Florence L.
Goodenough
Draw-a-Man Theory
By: Lindsey Underhill
Goodenough’s Education
• She as homeschooled as a young girl.
• 1908 – Bachelor of Pedagogy: Millersville,
Pennsylvania Normal School
• 1920 – Bachelor of Science: Columbia
University
• 1921 – Master of Arts with Leta Hollingworth:
Columbia University
• 1924 – Doctor of Psychology: Stanford
University
Beginning of work
• Taught at the
University of
Minnesota where
she worked with
special classes in
public schools.
• She went on to
work for the
Institute of Child
Welfare.
• Her traditional
avenues of research
included the study of
differences in race,
gender, development
of self awareness,
sleep patterns, and
posture.
• She is best known for
the Draw-a-Man Test.
Draw-a-Man Test
“The nature and content of children’s drawings are
dependent primarily upon intellectual development.”
- Florence L. Goodenough
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Drawing tests have been used throughout the centuries to understand
the cognitive (intellectual) development of children.
Drawing for children is a form of expression rather than a
representation of beauty.
It is believed that a child draws what he knows, not what he sees.
This causes the child to exaggerate the size of objects which seem
interesting or important to him/her.
By looking at children’s drawings, we are not only able to understand
their development, but also to detect personality differences, loss of
senses, and also to understand a child’s learning differences.
Goodenough’s Draw-a-Man Test
•
Goodenough took the traditional drawing test and
modified it.
• She also created a scale to score the drawings.
• Her most important contribution was that of a change in
subject matter of the drawing.
Why a man?
• All children are familiar
with with the figure of a
man.
• There is consistency in
the basis of how a man
should look.
• It is simple and
complicated at the same
time so it can
accommodate both
young and older children.
• It is a universal interest.
Goodenough’s Theory
• Goodenough believed that through the
drawing of a man, one could determine the
cognitive development of a child as it
increases with age.
• However, Goodenough did not believe that
artistic ability was needed to score high; it
was purely intellectual.
• She believed that a child scores high on the
test not because of talent, but because of a
good memory for details, and a keen power
for analytic observation.
My Research Study
The purpose of this research study is to
investigate whether there is a correlation
between a child’s mental maturity
(intelligence) – as determined using
Florence Goodenough’s Draw-a-Man Test –
and that child’s artistic ability as evaluated
by a young artist (UD art major). According
to Goodenough, there is no connection
between the two.
Questions for my research:
1. What is the mental maturity of the child as measured
using Florence Goodenough’s Draw-A-Man test?
1. Are the drawings of children judged by the young artist to
reveal more artistic ability likely to have higher mental
maturity scores on the Draw-A-Man test? Similarly, are
those drawings that reveal less artistic talent likely to
correlate with lower scores on the Draw-A-Man test.
My hypothesis
Although the Draw-a-Man test may work as
a tool for understanding a child’s cognitive
development, it also can be used to see an
early artistic talent within children. I believe
that those with higher scores on the
Goodenough Draw-a-Man test will also be
scored higher in artistic ability using a scale
created by a young art major at the
University of Dallas.
Scoring
Goodenough Scale
• The child gets a point
for each element of the
scale.
• The scale includes
elements such as
proportion, firmness of
lines, correctness of the
man itself, and much
more.
• The collection of all of
these points is called
the raw score.
Artistic Scale
The child gets a point
for each of the following
elements:
• Composition
• Varying line
• Proportion
• Creativity
• Texture
• Value
• Space
• Balance
Discussion of Pictures
Natalia
Age: 4
Raw Score: 25
Artistic Score: 4
Serra
Kevin
Age: 10
Raw Score: 33
Artistic Score: 4
Age: 10
Raw Score: 8
Artistic Score: 3
Kindergarten results
25
25
25
19
20
16
15
9
10
5
0
5
4
5
8
Raw Score
Artistic Score
7
5
3
1
0
Second Grade results
29
30
25
20
27
26
22
19
15
11
10
5
0
5
6
8
7
Raw Score
Artistic Score
6
2
th
5
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Grade results
36
33
29
33 33
29
27
15
5
3
6
3
5
8
3
6
4
5
Raw Score
Artistic Score
My Conclusion
• My hypothesis is wrong.
• Although those with higher raw scores
did tend to have a higher artistic score,
this was not at all uniform throughout.
• When I compared the raw scores with
the artistic scores, they were all
scattered.
• In conclusion: The cognitive
development scores of the Draw-a-Man
test do not correlate with artistic ability
scores. To get a high score on the test,
one does not necessarily need high
artistic talent, just the ability to relay
back through a drawing all that they see
in detail.
What I would change…
• have children do it in an isolated area
• emphasize more that I need them to draw
just a man
• remember to take down their actual ages
to the month