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

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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.

General Information

Keywords: projective technique «Space of Trees and Light», family emotional communications, family dysfunctions, experiences in close relationships

Journal rubric: Testing and Validating Instruments

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2022300305

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project number 22-28-00820 (Psychological resources of socially vulnerable groups in the face of modern challenges (on the example of people with disabilities and their families).

Received: 25.05.2022

Accepted:

For citation: Odintsova M.A., Lubovsky D.V., Gusarova E., Ivanova P. The Projective Technique «Space of Trees and Light» as a Navigator of Childhood Experience of Family Relationships in Adults. Konsul'tativnaya psikhologiya i psikhoterapiya = Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 2022. Vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 68–91. DOI: 10.17759/cpp.2022300305. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Maria A. Odintsova, PhD in Psychology, Docent, Head of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of Distance Learning, Faculty of Distance Learning, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3106-4616, e-mail: mari505@mail.ru

Dmitry V. Lubovsky, PhD in Psychology, associate professor, Professor of the UNESCO Department “Cultural and Historical Psychology of Childhood”, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7392-4667, e-mail: lubovsky@yandex.ru

Elena Gusarova, MA in Psychology, Moderator, Scientific and Practical Center for Comprehensive Support of Psychological Research PsyDATA, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6968-5253, e-mail: bondarevaes@fdomgppu.ru

Polina Ivanova, MA in Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education graduate, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6343-4979, e-mail: ivanova.polina.andreevna@gmail.com

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