PROBLEM
Dunnc') has demonstrated that drawings of the self by boys and girls, 4 t o 18 years of age, show a progression in maturity of representation, from an undifferentiated drawing a t age four or five, to a well-integrated human figure at age fourteen. Drawings of post adolescents seem to be a t the same level as those of 14 year olds. Dunn suggested that human figure drawings may be used as evidence of psychic intactness of the self in that the drawings are positively correlated with age, grade, intelligence and aspects of adjustment. The aspect of adjustment appraised was the distinction between the drawings of deviants (feeble-minded, neurotic, psychotic, and brain damaged) and those of presumed normals. The drawings of deviants were found significantly less mature than those of normals of the same chronological age.
Presumably, if people suffer physiological and psychological deficits as they grow older, such changes may be reflected in their drawings of the self. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to test the hypothesis that the drawings of older people show increasing loss of intactness. Drawings of sophisticated younger adults where physiological and psychological deficit should be relatively minor will be compared with those of older adults where the probability of such deficit should be greater.
SAMPLE AND METHOD
The younger adults were seventy-five students (average age 32) enrolled in a graduate course on the psychology of the adult; the older adults (average age 73) were 104 individuals, some living in an institution for the aged and some participating in recreational day centers for old people in New York City.
"Draw a picture of yourself, standing, facing front view as if you were looking a t yourself in a full-length mirror. We are not the least bit concerned with whether or not you can draw like an artist. We are not measuring art or art ability. Don't think too much about it, but just draw. Be at ease and whatever you draw will be satisfactory.