The Projective Technique «Space of Trees and Light» as a Navigator of Childhood Experience of Family Relationships in Adults

Abstract

Aim. Empirical validation of the projective technique of K. Adams «Space of Trees and Light». Method. The study involved 298 people, including 245 women and 53 men aged 18 to 65 years (average age 33.89+12.7). There were used the following methods: Questionnaire «Family Emotional Communications» by A.B. Kholmogorova, S.V. Volikova, M.G. Sorokova; Questionnaire «Experience in Close Relationships» by K.A. Chistopolskaya and co-authors; projective technique «Space of Trees and Light» by K.Adams. Results and conclusions. The results given by the projective technique «Space of Trees and Light» are in correlations with the characteristics of family dysfunctions and displays of emotional attachment of adults in close relationships. Statistical analysis of the data showed that the groups of respondents who chose a picture symbolizing one or another version of the child’s spiritual world are characterized by specific profiles of family emotional communications and the experience in close relationships. Answers to additional questions to the technique help to clarify these features. The choice of a picture that symbolizes one or another social situation of development in the parental family acts as a kind of heuristic that allows one to build hypotheses about the features of family emotional communications and about the experience in building close relationships. The technique «Space of Trees and Light» can deepen empirical research and replenish the arsenal of techniques and methods in the practical activities of psychologists.