What do you see first in the picture? Psychological definition of personality. What do the scribbles we unconsciously draw mean? You should get something similar

In the practice of psychological counseling, a special place is given to the interpretation of human drawings. Typically, a psychologist asks a client to sketch a drawing on a given topic, and then interprets it based on some rules and meanings of symbols. The client's artistic abilities, of course, are not taken into account.

Rice. How to determine a person's character by his drawing?

But in order to better understand a person’s character with the help of his drawing, it is not necessary to be a professional psychologist. You can just take a closer look at the spontaneous doodles created, for example, during a long meeting or a boring lecture. Such a creation can say a lot about its author.

What does the drawing say about the author's character?

So, first, pay attention to the location of the picture and its size. The larger the drawing, the more author it is. Accordingly, the smaller the picture, the weaker the person, the less confidence in him.

Then on a sheet of paper you need to mentally draw two perpendicular lines dividing the drawing into upper and lower, right and left parts. Closer to the top edge they draw, to the bottom - insecure individuals. The drawing located on the left side of the sheet means that its author is introverted, avoiding conflicts, and focusing on the past. Accordingly, the location of the picture on the right means a person’s extroversion, his focus on the future.

Pay attention to the drawing itself and its content. If the author depicts predominantly rounded figures and smooth lines, he can be described as a kind, dreamy person. The sun, clouds, flowers spontaneously depicted on a leaf. However, if a person draws circles intertwining and covering each other, then he needs attention, care and support from loved ones.

If there are many sharp angles in the drawing, there are geometric shapes, this indicates the person’s determination, his inclination. Sometimes sharp angles are also interpreted as signs of aggression.

Spirals, waves, curls are drawn by self-centered, ambitious individuals. Sometimes these symbols mean that a person is in a difficult situation for himself, from which he does not yet see a way out.

If a person draws honeycombs or similar cells, this may indicate his desire. Often this desire may not be realized even by the author of the drawing.

Grids and networks can mean that a person is in a difficult, risky position. The drawing of a chessboard is interpreted in a similar way: a person feels driven into a corner and, perhaps, needs help and support.

Knowing how to interpret drawings can be very helpful. For example, after evaluating the drawing, you see that a person close to you needs support. In this case, even an ordinary heart-to-heart conversation can turn out to be the best help that the author of the drawing expects from you.

Almost all of us, when talking on the phone or listening to a monotonous lecture, automatically draw all sorts of squiggles or ornaments on paper. Psychologists have proven that these scribbles can be used to quite accurately determine a person’s character or mood at the moment.

How to do it?

Pay attention to the size of the picture. In all psychological tests using drawings, this parameter is paid attention to first. The larger the drawings, the more confident their author is. Liberated and open people usually draw large patterns right in the middle of the sheet, while people who are unsure of themselves and their abilities draw modest little squiggles somewhere in the corner. If the drawings are arranged tightly and occupy the entire surface without gaps, this person tries with all his might to attract attention to himself, crushing everyone else under him. It happens that a person draws only along the edges of the sheet, leaving the center empty. This suggests that the author of such drawings has not yet found himself in life and is, so to speak, “in a creative search.”

Now take a closer look at the image itself. If it's abstract, pay attention to the angles. Those who draw sharp corners usually have a quarrelsome character. Such people often get into arguments and have a rather “prickly” character. If the lines are smooth and wavy, this characterizes the artist as a calm and balanced person. The abundance of waves in the picture can also mean monotony and routine in everyday life and the desire to get rid of it. Sweeping drawings with pressure characterize an active and unrestrained person, perhaps choleric in temperament, who strives for freedom and independence. It happens that a person draws not abstractions, but concrete objects. What do they mean?

The meaning of the drawings

Houses or rooms are most often painted by lonely people. Bachelors subconsciously express their desire for comfort and home in this way.
Geometric patterns are drawn by careerists and ambitious people. Such persons are often overly picky both to themselves and to others.
It is not difficult to guess that flowers, butterflies and clouds are painted by people inclined to a romantic worldview. Such people love to dream and often fall in love.
Stars are painted by those who secretly dream of fame, but stars with many rays are an alarming sign. The person depicting such drawings may be depressed.

All human activities bear the stamp of his personality, and to the greatest extent its features are manifested precisely in creativity. Looking at paintings at an exhibition or in an art gallery, we see not only a work of art, but also the inner world of its creator, we try to understand what exactly prompted the author to paint this or that canvas.

A drawing is nothing more than a reflection of a person’s thoughts, feelings, attitude and character; it serves as a means of penetration into a person’s spiritual space.

What does the drawing tell you?

Psychological analysis of a person’s personality based on his drawings as a method of professional psychology arose at the beginning of the 20th century. Then the first tests appeared, the purpose of which was to diagnose various aspects of personality based on a person’s drawings.

Nowadays, psychologists have no doubt about the great importance of drawing in psychology, because drawing is the most important source of knowledge about the human psyche.

Psychological “decoding” of a drawing gives a qualitative idea of the personality of an adult; it is almost impossible to “fake” or predict the result, because the diagnosis and interpretation of a drawing is a complex and multi-layered process, somewhat similar to the definition.

Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor Elena Potemkina conducted a large-scale psychological study from 1985 to 1995. This is an analysis and interpretation of more than 100,000 drawings that were made by people of different ages and areas of activity, who were in different life circumstances and mental states.

Thus, the professor managed to create a general model for analyzing a drawing, with the help of which it becomes possible to qualitatively diagnose and interpret the characteristics of a person’s psychology and determine his character from a drawing.

The table presents general signs by which individual personality traits can be determined.

General pattern analysis model

Psychological diagnostics using drawings in psychology is called projective diagnostics. This name is explained by the fact that in psychology a drawing is an individual projection of a person’s inner world, his character and personal characteristics. Psychology calls tests based on human drawings projective tests or techniques; they are of key importance among other techniques.

There are many interesting projective techniques, such as “Family Drawing” or, which can tell a lot about the character of the creator of the drawing.

What exactly do human drawings say?

You will learn about this through the example of the interpretation of the projective technique “Self-Portrait”.

Of course, a high-quality diagnosis should be carried out by a professional psychologist using a wide range of different methods, but you and I know how interesting it can be to independently “diagnose” yourself and your loved ones, to learn something new and interesting about yourself and others. You can find many different tests on the Internet, but are you sure of their authenticity and effectiveness?

That is why we bring to your attention a complete description of the professional projective technique “Self-portrait” in the adaptation of the American researcher R. Burns with additions by E. Potemkina.

Paint your self-portrait

The test task is quite simple and sounds like this: “Take a simple pencil or pen, a sheet of paper, size 10x15, and draw on paper yourself, alone, and possibly with your family or colleagues. Your artistic ability doesn't matter."

Interpretation based on the elements of the picture:

Head

A large head speaks of a person’s great intellectual pretensions or, conversely, of dissatisfaction with the development of intelligence. A small head indicates inadequacy of judgment regarding one’s intellectual or social capabilities.

Eyes

Large eyes characterize suspicion, as well as strong dependence on public opinion. Small or closed eyes indicate increased concentration on one’s personality or a closed person.

Ears and nose

Enlarged ears indicate high sensitivity to criticism. If the nose is highlighted as a prominent accent of appearance, this indicates sexual problems. Strongly prominent nostrils are evidence of aggression.

Mouth

A prominent mouth may indicate speech problems. If the mouth is not drawn at all, then this means a negative mental state, perhaps depression, or simply lethargy in communication.

Hands

They are a symbol of human contact with society and the world as a whole. Shackled hands indicate rigidity, isolation, and increased demands on oneself. Lethargic hands indicate a person’s general ineffectiveness. Weak, fragile hands suggest lack of self-confidence. Long and strong arms, on the contrary, speak of strength and ambition. Very short arms are evidence of feelings of inadequacy.

Legs

Large feet indicate a need for security. The longer the legs, the more expressed the desire to be independent. The absence of legs suggests instability, a feeling of emptiness, a lack of foundation in life.

Interpretation by image type:

Schematic illustration. The image in the form of general details and diagrams belongs to people of an intellectual disposition, “thinkers”, for whom general information about various phenomena plays the most important role.
Realistic image. This is a detailed drawing of appearance, characteristic of a pedantic person, prone to deep analysis and constant clarification.
Metaphor image. A person draws himself not as a person, but as some object, creature or phenomenon, for example, an animal, rain, a mug, a character in a film or book. This indicates developed creativity, artistic talent, developed imagination and creative abilities. Such a person has a good sense of humor.
Portrait in the interior. A person draws himself against the backdrop of a landscape, in certain circumstances. surrounded by various objects. This speaks of extraversion, a desire to be surrounded by other people.
Emotional portrait. A picture of yourself in a certain emotional state. This indicates high emotionality and sensitivity, and a tendency to deep self-reflection. Often a person draws the opposite emotion: he is sad, but depicts himself with a smile on his face.
Portrait image from the back. Instead of a face, a person draws the back of his head, which speaks of internal contradiction, of a desire to demonstrate his personality. This may also indicate a reluctance to depict certain details, such as the face.
Aesthetic image. Characteristic of people with developed artistic abilities and aesthetic taste.

A short story about “What your drawings say.”

Dear visitors to the psychoanalytic office, you are invited to determine mental pathology based on a child’s drawing of a person whether the child has any mental problems.

Signs of possible mental pathology based on a person’s childhood drawing

Particularly acute conditions (psychotic) often manifest themselves in multiplicity, confusion and confusion of images in the drawing. Gross distortions of shape and proportions and displacement of individual parts of the image are common. Random chaotic lines and strokes appear.

Often, in the process of drawing, a child with some mental pathology continuously comments on his actions, talking about the character he portrays. The comments are usually confusing and contradictory.

As a rule, such children are brought for consultation with a psychologist in connection with gross behavioral disorders.

In preschool age (especially up to five years), drawings with equally extensive comments are quite possible in less acute mental states. However, even in preschoolers they indicate serious emotional problems. In preschool children, typical indicators of psychotic agitation ( mental pathology) are shading of the entire drawing, extreme pressure on the pencil (so that the paper tears) or the disappearance of the subject image.

Particularly gross distortions of the shape of the human body and/or facial features, not accompanied by the additional disturbances noted above (image confusion, chaotic lines, shading, etc.), are frequent in drawings of mentally ill people who are in a relatively calm state during the examination period.

Often, a person drawn by a child makes a repulsive impression, which is always an unfavorable sign. Sometimes various deformities appear in the drawings of children with disturbances in their own body schema, that is, who feel their body is not what it really is (a symptom that occurs when mental pathologies).

Particularly large ears are sometimes a sign of a suspicious attitude towards others (paranoia), a person’s confidence that people are talking badly about him behind his back (in some cases, large ears are also depicted by people suffering from hearing loss or auditory hallucinations).

Distortions in the shape of a person’s image are also typical in organic brain lesions. The general impression produced by the drawings of children with organic brain lesions can be formulated as “the correct form did not turn out.” At mental pathology it usually appears as if the person was purposefully drawing a distorted shape. Of course, such an assessment is very subjective, so in all cases of severe distortion of body shape and facial features, a detailed additional examination is recommended.

In some drawings, children deliberately draw various “forbidden” themes: female breasts, male and female genitalia, and sometimes the depicted character, for example, is peeing. This should primarily be interpreted as a manifestation of gross (probably pathological) antisocial tendencies.

In addition to gross distortion of forms, for mental pathologies based on children's drawings, the decay of form, its vagueness and uncertainty are also typical. On children's drawing a person's hands are depicted with strokes that are practically indistinguishable from the strokes depicting clothing. The legs are shapeless. These parts of the picture contrast sharply with the clearly drawn profile.

Such discrepancies are typical for a relatively long-standing pathology, when some of the mastered graphic templates have already fallen apart.

In mental pathologies, reduction of significant parts of the image, for example, the head, is often manifested. Some parts of the drawing are thickly blackened. The pressure is so strong that the paper is torn in some places. This indicates a particularly high level of tension.

Combined with the noted almost complete absence of a crucial part of the image, this suggests that the child is in a state of psychotic agitation.