Thinking
External, gross and fine-motor actions, such as opening a book,
can be seen, and understood, and prompted and their further implications
and meanings grasped
Sensory process are not so visible.
Associative central psychological processes such as thinking
cannot be observed directly.
This presents a problem for the t.r.a. type of communication
The solution is to adopt a figurative approach
Examples, 'weighty matters', 'deep thoughts' etc
These verbal analogies can be represented visually
So our little girl in the picture above supports/rests her head on her hand
or hands, because her head is full of heavy thoughts
Compare these analogies, wherein complex psychological processes are
represented by simpler physical phenomena, with what happens in tests
such as the H.T.P. As an example consider the symbolism of a strong
wind blowing on a person or a tree as representing psychological pressure
on a child, e.g. from his parents, to grow up, do well at school etc.
Here the psychological pressure is a pattern of parental expectations,
promises and bribes to the child should he succeed in satisfying the
parents' demands, and threats and blackmail should he fail.
The above really involves two concepts or dimensions of the
measurement of physical attributes of physical matter,
1. weight, mass
2. volume
So the head is heavy, not just because it has heavy, serious thoughts,
but because it is full of thoughts. Contrast this with someone
described as being empty headed