Implications of the symbol figure representations: information from the direction and spatial location used by Japanese students

Meanings of physical distance, spatial location, and direction of symbolic figure in the Doll Location Test were investigated with 283 normal college students in Japan. They were asked to indicate eight symbolic figures of hypothetical people such as reliable father, unreliable mother on a recording sheet. The physical dyadic distance from the self, spatial location, and direction of symbolic figures were analyzed. Positive persons were placed twice as close as a negative person. Analysis of direction showed that more than 90% of the positive people were represented in either the same direction as or facing self, whereas a negative person was represented either in the opposite or in an unrelated direction from the self. Spatial location of the symbolic figures did not yield evaluative values.