
figure reflects the test-takers home life and relationships with the family. The tree figure reveals
the experiences of the test-taker.
This variation tells us about the size of the figure which depicts self-esteem of the subject. For
example, if the subject has drawn extremely small figure it means he/she has very low selfesteem.

Second variation:
This variation involves to have test takers put all the drawings on one page. This variation tells
us about the placement of the figures on one page.
For example, house tells about the family life, if the subject has drawn person far away from the
house it means that he/she is not comfortable with his family life and there are familial conflicts.
And tree indicates nurturance and relationship with his mother, if the subject has drawn person
near to the tree it means the person is more attached with his mother and gains nurturance from
his/her mother.
The person figure describes the test-takers relationships with other people, aside from his or her
family. In general, the test reveals areas of conflict or concerns that need immediate concerns. A
child who draws himself looking out from his or her house signifies feelings of being trapped,
abused.

The Questions
Ask questions after each picture is drawn. The post-drawing interrogation is composed of 60
questions aimed at gathering the examinees feelings about the figures he or she has drawn.

Three assumptions are also considered as the basic interpreting guide lines for HTP. The house
figure reflects the test-takers home life and relationships with the family. The tree figure reveals
the experiences of the test-taker.

Person
Who is this person, how old are they, whats their favorite thing to do, what's something they do
not like, has anyone tried to hurt them, who looks out for them?

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?

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?
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).

References
Richard Niolon, Ph.D., Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Spring 2003

Groth-Marnat, Gary. Handbook of Psychological Assessment. 3rd edition. New York: John Wiley
and Sons, 1997.
Kline, Paul. The Handbook of Psychological Testing. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Reynolds, Cecil R. Comprehensive Clinical Psychology Volume 4: Assessment. Amsterdam:
Elsevier, 1998