UST-Psych. Dept.

PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS
Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test (Florence Goodenough)

History
The Draw-A-Man Test, developed by Florence Goodenough in 1926 was the first formal
figure drawing test. It was used to estimate a child's cognitive and intellectual abilities
reflected in the drawing's quality and the amount of detail in it.
The test was later revised by Harris in 1963 as the Goodenough Harris Drawing Test
(GHDT), which included a detailed scoring system and allowed for drawings of men,
women, and the self. The scoring system primarily reflected the way in which the child is
maturing cognitively. The GHTD is appropriate for children between the ages of three
and 17, although it has been found to be most useful for children between three and 10.
In 1948, the Draw-A-Person test (DAPT) was developed by Machover. This test used
figure drawings in a more projective way, focusing on how the drawings reflected the
anxieties, impulses, self-esteem, and personality of the test taker. In this test, children
are first asked to draw a picture of a person. Then, they are asked to draw a picture of a
person of the sex opposite of the first drawing. Sometimes, children are also asked to
draw a picture of the self and/or family members. Then, they are asked a series of
questions about themselves and the drawings which are meant to elicit information
about the child's anxieties, impulses, and overall personality.
In 1992, Naglieri and his colleagues created a more specific scoring system for figure
drawing tests called the Draw-A-Person: Screening Procedure of Emotional Disturbance
(DAP:SPED), based on a large standardization sample. This scoring method includes 55
items rated by the test administrator and based on the child's drawings and responses to
questions. The DAP:SPED is appropriate for children aged 6 to 17. It is often used as a
screening method for children who may be having difficulties with regard to social
adjustment and require further evaluation.
In 1970, the Kinetic Family Drawing technique (KFD) was developed by Burns and
Kaufman. This test requires the test taker to draw a picture of his or her entire family.
Children are asked to draw a picture of their family, including themselves, "doing
something." This picture is meant to elicit the child's attitudes toward his or her family
and the overall family dynamics. The Kinetic School Drawing technique (KSD),
developed in 1974 by Prout and Phillips, requires the child to draw a picture of himself or
herself, a teacher, and one or more classmates. This picture is meant to elicit the child's
attitudes toward people at school and his or her functioning in the school environment.
Theoretical Framework
In the psychoanalytical field, a persons drawing of male and female figures is believed
to be a window into his/her personality. Comments made by the person while drawing, in
what order and size body parts are drawn and what features are drawn or not are some
of the signs taken into account.

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

The field of projective drawing interpretation rests upon several theoretical postulates:
(a) There is a tendency in man to view the world in an anthropomorphic manner.
(b) The core of the anthropomorphic view of the environment is the mechanism of
projection.
(c) Distortions enter into the process of projection to the extent to which the projection
has a defensive function.
In DAPT, the image drawn is intimately tied to the self. In the process of creating the
figure, conscious and unconscious determinants guide clients; images of cultural and
social stereotypes contribute to body image conception. The figure the client draws is
himself or herself in many respects and the page upon which the client draws is his or
her world. The end product is a drawing of self-experience in the clients world.
Furthermore, the body image projected on the paper may refer to deep unconscious
wishes, to a frank acknowledgment of physical or psychological impairment, to
conscious or unconscious compensation for a physical or psychological defect or to a
combination of all these factors. The drawing may represent an ego ideal or a hero
figure.
Clients sometimes attempt to express an ideal self rather the real self, but the underlying
basis for this expression may also be seen in the drawing, thereby giving the clinician a
picture of both the real self and ideal self. Occasionally, the client draws in such a
manner as to illustrate his or her attitudes toward life and society in general. The drawing
may be a conscious expression of these feelings or it may include deeply disguised and
unconscious information, expressed indirectly through symbolism.
Some clinicians feel that the drawing might also represent a projection of attitudes
toward someone else in the environment (the clients feelings about his or her father or
mother), a projection of an ideal self-image or an expression of the clients attitude
toward life and toward the world in general.
I. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF THE DAP
Advantages:
1. The DAP is a simple, easy task for most patients. Young children, especially,
like it and will usually cooperate quite readily. They are often more fluent
graphically than they are verbally.
2. Children with certain internalized disorders often do not demonstrate their
problems in overt behavior. Even when they are interviewed, children do not
typically communicate their problems directly because they often lack the ability
to express their emotional discomfort. Most children, especially the younger
ones, lack the ability to use language that labels or describes these emotions.
The DAP and other similar drawing procedures offer a window into their
experienced subjective discomfort.
3. The DAP is quick and easy to administer. It is typically completed within 5 to 10
minutes and it requires few materials.
4. It offers clues concerning motor and conceptual development.

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

5. The DAP is has no external stimulus or structure. The clinician has the
opportunity to observe the persons functioning on a relatively unstructured task.
6. The DAP often yields a great deal of information concerning self-concept as well
as information concerning personality style, orientation and conflict areas.
7. The DAP has few age and intelligence limitations. It can be used with very young
(sometimes as early as 3 years old) and it generates valuable data even when
the patient has limited intelligence.
8. The DAP is often welcomed by inhibited and non-talkative patients. It is relatively
non-verbal test (the only verbal material is contained in the thematic associations
to the drawings) and, therefore, is useful when language is a problem.
9. The DAP is a useful test with patients who are evasive and/or guarded. Guarded
patients seem more aware f what they might be expressing in the verbal tests but
they are less certain of what their graphic expression might reveal about them
and they can perhaps utilize less control over this more primitive mode of
expression.
10. Since the DAP is quick and easy to administer, it lends itself well as an
instrument to measure change in psychotherapy.
11. The DAP is often an excellent springboard for discussion of specific conflict
areas.
12. The DAP is more sensitive to psychopathology compared with other projective
tests.
Disadvantages
1. It lacks normative data for deaf individuals.
2. Communicating instructions to draw a whole person is often difficult without
influencing the content of the students drawing.
3. It lacks reliability and validity for deaf population.
4. People jump to conclusions based on the drawings.
II. INSTRUCTIONS
The clinician should have a supply of 8 x 11 inch unlined paper and some wellsharpened #2 pencils with erasers. The drawing surface beneath the paper should be
flat and smooth and there should be enough illumination. The patient should be seated
comfortably with enough room for their arms and legs and should be able to rest their
arms comfortably on the drawing surface.
One sheet of paper should be placed in front of the patient in a vertical position, along
with one pencil. The patient should be told, I would like you to draw a picture of a
person. In response to questions (What kind of figure should I draw?, Should I draw
the head only?, Should I draw the whole person?, I a stick figure ok?), the clinician
should respond, Do it any way you like; Its up to you.
Sometime the patient responds with comments indicating concern about his/her ability to
perform adequately. To such comments, the examiner should respond, This is not a
test of artistic ability. I am not concerned with how good an artist you are. Just do the
best and do not worry.

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Should the patient draw merely the head, the head and shoulders or a stick figure,
he/she should be given another sheet or paper and should then be told, This time, Id
like you to draw the entire person (or a non-stick person).
A complete figure consists of the head, torso, arms and legs. If only a part of the area is
omitted (e.g., hands, feet or one of the facial parts), the drawing is acceptably complete.
When the first complete drawing is finished, the clinician should put another sheet of
paper in front of the patient and state, Now, Id like you to draw the person of the
opposite sex. If the patient being tested is a child, the clinician should say, You drew a
boy/girl (man/woman); now, draw a girl/boy (woman/man). When this task has been
completed satisfactorily, the patient should be asked to sign each drawing. The clinician
should then date each drawing, either on the front or on the back. In addition, the
clinician should indicate which drawing was done first.
The clinician should then present the first complete drawing to the patient and should
request that the patient make up a story about the person drawn (Now, Id like you to
make up a story about the person youve drawn. Look at it and make up a story and Ill
write it down.). The story should be recorded verbatim because interpretation depends
on the manner in which the words are phrased and expressed. Sometimes, it is
necessary to urge or encourage the patient. Should the patient be unable to make up a
story, it will then be necessary to ask specific questions about the drawing.
A third approach in obtaining verbal associations is to ask the patient to examine the
drawings and to then associate them. The patient should be asked to describe the
person he/she has drawn to tell what comes to mind when the drawing is examined or
the examiner might ask: Tell me about this person. What is he/she like?
During the drawing task itself, it is important for the clinician to observe the following
sequence: (a) remarks made by the patient; (b) style of approach to the task; and (c)
adequacy of attempts to manage the task appropriately despite the pressure of the
testing situation.
It is important to note how the patient orients to the relatively unstructured drawing
situation. Does the patient ask for direction, either verbally or non-verbally, or does
he/she seem comfortable and self-assured? Is the patients approach to the task quick
and impulsive, careful or overly-cautious and uncertain? Does the patient express doubt
about his/her ability? Each aspect of approach to the task tells the clinician a great deal
about adaptation to the environment, self-concept, methods of dealing with stressful
situations, conflicts and personality style.
III. NORMATIVE DATA
The typical drawing of a person consists of: (a) a head, which is drawn first; (b) facial
features, such as the eyes, nose, mouth, ears and hair; (c) legs; (d) feet; (e) arms; (f)
hands; (g) fingers; (h) neck; (i) shoulders; and (j) trunk. The typical drawing also includes
additional details such as a belt and clothing of some sort. It is placed approximately in
the middle of the page and is about 6 7 inches in size.

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Typical adult drawing:

1. Head, trunk, arms and legs are typically in proportion with relative symmetry,
spontaneity, movement or animation
2. Line quality is typically consistent
3. Head is more oval than round and some attempt is made to draw the facial
features in a realistic manner (e.g., eyes are almond shaped, not round, circles or
dots; lips are indicated by a double line)
4. Body is lifelike, with a 3-dimensional quality. The head sits well on the neck and
shoulders.
5. Sex characteristics are included, so that the male and the female drawings
maybe distinguished from one another.
Saarni and Azara compiled two categories of anxiety indices:
1. An aggressive-hostile category (scars, gross asymmetry of limbs, oversize
figures, crossed eyes, teeth present, transparencies, disproportionately long
arms and hands, omission of arms, genitals present) and
2. An insecure-labile category (vertical slant more than 15 degrees; undifferentiated
shading of face, neck; disproportionately short arms; arms clinging to sides of
body; no hands, fingers, eyes, mouth, legs, feet, neck; tiny figure; baseline under
figure; excessive midline detailing, and faint, scribbly-scratchy lines).

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Expected Items in Childrens Drawings (Ages 5-12):

Age 5

Age 6

Age 7

Age 8

Age 9

Age 10

Ages 11 & 12

Expected Items

Head
Eyes
Nose
Mouth
Body
Legs
Arms
Feet
Arms 2-D
Legs 2-D
Hair
Neck
Arm Down
Arms at Shoulder
2 Clothing Items

X
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X

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UST-Psych. Dept. PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

EMOTIONAL INDICATORS FOR CHILDREN (KOPPITZ)
Drawings by children must be judged by other criteria, since the style and quality of the
drawing will vary with age and with developmental status.
Koppitz has devised a series of emotional indicators along with the ages at which they
become clinically valid for boys and girls. These indicators are said to occur significantly
more often, but not exclusively, on figure drawings of children with serious emotional
problems, compared with the drawing of well-adjusted children. He also points out that
the presence of only one or two of these indices do not reflect severe psychopathology.
These indicators include those which are said to reflect the following:
1. Poor integration of parts and figures (B:7; G:6)
2. Shading of face
3. Shading of body and/or limbs (B:9; G:8)
4. Shading of hands and/or neck (B:8; G:7)
5. Gross asymmetry of limbs
6. Slanting figure, axis of figure tilted by 15 degrees or more
7. Tiny figure, 2 inches high or less
8. Big figure, 9 inches or more in height (B and G: 8)
9. Transparencies
10. Tiny head, less than 1/10 of total figure in height
11. Crossed eyes, both eyes turned in or out
12. Teeth
13. Short arms, not long enough to reach waistline
14. Long arms, too long enough to reach knee line
15. Arms clinging to the sides of the body
16. Big hands, as large or larger than face of the figure
17. Hands cut off, arms without hands or fingers (hidden hands not scored)
18. Legs pressed together
19. Genitals
20. Monster or grotesque figures
21. Three or more figures spontaneously drawn
22. Clouds, rain, snow
23. Omissions eyes, nose (B:6; G:5), mouth, body, arms (B:6; G:5), legs, feet (b:9;
G:7), neck (B:10; G:9)
EMOTIONAL INDICATORS FOR ADULTS

Indicator

Impulsivity

Description

Poor integration of body parts

Gross asymmetry of limbs
Transparencies
Figure larger than 9 inches
Omission of the neck

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Insecurity/Inadequacy

Anxiety

Shyness/Timidity

Anger/Aggressiveness

Slanting figure, tiny head

Hands cut off
Monster or grotesque figure
Omission of arms and/or legs and/or feet

Shading of the face, body and/or limbs, hands and/or neck

Legs pressed together
Omission of eyes
Inclusion of clouds, rain or flying birds

Tiny figure
Short arms
Arms clinging to the body
Omission of the nose and/or mouth

Crossed eyes
Presence of teeth
Long arms
Big hands
Nude figure and/or presence of genitalia

IV. SOME GUIDELINES IN INTERPRETING THE DAP

The good DAPT interpreter is a person who could think creatively, who is able to
connect loosely associated ideas and who is socially sensitive to subtle nuances in
interpersonal behavior. Good interpretative skill is significantly related to an affiliative
approach. Good interpreters, furthermore, see themselves as responsible and
cooperative in relationships with others.
Scribner and Handler, likewise, conclude that the ability to read human figure drawings
in an intuitive, impressionistic manner was consistent with an affiliative rather than with a
disaffiliative orientation. The good qualitative interpreter is an open, emphatic person
whose thinking is flexible, a person whose openness to the drawings is evident as
intuitiveness.
Empathy involves such attributes as being perceptive to a wide range of cues, having
insight into ones own motives and having the ability to accurately evaluate the motives f
others. A certain amount of affective tuning in to ones own feelings and to the feelings
of others is also important.
The good interpreter is ready and willing to engage fully in order to transcend
mechanistic patterns of thought. He has the ability to approach an object or drawing with
freshness, spontaneity, interest and the ability to become again reconnected, with
cognitively recognized creative understanding. Good intuitive interpreters express a

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

willingness and ability to relinquish control of what they experienced and simply allowed
themselves to experience fully and openly, relaxing their stance toward reality in order to
permit ego regression to occur.
A good DAPT interpreter should understand the concept of symbolism from one or more
psychoanalytic and/or existential points of view, as well as understanding symbolization
in culture and in folklore. Understanding symbolization in myth, the dream and in other
unconscious representations is a great help in allowing the drawing to communicate
meaning.
A thorough working knowledge of the dream work along with an understanding of the
mechanisms of substitution, displacement and condensation, would be of great help in
allowing the clinician to see the manner in which the unconscious symbolization is
transformed into graphic structures.
In approaching the interpretation of the drawings, a more impressionistic approach
should be sued at first. Attention should then be focused on the drawing details as they
fit together to communicate a feeling tone or message. The posture of the figure and the
facial expression convey a mood and tone of the figure, perhaps active and vigorous,
perhaps passive and bewildered. The type of line used by the client and the strength
conveyed by the arms and legs add a great deal to the overall impression. The figure
may be rigid or tense or there may be undue emphasis on symmetry. Expansiveness,
constriction, daydreaming, self-involvement, depression or anger may be the major
expressive element around which the impressions crystallize.
On the other hand, poor interpretative skill is associated with a disaffiliative approach,
see themselves as dominant and competitive in their relationships with others and
approach life with emphasized power, dominance, order and precision. They emphasize
their need to control activities and experiences.
Interpretation of Structure and Content
Drawings may be analyzed utilizing both structural and content variables. The structural
variables concern the style in which the drawing was executed (size, pressure, line
quality, placement on the page, degree of detailing, perspective, shading, erasure and
reinforcement). The content variables concern the type of person drawn, the facial
expression, the postural tone and the subtle nuances that communicate to the viewer the
emotional tone of the client who executed the drawing.
1. Size: Self-esteem and the manner in which the patient deals with self-esteem
2. Pencil Pressure: Indication of energy level
3. Lack of Detail
Withdrawal tendencies with an associated reduction in energy
Typical reaction to stress experienced as external to the patient
Depression that is often associated with withdrawal tendencies and lack of
energy to complete the figure

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

4. Erasure
Uncertainty
Conflict-filled indecisiveness and restlessness
Dissatisfaction with self
Anxiety and conflict
5. Shading: Excessive shading indicates anxiety and conflict or agitated depression.
However, some shading (and erasure) is an adaptive mechanism an attempt to
give the drawing a sense of three-dimensionality. If the shading is carefully done,
and seems to enhance the drawing, it is probable that the area that is drawn is
conflict related but the conflict is being dealt with appropriately. If the shading is
messy, uneven or hurriedly done, the conflict is causing anxiety and is disturbing the
person in everyday adjustment.
6. Distortions and Omissions: Gross distortion indicates poor reality contact or negative
self-concept. Moderate distortions and omissions may indicate conflict/anxiety. The
parts of the body are omitted or distorted sometimes offer clues concerning the
source of the problem. Distortions and omissions can also be an indication of severe
psychopathology and/or lack of a sense of self.
7. Transparency: Poor reality ties, except in the drawings of young children, where they
are typically normal. This suggests poor reality testing; anxiety/conflict; sexual
disturbance; or regressive or psychotic conditions.
8. Vertical Imbalance: The greater the imbalance from the vertical position, the greater
the anxiety.
9. Sex of First-Drawn Figure: Most normals draw the same-sex drawing first. There is
no real relationship between sex-role orientation and the figure drawn first. Younger
children (below age 8) often make a drawing that is of the same sex as the clinician.
Interpretations Concerning Body Parts
1. Head: Intellectual and fantasy activity, of impulse and emotional control, site of
socialization and communication
2. Nose: Phallic symbol or a symbol of power motive
3. Mouth: Problems in drawing the mouth are sometimes associated with feedingeating difficulties, speech disturbances, outbursts of anger or a dependent approach
to life
4. Chin: Stereotype for strength and determination
5. Beards/Mustaches: Need to enhance personal or sexual status, virility strivings,
efforts to enhance masculinity, attempts to hide, aggressive tendencies or
compensation for felt adult inadequacy
6. Neck: Indicates concern regarding the need to control threatening impulses
7. Waistline: Separates the area of physical strength from the area of sexual
functioning; in females, the upper part of the body is also related to nutritional factors
and secondary activity while the lower part bears more directly on sexual and
reproductive activity
8. Trunk: Basic drives and attitudes related to the development and integration of these
drives in personality
9. Genitalia: Rarely drawn, but when they are, they indicated severe psychopathology,
overt aggression (in children), or sexual preoccupation or curiosity (adolescents).
10. Arms: Contact with reality and interpersonal relations
11. Legs: Security feelings and/or feelings concerning mobility

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

12. Profile View: Evasiveness, reluctance to face and communicate with others, reserved
interpersonal style, serious withdrawal or oppositional tendencies, paranoid
tendencies
13. Stance: Degree of security the person feels in his environment. Position of the
various parts of the body produce a drawing whose stance reflects attitudes
described or other attitudes concerning feelings of power and adequacy in the
environment.
V. ASPECTS OF THE DRAWING
1. Content

Major Body Part

Head

Description/Interpretation

Intellectual and fantasy activity

Impulse and emotional control
Site of socialization and communication

(Goldworth, 1950):

Normal: More accurate, better proportioned, better

differentiated

Brain-damaged: Grossly-disproportionate or omitted significant
details; draw the least proportioned heads

Neurotics: Fairly accurate, well-proportioned, well-differentiated
and containing the essential details of a human head but not
quite as good as drawn by normals

Schizophrenics:
More frequently distorted/inaccurate/
disproportioned heads; heads with significant details missing
Most expressive part of the body. Center of communication. Easiest
part of the body to draw.

Face

As last feature drawn: Usually show disturbance in interpersonal

relationships

Facial features

Omission:
Evasive about the frictional character of their
interpersonal relationships. This is a graphic expression of the
avoidance of social problems. Superficiality, caution and hostility
may characterize the social contacts of an individual who omits
drawing the facial features.
May be judged directly with considerable confidence
(Goldworth, 1950)

Neurotics: Show fewer instances of happy expressions and

more of unhappy expressions than normals
Schizophrenics: Largest incidence of peculiar and doll-like
facial expression
Brain-damaged: Resembles the schizophrenic group in the
sense that they do not often draw happy expressions. They
show many instances of unhappy expressions. Empty

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

expression is drawn almost exclusively by brain-damaged

persons.
Omitted: Psychosis, evasiveness and superficiality in interpersonal
relationships; Inadequate environmental interest or possible
withdrawal tendencies.

Nose

Over-emphasis: Over-concern with outward appearances or feelings

of inadequacy and weakness that are compensated for by
aggressive and socially-dominant behavior
Sexual/phallic symbol
Symbol of power motive
Subjects who experience sexual difficulties or feelings of sexual
immaturity, inferiority, impotence or other sexual insufficiencies:
Inclined to emphasize the nose (e.g., reinforcing, making it larger,
erasing, shading or any emphasized treatment of this sort)
Excessively long nose: Impotent, older men
Shaded/Cut-off: Castration fears, particularly fears stemming from
autoerotic indulgence

Mouth

Nostrils indicated with any degree of emphasis: Specific accent on

aggression
Problems in drawing the mouth are sometimes associated with
feeding-eating difficulties, speech disturbances, outbursts of anger or
a dependent approach to life
Oral emphasis is marked in the drawings of young children, primitive
and regressed alcoholics and depressed individuals

Lips

Since the mouth is often the source of sensual and erotic

satisfaction, it features conspicuously in the drawings of individuals
with sexual difficulties
Difficult to separate from mouth in treatment
Full lips in male figures: Effeminacy and appears with other features
reflecting narcissistic interests
Resembling a phallus: May have had homosexual experiences
Girls drawing elaborate cupid-bow lips in combination with other
heavily-cosmetized features: Generally, sexually precocious

Eyes

Objects drawn in the mouth (e.g., straw, toothpick, cigarette, pipe):

Oral erotic trends
Windows of the soul
Reveal the inner life of the individual
Basic organ for contact with the outside world
Chief point of concentration for the feeling of self and the
vulnerability of the self
Since the eye is the window through which the self is revealed and

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

also the means by which the individual maintains contact with the
outside world, it follows that the individual who is most concerned
with keeping contact with the outside world the suspicious
individual looking for hostility is more apt to emphasize the eye
Concerned with social functions: Emphasize the eye, elaborating on
eyelashes
Women and homosexuals: Expected to elaborate the eyes and
perhaps draw eyelashes on the figure

Eyebrow

Emotionally-immature and egocentric: Tendency to shut out the

world and tend to draw figures with eyes close/draw a circle for an
eye and omit the pupil
Related to other hair indicators
Trimmed: Refined and well-groomed individuals
Bushy: Primitive, rough and uninhibited individuals

Ears

Raised: Disdain, haughtiness, query

Often omitted by normals
Less significance than some of the other body parts

Hair

Emphasized: Particularly sensitized for the individual doing the

drawing (e.g., paranoids)
An indication for striving for virility (e.g., large amount of hair, with an
elaborate coiffure, shading)
Messy: Immorality
Drawing of a hairy woman:
passionate

Women are viewed as sexually

Wavy, glamorous, cascading and with other outstanding cosmetic

details: Sexually-delinquent or entertain aspirations of an amorous
sort

Chin

Beard/Mustache: Need to enhance personal or sexual status; Virility

strivings; Efforts to enhance masculinity; Attempts to hide aggressive
tendencies; Compensation for adult inadequacies
Strength and determination

Contact Features

Description/Interpretation

Arms & Hands

Contact with reality and interpersonal relations

Weighted with psychological meaning referring primarily to ego
development and social adaptation
Hand is the most frequently omitted feature
Arms extending out to the environment in a warm, accepting fashion:
Good relationships with the environment

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

The direction and fluency of the arm lines relate to the degree of
spontaneity of extension into the environment
Omission: Withdrawal from the environment (especially among
schizophrenics and depressed individuals)
Omission in the female drawings by males: Male has been rejected
by his mother and feels unaccepted by contemporary females

Fingers

Legs & Feet

Missing hands/hands that are vague or dimmed out: Lack of

confidence in social contacts or in productivity or both
Extremely important in the experiential realm of the person, since
they are the real contact points between the individual and the
environment
Important as the parts of the body that involve manipulation
Security feelings and/or feelings concerning mobility
Legs of female figures have sexual significance: If they receive
conflict treatment in the form of reinforcement/erasures/changes, this
suggests conflict in the sexual area
Feet may be a phallic symbol

Toes

Miscellaneous Body
Features
Neck

Shoulders

Phallic-like feet:
Sexual inadequacies and/or sexual
preoccupation
Conflict treatment (e.g., erasures, lengthening, shortening,
changing the line, shading): Conflict in the sexual area

Feet may also have aggressive implications, since it is an organ for

propelling the body forward as well as an instrument for attack
When toes are indicated in a figure that is not intended to be nude:
An accent on aggressiveness that is almost pathological in nature

Description/Interpretation
Link between:
1. Intellectual life (head) and affect/basic body impulses (body)
2. Ego control (head) and id impulse (body)
Indicates concern regarding the need to control threatening impulses
Width and massiveness are the most common graphic expression of
physical power and perfection of physique
Massive shoulders on the figure of the same gender as the subject:
Feelings of physical inadequacies
Drawings by males of massive shoulders which are emphasized at
the expense or other parts of the figure: Adolescents and sexuallyambivalent individuals as an over-compensation for feelings of body
inadequacies

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UST-Psych Dept. PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Drawings by females of female figures with massive shoulders:

Some degree of masculine protest

Breasts

Shoulders may have more significance for female subjects than male
subjects
Unusually large/Emphasized (e.g., erasures, shading, addition of
lines):
(Among males)
1. Emotional immaturity
2. Maternal over-dependence
3. Unresolved Oedipal problems
4. Psychosexual immaturity
5. Strong oral and dependency needs

Hips & Buttocks

Waistline

(Among females)
1. Identification with a dominant mother
2. Exhibitionism
3. Narcissistic problems
Emphasis (e.g., confusion, break/change in line, particular widening
or other conspicuous treatment): Characteristic of homosexuallyinclined or homosexually-conflicted males
Exaggerated hips in female figures drawn by females: Female is
aware of the power that relates to the functional potentialities of the
ample pelvic development
Separates the area of physical strength (above) form the area of
sexual functioning (below)
In female drawings: The upper part is also related to breasts and
nutritional factors and secondary activity while the lower part bears
more directly on sexual and reproductive activity. The legs are also
related to sexual allure.
In male drawings: The above part (chest area) embraces the
primary body features of physical strength while the below part refers
to the area of sexual functioning

Trunk

Conflict in waistline: Delay in the drawing, reinforced, broken line,

elaborate belt or excessively tightened
Basic drives and attitudes related to the development and integration
of these drives in personality
Round: Passive and have feminine characteristics
Square: Masculine
Bottom of the trunk left open: Sexual preoccupation
Thin trunk on the figure of the same sex as the subject: Subject is
discontented with body type. This is a direct representation of body
weakness. In a heavy individual, this suggests compensation for
unwelcome rotundity.

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Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Anatomy Indicators

Joints
Clothing

Internal organs are not drawn except by schizophrenics or actively

manic patients
Genitalia: Rarely drawn. When present, they indicate
psychopathology,
overt
aggression
(children)
or
sexual
preoccupation or curiosity (adolescents).
Faulty and uncertain sense of body integrity (Schizoid and
schizophrenic patients)
Have some libidinal significance
Compromise between modesty and body display
Most subjects tend to draw a vague indication of clothing
A person who asks whether or not he/she should draw a figure with
clothes on: May be troubled by a strong body self-consciousness
Often, the identity of the drawn figure can be inferred from the
clothes
Clothes narcissist: Draws over-clothed figures. Superficially quite
sociable and extroverted but sociability is motivated primarily by a
desire for social approval and dominance rather than by an interest
in people.
Body narcissist: Draws under-clothed figures. Tends to display
muscle power and to be schizoid and introverted.

2. Structural and Formal

Aspect

Description/Interpretation

Action/Movement

More commonly found in drawings of males than in the drawings of

females
Psychiatric patients: Tend to be static

Succession

Schizophrenics: Convey an impulse to move that is blocked; Have

striving toward actions that are blocked
Most normal people draw with some sort of systematic succession
Impulse disorder, manic, schizophrenic thinking: Work in confusion,
scattering all over the drawing without any particular plan

Midline

Size

Compulsive: Develop each area carefully and in detail bilaterally

May be indicated either by a line down the middle of the body or by
an elaborate treatment of the Adams apple, tie, buttons, buckle or
the fly on the trousers
Indicates somatic preoccupation, feelings of body inferiority,
emotional immaturity and mother dependence
Self-esteem and the manner in which the subject deals with selfesteem

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UST-Psych Dept. PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Inadequacy feelings:
1. Tiny figure, indicating inadequacy feelings and perhaps
responding to them by withdrawing
2. Self-expansiveness and self-aggrandizement to cover up
feelings of inadequacy. Drawing may fill entire page. Resorts to
compensatory action or fantasy.\
Self-confidence:

Pencil Pressure

Stroke & Line Quality

1. Unusually large drawings: Sign of aggressive and actingtendencies

2. Unusually small drawings: Feelings of inferiority, inadequacy,
low-self
esteem; Anxiety,
withdrawal tendencies
in
inhibited/restrained/timid/shy/constricted adults and children;
Depressive tendencies, regressive, dependent tendencies;
Constriction under stress
Energy level
Heavy vs Light pressure
Line delineating the contour of the body: Wall between the body and
the environment. The body wall is built as a substantial structure as
though to ward off an attack of the environment and to guard
securely the contents of the body.
Heavy, thick line: Barrier between self and the environment
Long pencil strokes:
extreme

Controlled behavior, even inhibition to the

Short pencil strokes: Impulsive behavior and excitation

Horizontal movement: Fearfulness or self-protective tendencies
Vertical movement: Assertiveness and determination
Curved line: Flexibility
Straight line: Assertiveness or rigidity

Lack of Detail

Discontinuous line quality (many breaks in the outside boundary):

anxiety or conflict is overwhelming. It appears as a series of
disconnected dashes which are often found in severely-disturbed
(psychotic) patients who have problems with reality contact and who
are overwhelmed by confused bizarre thoughts.
Withdrawal tendencies with an associated reduction in energy
Typical reaction to stress experienced as external to the patient
Depression that is often associated with withdrawal tendencies and
lack of energy to complete the figure
Excessive detailing: Often seen in obsessive-compulsive patients

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UST-Psych Dept. PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

Placement

Middle of page: Typical

Right: Environmentally-oriented
Left: Self-oriented
High: Optimistic
Low: Pessimistic
Upper Left Hand
Upper Right Hand
Bottom edge of page
Uncertainty

Erasure

Conflict-filled indecisiveness and restlessness

Dissatisfaction with self
Anxiety and conflict:
This is especially true if erasure and
subsequent re-working does not improve the drawing. The areas
erased offer a clue to the content of the conflict. If the re-drawing
improves the figure, it is probable that the conflict is adequately
being contained and dealt with and that it is not causing any problem
in everyday functions.
Excessive shading indicates anxiety and conflict or agitated
depression. However some shading and erasure is an adaptive
mechanism an attempt to give the drawing a sense of 3dimensionality. If the shading is carefully done, and seems to
enhance the drawing, it is probable that the area that is drawn is
conflict-related but the conflict is being dealt with appropriately. Of
the shading is messy, uneven or hurriedly done, the conflict is
causing anxiety and is disturbing the person in everyday adjustment.
Gross distortion: Poor reality contact or negative self-concept

Shading

Distortions &
Omissions

Moderate distortions and omissions: Conflict/anxiety

The parts of the body omitted or distorted sometimes offer clues
concerning the source of the problem
Can also be an indication of severe psychopathology and/or lack of a
sense of self
Poor reality ties, except in drawings of young children, where they
are typically normal

Transparency

Vertical Imbalance
st

Gender of the 1
Figure Drawn

Anxiety/conflict, sexual disturbance or regressive/psychotic

conditions
The greater the imbalance from the vertical position, the greater the
anxiety
Most normals draw the same-sex drawing first. There is no real
relationship between sex-role orientation and the figure drawn first.

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UST-Psych Dept. PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

When the opposite gender is drawn first:

1. Confused sexual identification
2. Strong attachment or dependence on a person of the opposite
gender
3. Ambivalence/conflict regarding ones sexual identification
4. Poor self-concept
5. Greater interest or awareness of the opposite gender as
compared to the same gender

Profile view/
Perspective
Stance

Younger children often make a drawing that is of the same gender as

the clinician
Evasiveness, reluctance to face and communicate with others, reserved
interpersonal style, serious withdrawal or oppositional tendencies,
paranoid tendencies
Degree of security the person feels in the environment

3. Conflict Indicators

Indicator

Description/Interpretation

Erasures

Most apt to be noticed in the: (a) hands and feet; (b) shoulders; (c)
arms; (d) nose; (e) ears; (f) crotch; and (g) hipline
Interpretation depends on the part of the body in which the erasure is
found

Shading

An expression of anxiety; however, this differs from reinforcement

and shading in that they show overt dissatisfaction
Particular area shaded suggests the source of anxiety
Vigorous, aggressive scribbling to cover up something: Discharge of
aggression and expression of concealment
Most frequently shaded parts

Differential Treatment
of Male & Female
Figures

1. Chest (male figure): Sensitivity to physical inferiority

2. Breasts (female figure done by males): Conflict concerning
mother dependence
3. Subtle lines in the skirt area (done by females): Furtive and
inhibited sexual concern
Individual who is identified with own gender will draw the samegender figure first
Individuals who scrabble the sexual characteristics of the two figures:
Sexual maladjustment
A pair of figures in which one figure is drawn disproportionately
larger than the other: Larger figure is viewed as stronger, while the
figure drawn smaller is the weaker gender

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UST-Psych Dept. PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

Lecture 12: Draw-A-Person Test

4. Miscellaneous

Indicator
Stick
figure/Abstract
representations
Clowns, cartoons or other sillylooking characters
Witches and similar characters
Frequent ancillary materials
(e.g., lines to represent the
ground; fences to lean on)

Description/Interpretation
Evasion (insecure, self-doubting individuals)
Contempt and hostility for people
Hostile and express their feelings extrapunitively
Need for support and succorance. Compulsive individuals are
unable to leave an area alone, as they go over and over an
area and add more detail. Hysteric, impulsive and unstable
individuals show a lack of precision and lack of uniformity in
performance.

Sources:
Hammer, E. (1968). Projective drawings. In A. I. Rabin (Ed.) Projective techniques: in personality
assessment (pp. 366-390) NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Handler, L. (1996). The clinical use of drawings. In C. Newmark (Ed.) Major psychological
assessment instruments (pp. 206-293) Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Swensen, Clifford H. Jr. (19 ). Empirical evaluations of human figure drawings. In B. Murstein (Ed.)
Handbook of Projective Techniques (pp. 609-700) NY: Basic Books, Inc.
_____________. Projective drawings (pp. 365-393).

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