DRAW A PERSON

PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES
 HISTORY

1885 EBENEZER COOKE

1900-
two international research projects
1915

1926 FLORENCE GOODENOUGH

 HISTORY

GOODENOUGH-HARRIS TEST

1949 KAREN MACHOVER

 DESCRIPTION OF THE
TEST

DAP is a projective test, that allow an examinee

to respond to questions through drawings. It is a
human figure drawing tests which is meant to
be administered to children and adolescents (at
some point it is also administered to adults).
It is a test used to measure non verbal
intelligence or to screen emotional or behavioral
disorders.
 PSYCHOMETRIC
PROPERTIES
DAP is a projective test, that allow an examinee
to respond to questions through drawings.
Projective tests can be applied in various
settings from schools, corporate, and private
VALIDITY practices to assess different psychological
aspects include: personality, family
background, intelligence, physical and
emotional abuse, depression etc.

The reliability of DAP Test is high (Kagitcibasi &

Biricik, 2011). Findings about the validity of the
test vary. Goodenough (1926) found that DAP
RELIABILITY Test correlated with Stanford - Binet
Intelligence Test (r = .74). Harris (1963) showed
that it correlated with Stanford - Binet between
.26 and .92 and with WISC between .77 and .38 in
various applications.
TEST ADMINISTRATION

MATERIALS INSTRUCTIONS RULES

The examinees are
required to draw a man,
The examiner will There are no time
a woman, and
provide the tester limits and no other
themselves with the
with several pieces of instructions given to
standardized
paper and some pens. the examinees.
instructions in the
examiner’s manual
TEST ADMINISTRATION

Please draw a person

That is up to you. You may

do as you like.
The examiner closely observes the behavior
of the subject, recording spontaneous
verbalizations
INTERPRETATION
FOUR MAJOR AREAS OF DAP

Head

Hands, arms, shoulders, and chest

Torso

Legs and feet

 HEAD

The head can provide the

examiner with the most
valid insight into his
subject’s interaction with
others as well as his self-
concept.
 HEAD
(EXAMPLES)

■Eyes and ears receive stimuli

or extrapersonal data
■Contempt, hatred, and deep
aggression may be seen in
dark, piercing eyes
■Oversensitivity and even
suspiciousness may be seen in
unusual ear detailing
HANDS, ARMS, SHOULDERS AND
CHEST

One can note size, shape,

strength, degree of
reaching out, degree of
aggression, and
conflictual signs within
this functional
 TORSO
Strength features similar to
the hands arms shoulders and
chest. Clothing covers the
body and  is important
symbolically as the façade or
front which subjects preset
the world

“midline emphasis” of
dependent persons, of those
concerned with somatic
difficulties
HANDS, ARMS, SHOULDERS AND
CHEST

Autonomy, self-
movement, self-
direction, and balance are
indicated.
Long legs- show strivings
for autonomy
Balanced figure- shows
emotional stability or
instability respectively
Stability or instability
may be revealed by
symmetry or asymmetry
 DAP FINAL REPORT

Description of Testing Situation and

Reaction of Subject to Testing

Brief Description of Subject’s Attitude

to DAP

General Impressions Conveyed by

Figures Drawn

Differential Treatment of Male and

Female Figures
 DAP FINAL REPORT

Discussion of Interpretative Hypotheses

Elicited from Catalogue

Summary
 EXAMPLE
INTERPRETATION
BY NAVA, (2018)
The figure was drawn by a
"healthy" female. She
emphasized that she was
not a good artist, that she
could not draw, and that she
was doing a terrible job.

She drew the female as her

first drawing. She had a
total of 3 attempts to
accomplish her drawing
(threatened by the content
and needing to draw a safer
image). Her first drawing
was named Jen.
The person fills the entire
page, is centered (self-
directed) and is outlined in
orange. The artist used long
strokes (controlled behavior
& inhibition) to draw the
outline and short bursts of
tensional intensity shading
(anxiety) to fill in the figure
detailing. The total number
of colors used was seven
(excessive).
For the male, named Mat,
she did not start over (not
threatened by the content of
the projection).

He too is in the center of the

page and is the same size as
Jen, yet he does not appear
as large (less intimidating).

His body is drawn with

short, sketchy strokes,
especially in the arm region.
She spontaneously
commented, "I'm doing
much better with my male.
He's much more
proportionate."

The total number of colors

used was three (well within
average use). As the drawing
progressed, she had far
fewer verbal complaints
about her ability.
Increased apprehension with the
female drawing
Female figure:
excessive color and shading -
made the figure larger and more
imposing
long strokes - apprehension
Male figure:
The same size yet appears less
intense and intimidating
She did not try to draw over again
The shading and use of short
strokes appears anxious, yet this
figure appears more confident
over the female figure
The symbolic abundance of ideas points toward
feelings of helplessness and emotional immobility.
The reinforced area, or conflict, surrounds the mouth.
The male figure shows little to no conflict, with the only
details of concern being the lack of pupils and placement
of the hands behind his back.
Once again, interpretive focus is placed upon the female.
Jen's hair is multicolored and flows
down the front of her body (anxiety,
overthinking). The mouth is reinforced
(conflict relative to that part) on the
upper lip and has a dimple mark on the
left side. Her arms are thick, dangling at
her sides (views self as dependent and
helpless) and overly long
(overambitious striving, desirous of
isolation and withdrawal, rejection of
others). They extend toward her feet
and are fat and bulky in shape. Her shirt
is well decorated and you can see trunk
lines through the shirt (thought pattern
disturbances). Her pants and shirt are
colored in anxious strokes, with her legs
being significantly out of proportion to
the rest of her body (emotional
immobility).
Mat's head is rounded, with no
pupils in his eyes (immaturity,
egocentrism). The schema is the
same for the mouth in both
drawings, but there is no
reinforcement on Mat. He exudes a
confident look toward the viewer.
His neck is proportionate to the rest
of his body. He wears a tight-fitting
T-shirt and stands with his hands
behind his back (interpersonal
reluctance, evasive). The
transparency we see in the trunk
lines visible through the shirt on the
female is not present in this
drawing. His legs are colored in with
brown pants, and his feet appear
clubbed.
 CAUTION
No interpretation
concerning human
behavior should be
made without full
appreciation and use of
biosocial milieu of the
subject.
 Easy to administer (only
about 20-30 minutes plus
10 minutes of inquiry)

Helps people who have

ADVANTAGES anxieties taking tests (no
strict format)

Can assess people with

communication problems

Relatively culture free

Restricted amount of
hypotheses can be
developed

Relatively non-verbal, but

DISADVANTAGES
may have some problems
during inquiry

Little research backing

 ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES
The DAP has been used by some practitioners
even though they have little familiarity and
training in the use of the tool.

DAP fails the test of diagnostic validity which

identifies matched groups of schizophrenics,
neurotics, and normals on the basis of human
figure drawings Wanderer (1969).
 ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES
Not intended to estimate mental age in older
candidates

DAP misses the intelligence of a candidate

knowing his own limits
RELATED STUDY BY LEV-WIESEL (1999)
Group 1 consisted of ten males, in the process of
recovering from alcohol or drug abuse, who had
revealed during therapy sessions that they had
experienced childhood sexual abuse.

Group 2 was made up of ten women, self-described

survivors of sexual abuse, who had been referred to
a family therapy center for behavioral or marital
problems

Group 3 was the control, and consisted of ten men

and ten women (the latter were clients in the family
therapy center for behavioral and family difficulties)
who regarded their childhood as normal and
satisfying, and who had not experienced physical or
sexual abuse.
RELATED STUDY BY LEV-WIESEL (1999)
SIGNIFICANT RESULTS

Face line: double chin or cheek, either empty or

shaded, was found in all of the drawings of the
sexual abuse survivors

Eyes: shaded, hollow, dot, or omitted eyes were

found in most subjects in groups 1 and 2

Genitals: in most members of groups I and 2, there

was the addition of a barrier, such as a large belt,
between the lower and upper body

Hands and arms: in most of the drawings in groups 1

and 2, these were clinging, cut-off, detached, or
omitted, in contrast to the control group members
 REFERENCES
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Structure, and Sex of Drawn Figure on the Draw-A-Person Test. Journal of
Personality Assessment,55(1), 362-366.
Evarretta, L. L. (2014). Validity of draw-a-person test as a measure of
anxiety and aggression indices among schizophrenics of Hospicio de San
Juan de
Dios. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2(3), 18-23.
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Clinical Psychology, 1969, 33, 151-156.
Nava, J. (2018, November 25). Joshua Nava Arts. Retrieved from
https://www.joshuanava.biz/art-therapy/drawaperson-dap-examples.html
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detecting adult survivors of sexual abuse: A pilot study. American Journal
of Art
  Therapy, 37(4), 106.
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Drawing Test as a Measure of Intellectual Maturity of Youths 12-17 Years".
DHEW
Publication, 1974-05.
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