Simply pick an image from each of the three tests in the gallery to find what your choices reveal about the real you - You can find the answers at the end of the article

THE CHAIR TEST

Why do chairs seem to take on personalities? It's partly a matter of how they look, which is vaguely human, and they certainly have characteristics that we associate with our feelings about other people.

They may look comfortable, making us think of them as someone with whom we could be familiar and would like to be with; they may look austere, and induce us to sit up straight; they may look efficient and practical, encouraging us to think that we could work effectively with them; they may be ornate, assuming something of the distinction and authority of those who use them - you can be in awe of such a chair.

We have intense physical, emotional and psychological relationships with chairs, growing to like them or dislike them. Chairs, like friends, have meanings for us. That is why objects that we may think of as purely functional have been the focus of so much aesthetic attention and have been designed in such an amazing diversity of forms and styles.

The chairs to which we find ourselves attracted say something about our predispositions, particularly perhaps about our way of relating not only to chairs but to the people whose personalities they seem to reflect, the people we choose as friends.

THE GARDEN TEST

The idea of the garden as a protected ground for the conduct of a loving relationship goes back to Eden. The word “paradise” is derived from the ancient Persian for 'walled garden'. Paradise gardens are for play; they are for being oneself, for courtship and making love. More down-to-earth gardens may be formal or informal; they may be where flowers are cultivated for the living rooms of the house; or fruit, vegetables and herbs for the kitchen.

Every garden is in some significant way an extension of the being of the house; in this respect gardens provide illuminating analogies for important personal relationships. Like gardens, relationships may be cultivated or they may be neglected. Experienced gardeners know that no garden stays the same; like all things human, gardens change. Within its boundaries, what has been one sort of garden may be transformed into another: flowerbeds may give way to vegetable patches, old vines can be grubbed up and wisteria cover old walls in their place.

We may picture a relationship in the image of a garden, but whatever we see when we look into it we can be sure that come next week, next month or next year, the garden will be different in some way: in life, or love, nothing is for ever.

THE HOUSE TEST

The houses of our childhood loom large in our imaginings. Suppressed, perhaps, but never forgotten, they exist within us like those flowing fragments we remember of dreams. Our first house is always with us, but then all the later houses, and the rooms they enclose, enter our imaginations in their turn. Every image of a house in some sense becomes a prompt not only to memory, but also to reveries of identity, daydreams of possibility. In short, to look at a house, or at an image of a house, or any kind of dwelling place, is to imagine a possible life. We think of the house - house being generic - as an image of many different things: of shelter, of safety, of seclusion, or conviviality, of a threat or unhappiness hidden from the outside world, of acceptance or rejection. In each case of the house, or the room within it, is the symbol of our being. After faces, the Sun and the Moon, flowers and trees, the child draws the house - two windows for eyes and a door for a mouth; the house as face. Dwelling, being: home, self.

Think of a house. Is it on a hill? Is it in a street, or a terrace? Is it empty or full of people? Is it plain or elaborate? Is it like that first house, the house that in your memory is haunted by the ghost of your former being? Is it the house that in its turn inhabits your inner mind?

CHOICES FOR CHAIR TEST

Stool You are a fantastic friend. People love you because you are transparently honest about your affections and tolerant of others' weaknesses. You have good feelings about humanity, yet you lack a high regard for yourself. You would not mean less to your friends if you communicated something of these doubts They would help you make changes because they love you.

Ornate chair You can be exotic and your responses to things are often unusual. This makes you sought after for your company, but it can also put some potential friends off. So sometimes you end up on your own feeling vulnerable. Stop being quite so anxious; friends love your company when you are your intriguing self.

Leather armchair Friends find you warm and supportive, always willing to invite them into the world you create. It's a world in which they can show their true feelings and find sympathy. This willingness to be the reliable and dependable friend fulfils a need in you to be needed. You give a great deal; try to take more.

Modern chair You appear confident, cool and self-possessed. Your friends love your elegance and assurance, it appeals to their own self-confidence. This is a positive quality to have as a friend, but you sometimes have to make an effort to keep up that outward appearance of self-controlled mastery of situations. Relax! You will be just as good a friend, if you let that cool guard down.

CHOICES FOR THE GARDEN TEST

Cottage garden This relationship benefits from warm and powerful feelings of compatibility. The downside may be that you feel a little crowded and compromised at times. Everything in the garden is lovely, but it's important not to take things for granted.

Zigzag garden The fascination in this relationship comes from the contradictions that sustain it. On the one hand, feelings of safety and security are necessary to it, which tend to seclude it from the hurly-burly of the wider world of relationships; on the other, there is a slight frustration at the limitations that this seclusion imposes. Perhaps behind this is fear of the transience of relationships.

Houseboat garden This is a complex relationship. It brings pleasure and fun, and it's unusual. That makes it interesting, like a work in progress towards a clearer definition of things. That's the central issue. You both have different requirements in this relationship: one seeking some stability, the other looking for some idea of the direction to take.

Ruined garden You went into this relationship knowing that it wouldn't be easy, but you are seduced by a sense of danger. There are highs and lows in this situation, but the excitements make up for the difficult times and occasional boredom. You are not easily daunted, and you enjoy the danger; it keeps you feeling alive!

CHOICES FOR HOUSE TEST

Block of flats How is it up on that sixth floor? Choosing to live there indicates a paradox at the heart of your personality. On the one hand, you love the busy world and the diversity of people in it; on the other, you may be unsure of your place in the scheme of things. These contradictions sometimes create problems of identity. So be happy with what you really are: a complicated, interesting person.

House on stilts You thrive on unusual and unpredictable experiences. You are idealistic, and tend to be easily disillusioned with the ways things are. But going up the ladder to the cabin in the air can be a way of escaping a sense of responsibility. Enjoy the solitude and the view, but a high house shouldn't be a high horse.

Gothic mansion You like the thought of being safe behind strong walls. You have a strong sense of your complexity as a person. Maintaining your independence so emphatically may mean that you forfeit new experiences. Your fortress may preserve your integrity but sometimes it restricts your imagination and your freedom to manoeuvre in the company of others.

Georgian pile You have an expansive, confident personality, with a lot of ambitions. People enjoy your company because of your extrovert ability to present yourself as polite and gracious. But the world does not always match your expectations - and you can't live always within that lovely house, those stately gardens.

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