The person’s test under the rain is a projective test used in psychology to Determine a patient’s personality featuresas well as its emotional stability, behavior and conflict points in a situation of stress, tension and/or uncertainty.

Usually used both in child psychology and in the workplace, the person’s test under the rain is about Evaluate the individual through both the graphic response of the drawing and the verbal response of the story that tells the drawing made.

Test of the person in the rain: how does it arise and what does it measure?

Test of the person in the rain. Source: Unspash

Since the beginning of the 20th century, different psychologists of the psychoanalytic school begin to study the applications of projective tests – evaluation methods that are based on the alleged projection of the patient’s personality through exercises in which the imagination prevails – among which the drawings such as the Florence L. Goodenough’s human figure test.

Subsequently, Karen Machover deepens the projective tests through drawings that would show the image of the ideal self, an unconscious expression of the deep being: Machover considered that, Through drawing, personality is projected in all its splendorshowing features closely linked to impulses, conflicts and anxieties.

To this test of the human figure is added rain and an umbrella with the objective of introduce a stressor that intensifies the projection of the patient’s behavior before destabilizing elements. The manual of Emanuel F. Hammer The Clinical Application of Projective Drawings (1958) is the first in which a systematization of various projects based on drawings is made among which is the tree test or the person’s own test under the rain.

Hammer coincided with Machover in This kind of projective tests could consciously or unconsciously reveal conflicts, desires, fear and needsas well as their particular way of perceiving the world and responding to their stimuli.

From then on, various psychology professionals have applied the person’s test under the rain as Tool to diagnose mental disorders, especially between children and adolescentsto later apply in human resources.

Test of the person in the rain: How does it apply?

Test of the person in the rain. Source: Unspash

The simplicity of the application of this test is one of its main advantages. Only a paper and a pencil are needed. The drawing of a person is requested in the rain without reference to the umbrella. If the patient asks if he includes an umbrella, it is answered that It remains at your choice to include any element in the drawing.

In the event that this test is applied in adults, a first phase of contact between the evaluator and the patient is advised since, in principle, it can be reluctant to draw, by fear of “doing it wrong” and/or the results of the evaluation. There is also no time limit to drawing, it is about the patient feeling comfortable and “not observed”, or pressured. However, it is usually less than 10 minutes.

In general The patient is expected to draw a single person, usually of the same sex, with umbrella and/or some protection elementon a ground and with other complementary elements, such as trees, clouds or puddles.

Person test in the rain: the results

Test of the person in the rain. Source: Unspash

As we have pointed out in relation to other projective tests, This test must be evaluated by a professional being a complementary tool together with other patient personality studies. Criticized by various psychologists for their supposed fragile methodology and systematization, it is still a complement in psychological evaluation whose results can never be definitive when certifying a diagnosis.

The time and paper position

Despite the obvious subjective considerations that are extracted from the results of this test, Psychologists obtain data from both the drawing and the attitude of the interviewee or patient. The time, in fact, is also evaluated: if the patient takes very little, it is interpreted as a possible Sample of anguish and/or impulsivity. If the patient changes the position of position – from horizontal to vertical – it can be interpreted as a Opposition to the testeven as a desire to manipulate it.

Drawing quality

It is important to remember that This test does not measure the patient’s artistic or creative level. That is, the quality of the drawing would be irrelevant since what is being interpreted is rain and other related elements From a symbolic point of viewas a destabilizing or stressful element that activates the individual’s defense mechanisms. Nevertheless, The style of the drawing, as happens in other projective tests, is evaluated: strokes, site, dimensions, pressure, sequence of drawing, etc.

The umbrella

The umbrella is the key element of analysis since It symbolizes protection against aggressions and the hostility of the environment. The size, position and guidance of the umbrella would determine the application of defense mechanisms in the individual. In this sense, if the umbrella is large, it can be interpreted as a high need for protection and/or fear of the environment. If it is very small, you can suggest a helpless posture. If it is closed, it could be transigned.

The rain

In the same line that it happens with the umbrella, The type of rain can define different personality features in a tension situation. If the rain is torrential, it can be translated as the individual is in a position of great stress and/or anguish. On the contrary, if it is a fine rain it is interpreted as the ability to deal with the situation showing good self -control skills.

The clothing and position of the subject

The person’s drawing is also evaluated. For example, Excessive detail in the drawing of clothing can denote perfectionism or anxietywhile if it has no details it would be interpreted as a tendency towards depressive behaviors or victimization. However, it can also mean a hobby for drawing, without more. On the other hand, If the person is oriented to the right can denote confidence in the futureif oriented to the left, unsolved conflicts or even traumas related to the past.

The floor

At the symbolic level, the ground is interpreted as The anchor to reality so that a soil drawn with weakness suggests a situation of anxiety or excess concern while a soil drawn with a line of very pressure suggests aggressiveness before the environment.

The story

Sometimes, the psychologist asks the interviewee to tell the story behind the drawing, being able to offer complementary data of great interest for the evaluation of the results. As, generally, The protagonist of the story is a projection of himself, this narrative offers information on personality traitsemphasizing special defense mechanisms in situations of stress that represent, after all, the objectives of the person’s test under the rain.