Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Draw a Person Test

 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• A test used to measure nonverbal intelligence or to screen for

emotional or behavior disorders.

• Based on children's drawings of human figures, this test can be

used with two different scoring systems for different purposes.

• One measures nonverbal intelligence while the other screens

for emotional or behavioral disorders.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• During the testing session, which can be completed in 15 minutes, the child is asked to
draw three figures—a man, a woman, and him- or herself.
• To evaluate intelligence, the test administrator uses the Draw-a-Person: QSS
(Quantitative Scoring System). This system analyzes fourteen different aspects of the
drawings, such as specific body parts and clothing, for various criteria, including
presence or absence, detail, and proportion. In all, there are 64 scoring items for each
drawing. A separate standard score is recorded for each drawing, and a total score for
all three.
• The use of a nonverbal, nonthreatening task to evaluate intelligence is intended to
eliminate possible sources of bias by reducing variables like primary language, verbal
skills, communication disabilities, and sensitivity to working under pressure.
• However, test results can be influenced by previous drawing experience, a factor that
may account for the tendency of middle-class children to score higher on this test than
lower-class children, who often have fewer opportunities to draw.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• To assess the test-taker for emotional problems, the

administrator uses the Draw-a-Person: SPED (Screening
Procedure for Emotional Disturbance) to score the drawings.
• This system is composed of two types of criteria.
• For the first type, eight dimensions of each drawing are
evaluated against norms for the child's age group.
• For the second type, 47 different items are considered for each
drawing.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Draw a Person Test

1. Draw a Man , A Woman and themselves.

2. The drawing should not be a stick figure
3. The drawing should comprise of all body parts and features.
4. The Drawing would not require any artistic skills
5. Time limit should be minimum 15mins
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Questions for Reflection:

•Who are the people drawn?
•What are they thinking?
•What are they feeling?
•How are they behaving ?
•What is happening in the picture?
•Where are you in the picture?
•What are you doing ?
•How are you feeling?
•What are you thinking?
•How are you behaving ?
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Interpretation done on the basis of Omission, Inclusion, proportion and timing.

• Over-emphasis of the mouth = emphasized importance of food, profanity and temper tantrums
• Teeth showing = sign of aggression
• Closed mouth = keeping secrets, keeping information to themselves, homosexual
experiences/fantasies
• Wide-grinning mouth = attention seeking, seeking approval
• Large head = individual receives satisfaction from sexual fantasies
• Small head = feelings of weakness or intellectual inferiority
• Long hair = unsure sexual fantasies
• Small eyes = strong visual curiosity
• Large ears = hypersensitivity to criticisms
• Triangle nose = immaturity
• Small feet = insecurity
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Criticisms

• The messiness in the drawing may just be just the participants poor
drawing skills.
• Emphasis on a particular body part may just be something that the child
likes to draw.
• Drawing ability may not be good to determine cognitive ability.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Title: Draw A Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance

• Authors: Jack A. Naglieri, Timothy J. McNeish, Achilles N. Bardos
• Publisher: PRO-ED, Inc., 8700 Shoal Creek Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78757
• Date of Publication: 1991
• Forms, groups to which applicable: The DAP: SPED has one form which is used for ages 6-17 and
can be used in a group or individual setting.
• General Type: The DAP: SPED is a personality assessment tool which is used to screen for emotional
disturbance in children ages 6-17.
• Practical Features: The DAP:SPED is a short test, consisting of three drawings, which will be
completed in a total of 15 minutes (5 minutes per each drawing). This is a tool that can be utilized in
one session’s time. The assessment and scoring are done by hand.
• Time Required to Administer: Approximately 15 minutes; 5 minutes for each drawing.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Draw A Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED)

• The DAP:SPED was developed by Naglieri et al. (1991) to provide a brief screening tool for
the identification of children who have emotional or behavioural disturbances.
• It is a human figure drawing (HFD) scoring system with objectively scored items for which
good psychometric properties have been demonstrated.
• The tool was normed on a relatively recent standardisation sample of 2260 children aged 6-
17 years, which was representative of the USA population in terms of gender, geographic
region, race and socioeconomic status.
• With reference to previous HFD scoring systems, in developing the DAP:SPED, Naglieri et
al. (1991) stated that the rules for scoring HFDs needed to be better refined and made more
objective, where holistic ratings of HFDs related significantly to gross levels of adjustment
and maladjustment, rather than to particular pathological issues.
• It was also proposed that the number of emotional indicators present in a drawing need to
effectively differentiate normal from maladjusted individuals, and the Draw-A-Person
technique should be used for both cognitive and emotional aspects to provide a rich source of
information.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• The items included in the DAP:SPED scoring system were first identified following a systematic
review of literature on the emotional indicators in HFDs, and were then subjected to an actuarial
analysis by age to determine which items occurred infrequently in the standardisation group.
• Items demonstrating poor internal reliability were excluded. This resulted in a scoring system with 55
items, recording the presence and absence of emotional indicators in 3 HFDs (man, woman, self),
where the items include omissions of body parts, shading, erasures of particular areas and
idiosyncratic features.
• To improve reliability and ease of scoring, a set of transparencies was developed to measure height,
orientation and size of the drawing.
• Once the items are scored for each drawing, they are summed and converted to a standard T score
(mean = 50, SD = 10) and then compared with the normative group to determine whether further
evaluation is i) not needed, ii) needed or iii) strongly indicated.
• As significant differences were found by gender within each age group, separate norms were
generated, and no significant differences were found between mean scores of different races in the
standardisation sample.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
• The DAP:SPED is used to aid in the identification of children and adolescents who may
have emotional or behavior disorders.
• Description of test items and scoring:
• The DAP:SPED consists of three subtests; the drawing of a man, the drawing of a
woman and the drawing of a client.
• The client is given 5 minutes to draw each.
• The examiner then rates each drawing individually on 55 specific criteria; for example
“tall figure, short figure, head omitted, arms omitted, multiple figures, nude figures”. The
examiner gives one point for each criterion that is met, if it has not been met, a zero is
given.
• The maximum score for each drawing is 55.
• The examiner would then add the three raw scores from each drawing and use the
appendix in the manual to convert the client’s standard score according to age of the
client. If the standard score is less than 55 further evaluation is not indicated, 55-64
further evaluation is indicated, and above 65 further evaluation is strongly indicated.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• The instructions provided to the children undergoing the DAP:SPED test are standardised to ensure that all
administrations of the test follow the exact same procedure to produce results that can be compared to the norms.
• “I’d like you to draw some pictures for me. First I’d like you to draw a picture of a man. Make the very best
picture you can. Take your time and work very carefully, and I’ll tell you when to stop. Remember, be sure to
draw the whole man. Please begin. (Allow 5 minutes).” (Naglieri, et al. 1991: 21)

• These instructions are then repeated for each drawing with just the change of ‘man’to ‘woman’ and ‘yourself’.

• “Please ask the child to ‘make a picture of a man’ on the reverse side of this sheet within the rectangular frame.
Ask the child to make the best picture he/she can and remind him/her, please, to draw a whole man, not just the
head and shoulders.
• The drawing should be done in pencil and in conditions free from distraction. If more than one child is doing this
task, please ensure that no child can see another’s drawing. The child should be given no help other than the
instructions.”
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• In essence, these instructions are very similar, and similar guidance is

given to the administrator of the DAP:SPED, in that they are to ensure
children cannot see each other’s drawings in a groups setting and other
than reiterating what is given in the standardised instructions, children
are not to be given any other help.

• It is essential that the drawings were completed using similar procedures

for the application of the DAP:SPED scoring system to be valid.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Cross-Cultural Fairness: This assessment tool could be used across cultures, but when the examiner
interprets the drawings, they may have to take into consideration multicultural differences. This
assessment tool could be used with clients who have limited verbal communication skills as the client
themselves do not have to speak.

• Practicality: This assessment tool has proven reliability and validity in screening for emotional
disturbances in children and adolescents. This test is relatively inexpensive and simple to administer
to clients. Additionally, it does not take much time and can be used with one client in one session or
many clients in a group setting. This tool can be seen as a nonthreatening tool to use with children or
adolescents as they do not have to speak to the examiner; they only have to draw three pictures.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• (2020). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from

https://rachaelross.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/9/6/23964697/test_review.pdf
• Understanding the Cognitive, Conative & Affective Developmental Maturity of
Children with Special Needs through Their Scribbles & Single Human Figure
Drawings. - ppt video online download. (2020). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from
https://slideplayer.com/slide/4199678/