Analysis of Emotional Indicators in Human Figure Drawings as Related to Self-Esteem

• Published in: Perceptual and Motor Skills
• Main Authors: Prytula, Robert E., Thompson, Nancy Dunn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1973
• Subjects: eskimo*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/003151257303700326; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003151257303700326

2 groups of 10- through 13-yr.-old children were separated for high and low self-esteem, and given a human figure-drawing task. Figures drawn were Man, Woman, Self, and Eskimo. Subsequently, the drawings were scored on six emotional indicators such as body height and width, area, erasures, transparencies, and omissions. The results do not offer consistent support for the body-image hypothesis as related to self-esteem. Ss did not differ in terms of drawn size of Self figure, nor did Ss high in self-esteem draw significantly larger figures across all drawings as compared with those low in self-esteem. Although the latter drew significantly more transparencies, no other conflict indicators were significant in comparing groups of Ss low and high in esteem.