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House-Tree-Person Test

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

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Synonyms

H-T-P Test

Description

The House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) technique, developed by John Buck (1948) and Emmanuel Hammer (1958), is one of the most widely used projective tests for children and adults. It can be used with individuals aged 3 years and older and is almost entirely unstructured; the client is simply instructed to make a freehand drawing of a house, a tree, and a person. Analysis of the H-T-P is a two-phased, four-step process. In phase one, the first step in testing is nonverbal and almost entirely unstructured; the medium of expression is the freehand, pencil drawings of a house, tree, and person (Buck 1966). The second step is verbal, apperceptive, and more formally structured. In it, the client is given the opportunity to describe, define, and interpret his or her drawn objects and their respective environment, and to respond to various open-ended questions. In phase two, the first step again involves the freehand drawing of a house, tree, and person, but with...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rusk Rehabilitation, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Robert M. Gordon

  2. One Neuro, West Los Angeles, California, USA

    Alexandra Rudd-Barnard

  3. Rusk Rehabilitation, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA

    Lucia Smith-Wexler

Authors
  1. Robert M. Gordon
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  2. Alexandra Rudd-Barnard
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  3. Lucia Smith-Wexler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert M. Gordon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Independent Practice, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Gordon, R.M., Rudd-Barnard, A., Smith-Wexler, L. (2018). House-Tree-Person Test. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2029

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