Abstract
The present study with 105 emotionally disturbed children was a replication of a previous “Fruit-Tree Experiment” with normal children and investigated the influence exerted by an unfamiliar story on the content of drawings. A counterbalanced design was used for two series spaced 1 yr. apart of three picture drawing sessions each. Before the second drawing session a short and novel story was read to the children. Half of the children in the experimental and control groups were simultaneously shown a pertinent picture to the story, while the other half of the children did not receive any visual aid. The results showed that the simultaneous presentation of pertinent pictures with the stories did not seem to have any effect on the responses. However, the children in this study responded very much like the normal children. The present “Fruit-Tree Experiment” showed in the graphic representations by emotionally disturbed children that changes in thought associations and imagery occurred, due to their brief exposure to an unfamiliar story.
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