ABSTRACT
Projective Drawings (PDs), primarily that of the human figure, have been used to assess personality and/or intellectual functioning since the 1920s (Goodenough, 1926). Mostly utilized in evaluating childrens IQs, Goodenough found that her Draw-A-Man Test also yielded considerable personality data. Drawings were included in full assessment batteries and extended to adult assessments as well. Machover (1949), employing a psychoanalytic approach, brought forth the first comprehensive monograph which attempted to attribute meaning to the drawn human figure in terms of both content (symbolic meaning) and structural factors, e.g., line quality, size, and placement. Buck (1948), writing at about the same time as Machover, extended this approach to drawings of the house and tree as well as the person. Hammer (1958) elaborated on Buck’s work, producing a broad, sweeping work which included contributions from leading researchers on topics including expressive (structural) aspects of PDs, child, adolescent, and adult drawings, the use of drawings in pre-and post-therapy analysis, symbolism in animal drawings, as well as other uses of PDs in clinical assessment and art therapy.
