The History of Tree

Reading

History of Tree ReadingHistory of Tree Reading

• It was Jung and Freud with the help of other

psychologist had discovered that tree reading

could be used to assess an individual.

• They had started to understand symbols

(trees and otherwise) as a strong metaphor

of the unconscious mind, especially

in terms of ideals

http://treereading.org/

• Jung was able to

show that all creative

works were able to

express some inner

nature of the artist or

creator that was

spontaneous, and at

the time, unexamined

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• Tree Reading was also

referred as “Projected

Assessment”

– The person was

projecting him or

herself (feelings,

emotions, styles, etc)

into whatever object

they were asked to

draw

http://treereading.org/

• According to Dr.

Phillip Greenway

– trees have

represented a life

force and

connection with the

cosmos because it

can mean maturity,

cycle of nature,

decline and even

death if you follow a

tree throughout the

seasons. http://treereading.org/

• Trees also symbolize

humanity’s interaction

with the world

• With their roots

reaching deep into the

earth, trees have also

evoked man to

wonder about the

underworld and

its untold mysteries

http://treereading.org/

• In 1926, Florence Goodenough created the

first major drawing test was called “Draw a

Person” test

– It was used to measure intelligence (not

personality)

• She also started off working on the standard

Stanford Binet IQ test, which is still used to

assess a person’s IQ

http://treereading.org/

• Karen Machover used the Draw a Person test

in 1949 to help her understand a patient’s

personality and behavior

• Psychologists started seeing the image of a

tree in 1958 due to Emanuel Hammer

discovering that the tree symbolizes a

person’s inner feelings and emotions

about him or herself

http://treereading.org/

• It was Charles Koch

that formalized the

approach that

drawings could be

used to discover a

person’s personality

– His reasoning was

that humans often

expressed themselves

in how they interacted

with the environment.

http://treereading.org/

• John Buck held several presentations where

he warned psychological professionals to be

wary about their interpretations. Since these

drawings rely on interpretations and people

tend to take on labels if they hear them,

giving the wrong interpretation could be

dangerous.

http://treereading.org/

• Tree drawing waned

away from the

professional light, but

it’s used today to help

discover a person’s

personality because it

can be used to open

conversations

and understand

a person.

http://treereading.org/

FREE GIFT: See Tree Reading in Action!

Visit (http://treereading.org/ss)

and see Dr. Janet Crain demonstrate Tree

Reading in action as she reads trees and

interprets their meaning.

Watch a real-time reading now!