Effects of Socioeconomic Differences on the Sophistication of Nigerian Children's Human Figure Drawings

Pfeffer, Karen; Olowu, A. A.

doi:10.2466/pms.1986.62.3.771

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…An examination of the Goodenough and Goodenough-Harris items passed by local children supports the findings of Bakare (1972), and Pfeffer and Olowu (1986) amongst Nigerian children. When asked to make a drawing of a man, the local children depict a basic human form and as they grow older they increase the number of features included in the figure and improve the proportions.…”

Section: Social and Educational Factorssupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Studies in Africa have shown significant differences in performance between children from lower and upper socio-economic backgrounds, with children from more favourable home environments scoring significantly better than impoverished children (Bakare, 1972;Pfeffer & Olowu, 1986).…”

Section: Social and Educational Factorsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It has been argued that children in less industrialized societies are not exposed to pictorial material to any great degree nor to demands to represent objects pictorially in any detail. Thus, children in these circumstances often produce very adequate representations of the human form, although they fail to elaborate and perfect their drawings to the extent required of their age group by the scoring systems of Goodenough or Harris (Bakare, 1972;Pfeffer & Olowu, 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Draw-a-Man Test: A 50-Year Perspective on Drawings Done by Black South African Children

Richter

Griesel

Wortley

1989

South African Journal of Psychology

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Human figure drawings done by 415 urban black children were compared with the figures of people drawn by children in 1938 and 1950. Though children from five to eight years of age showed no change in performance over the 50-year time-span, there was a significant improvement in the Goodenough scores obtained by contemporary children of school age in comparison with the historical samples. Whilst it is feasible that betterment of the wider social milieu of black people in South Africa may be associated with these changes, no significant relationships between Draw-a-Man scores and socio-economic status could be demonstrated for the older children in the 1988 sample. For this group, test performance showed some relationship with scholastic achievement. The Draw-a-Man test appears to have some validity as a general cognitive measure amongst local black children between the ages of five and eight years. The test seems to be unsuitable for children over eight years of age because, from this age onwards, it underestimates abilities to a marked extent.Tekeninge van die menslike figuur soos deur 415 stedelike swart kinders gemaak, is met die wat deur kinders in 1938 en 1950 geteken is, vergelyk. Alhoewel kinders tussen vyf en agt jaar oud geen verandering in prestasie oor die 50 jaar-tydperk getoon het nie, is daar 'n betekenisvolle verbetering in Goodenough-tellings by hedendaagse skoolgaande kinders bevind. Terwyl hierdie verandering wei met 'n verbetering van die algemene sosiale milieu van swart mense gepaard mag gaan, kon geen betekinsvolle verwantskappe tussen die tekeningtellings en sosio-ekonomiese status vir die ouer kinders in die 1988-steekproef aangedui word nie. Vir hierdie groep het die tekeningtoetsresultate egter 'n verwantskap met skolastiese prestasie getoon. Die 'Draw-a-Man'-toets blyk geldig te wees as 'n alqernene kognitiewe meting onder plaaslike swart kinders tussen vyf en agt jaar. Dit wil egter voorkom of die toets nie vir hierdie doel vir kinders ouer as agt jaar geskik is nie aangesien dit hulle verrnoens heelwat onderskat.

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Section: Social and Educational Factorssupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Social and Educational Factorsmentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Draw-a-Man Test: A 50-Year Perspective on Drawings Done by Black South African Children

Richter

Griesel

Wortley

1989

South African Journal of Psychology

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“…In a mega cross-cultural study Dennis (1966) asked children from Cambodia, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and West Germany to draw a man and found that the majority drew a white male figure in Western clothing. Pfeffer and Olowu (1986) found that Nigerian children, mean age 8, do not use dark colours even when they rarely use colours. Papadakis-Michaelides (1989) found that among the 3200 figures drawn by 1600 children from five cultural backgrounds in the UK (English, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and West Indian) aged 3 years 6 months to 11 years 6 months only one figure was dark skinned.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A cross-continental study on children's drawings of football players: Implications for understanding key issues and controversies in human figure drawings

et al. 2017

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Professionals examine various aspects of girls’ and boys’ drawings as a way of understanding their intelligence, personality and emotional state. However, the extent to which such measures could be universally generalised or attributed to a specific cultural norm is still a debatable issue. In the present study five key features of children’s drawings namely: the size (height) of the drawings, profile or full face, figure in action or static, shaded or non-shaded and the nature of additional details were examined from a cross-cultural perspective, and by providing a topic (football) for which children’s drawing of a human figure could provide opportunities for the latter indices to manifest and flourish. Children from three countries; England, Iran and Brazil, representing three continents took part in this study. The participants were asked to draw a football player from their own country and from the other participating countries. The results showed that Brazilian children differ from Iranian and English children by drawing significantly smaller figures and putting more football action in the drawings. Shading of the figure drawn was more prevalent amongst English children. Such findings have implications for the interpretation of key aspects of children's drawings in educational, clinical and therapeutic settings and from a universal vs. culturally-specific viewpoint.

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Borrowing Norms for the Human Figure Drawing Test: How to validate this practice?

Vedder

Vijfeijken²,

Kook³

2000

Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research

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Effects of Socioeconomic Differences on the Sophistication of Nigerian Children's Human Figure Drawings

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

The Draw-a-Man Test: A 50-Year Perspective on Drawings Done by Black South African Children

The Draw-a-Man Test: A 50-Year Perspective on Drawings Done by Black South African Children

A cross-continental study on children's drawings of football players: Implications for understanding key issues and controversies in human figure drawings

Borrowing Norms for the Human Figure Drawing Test: How to validate this practice?

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