Self-Reports by Negro and White Adolescents to the Draw-A-Person

Abstract

20 Negro and 20 white adolescents filled out a checklist inquiry designed to ascertain personal qualitative evaluations of their human figure drawings. Results from the self-report inquiry support Dennis's (1966) finding that, when asked to draw a person, Negro American and white American children most often draw white people. Also in accord with Dennis's cultural value-preference hypothesis was the finding that Ss' qualitative descriptions for their figure drawings were characteristically, although not exclusively, favorable. There was also a significant tendency for Negro Ss to enhance their drawings by describing them as “rich” and “very smart” while white Ss tended to describe their persons as “middle income” and “average intelligence.”