The Draw A Person or DAP test is a test that is used by children who are told to draw a picture of a person. When they do this, the child supposedly puts his thoughts, feelings, and personality in his picture. We have seen examples in class of what can go wrong and whether or not this test can be accurate. This test is most commonly used for children who have been through a traumatic experience. The picture supposedly represents how they are feeling. The test is given and then psychologists study it to try to give meaning to the picture. For example, if a the person in the picture has very broad shoulders, then the person has a problem or is insecure about their "manhood". Big space in the drawing gives the impression that the person is missing something in their life. A small person shows that the person is struggling to find their place in the world. And beady eyes can represent some kind of psychological problem. Basically, almost any kind of person will give an impression that something somewhere is wrong with the individual. We have tried this test in class. We found that some of the descriptions were accurate and others were way off. So i guess this means that it could really be a hit or miss. Others can say the description of the problem is too vague. But we also discussed in class the problem that not all people were meant to be great artists. What if my drawing has beady eyes because I am not good at drawing eyes so they come off as being beady. I personally think that this is not an effective tool unless the drawing actually expresses a traumatic person experience within the picture itself.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Draw A Person Test or (DAP) Test
The Draw A Person or DAP test is a test that is used by children who are told to draw a picture of a person. When they do this, the child supposedly puts his thoughts, feelings, and personality in his picture. We have seen examples in class of what can go wrong and whether or not this test can be accurate. This test is most commonly used for children who have been through a traumatic experience. The picture supposedly represents how they are feeling. The test is given and then psychologists study it to try to give meaning to the picture. For example, if a the person in the picture has very broad shoulders, then the person has a problem or is insecure about their "manhood". Big space in the drawing gives the impression that the person is missing something in their life. A small person shows that the person is struggling to find their place in the world. And beady eyes can represent some kind of psychological problem. Basically, almost any kind of person will give an impression that something somewhere is wrong with the individual. We have tried this test in class. We found that some of the descriptions were accurate and others were way off. So i guess this means that it could really be a hit or miss. Others can say the description of the problem is too vague. But we also discussed in class the problem that not all people were meant to be great artists. What if my drawing has beady eyes because I am not good at drawing eyes so they come off as being beady. I personally think that this is not an effective tool unless the drawing actually expresses a traumatic person experience within the picture itself.
I agree that this is not an effective tool in gaging people at all. When my little sister was starting kindergarten they had her draw a person, and she drew the person at the bottom of the page so the body was little but the head was huge. They told my mom she had learning disabilities and that she may not be ready. My mom thought it was a bunch of "crap" and ignored their comments. My sister doesn't have any disabilities and was a straight A student. I didn't know then that this was the technical name for the test but I never agreed with it. How do you judge somebody based on how they draw? What if they aren't artistic? I don't think that this test should be used ever!
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