Research Information System
Turk Psikoloji Dergisi, vol.20, no.56, pp.25-43, 2005 (SSCI)
Two studies are presented on the development of representational and expressive/aesthetic aspects of drawings. The Experiment-I tested and confirmed the hypothesis of linear development (6-to 13 years) in the three dimensions of representational quality of drawings: the usage of paper and perspective, and the amount of details depicted. Children drew under two themes "a scene from nature" and "children playing" and there was an interaction effect for theme and age. Girls were found to be more successful than boys in all dimensions. Experiment-II tested L-shaped development hypothesis in expressive drawings that postulate preschool children produce more aesthetic drawings than the adolescents do. Children (5, 8, 11 and 13 years), were asked to draw a happy/sad picture and a happy/sad tree. The results did not confirm the hypothesis and showed that the grade level and the emotion type had significant effects on expressivity of drawings. The thirteen year olds were better than all other age groups in most of the aesthetic indicators. Besides the sad drawings were scored higher than happy drawings in the usage of the aesthetic symbols.