Family Test: What It Is And How This Projective Test Is Used
Projective techniques aim to bring out the person’s repressed or unconscious material, through drawings, images, words, etc. In this article we will know one of them, the family test, or family drawing test, created by Maurice Porot (1952) and applied in childhood and adolescence
In this projective type test, the child is asked to draw a family, and from there they are asked a series of questions to later analyze their answers, as well as the drawing itself. It is an expressive technique that aims to explore how the child is located in his or her family environment
In psychological evaluation, expressive or graphic techniques are a type of projective (psychodynamic) test where The instruction given to the subject is to draw certain elements ; Through drawing, the subject is supposed to express his or her personal way of organizing the world and trying to reproduce it. Furthermore, according to psychodynamic theory, graphic behavior (drawing) is freer of conscious control than verbal behavior.
However, there are few empirical studies for expressive techniques. Furthermore, interpretation is characterized by a high level of subjectivity. This has meant that there are no standardized ways to evaluate the drawings made by children, something that makes it very difficult to compare results and draw general conclusions about their psychological state.
According to Machover (1949), useful data is obtained with the drawings to formulate clinical hypotheses, but it is essential to make these hypotheses from the convergence of the psychopathological signs found within the test with the data obtained by other methods.
As we have seen, the family test (or family drawing test) is an expressive or graphic projective test, created by Maurice Porot (1952). The instruction given to the examined subject is draw a family, without restrictions or specifications There are other versions of this instruction, such as asking him to draw his family. After the drawing, the examiner questions the subject about the production of it.
The family test is based on the free drawing technique; This type of drawing is widely practiced by children, and they like it. Specifically, the test is a personality test that can be administered to children from 5 years old and up to adolescence
It is one of the most popular and most used tests for exploring children’s affectivity, which emphasizes projective aspects. In addition, it clinically evaluates how the child subjectively perceives the relationships between family members and how he or she is included in this family system.
On the other hand, the family test also allows us to investigate aspects of the child’s communication with other members of the family and of the remaining members with each other.
Interpretation
The use and interpretation of the family test are based on psychoanalytic principles of the projection, since it enables the free expression of the feelings of minors towards their relatives, especially their parents.
Furthermore, the test aims to reflect the situation in which the same subjects are placed in their domestic environment.
Modifications
An important author for the test was also Louis Corman, who introduced important modifications to the instructions given by Porot. While Porot asked the child to “draw your family,” Corman’s instruction was “draw a family, a family that you imagine.”
On the other hand, Bums and Kaufman (1972) present a modified version of the family test, called “The Kinetic Family Drawing Test”, for which they propose evaluation criteria. In this version, they use the prompts: “Draw a picture of your family, including yourself doing something” and “Try to make whole people, not cartoons or stick figures. Remember to draw everyone doing something, busy.” in some kind of action.”
Application
After giving the instructions to the child or adolescent, the examiner conducts a brief interview which greatly reinforces the interpretation that the psychologist will make.
Thus, after reinforcing the child for his drawing, he is asked a series of questions about his imagined family and its members. To do so, all the necessary questions will be included, considering the circumstances of each person and encouraging the free expression of the child or adolescent at all times.
What do you explore?
The family test is considered a test with important diagnostic value in circles linked to psychodynamic therapies. Through him The aim is to understand the difficulties of adaptation to the family environment and the Oedipal conflicts and fraternal rivalry
Furthermore, it is a test designed to reflect the intellectual development of the child, since through different elements of the line and drawing the maturational development of the child can be determined to a certain extent (at each stage of childhood the drawing is of a type or another, as established by Luquet).
However, it is important to mention that the family test It is used more to evaluate or appreciate emotional aspects in the child than to evaluate their intellectual development and maturational, although it is even used to evaluate certain aspects of learning problems.
The creator of the family test, Maurice Porot (1952), considers that telling the child to draw his family allows him to know it as he represents it, which is more important than knowing what it is like in reality.
Besides, Louis Corman (1961) considers that the projection occurs more easily if the indication is more vague, something like: “Draw a family that you imagine.” According to him, this slogan allows unconscious tendencies to be expressed more easily.
Another author, Korbman, mentioned in a series of studies that in clinical practice with young children, the most appropriate instruction in the family test is “Draw your family”; This is based on the assumption that the child is a subject in training, where repression is less, and it is considered that he does not defend himself as much as the adult. That is, it is projected openly.
