III- “-UI‘IW V". v-IV-v- v- TOLD ABOUT MALE, FEMALE, AND ANtMAL DRAWINGS Thesis for ”In Demo. 05 M. A. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Linda Brody Myers 1965 myum;WWIIWig « LIB RA R Y Michigan State University ABSTRACT THE CLINICAL USEFULNESS OF STORIES TOLD ABOUT MALE, FEIALE, AID ANIMAL DRAWINGS by Linda Brody Myers This research was concerned primarily with inves- tigating the clinical usefulness of stories told about male, female, and animal drawings. It was secondarily concerned with replicating previous research (Handler, 1963; Handler & Reyher, 1964; Handler, 1964; Handler & Reyher, 1965) which compared the anxiety-producing qual- ities of male, female and automobile drawings, using females instead of males. Forty-eight female undergraduate students were asked to draw a man, woman, animal and automobile and to write a story about each of the drawings they made with the exception of the automobile. Continuous GSR records were obtained and a measure of GSR frequency computed for each subject. The mean GSR frequencies for the four drawings were compared by an analysis of variance test. The same was done for the three stories. In addition, the stories were analyzed for aggressive, libidinal and partial drives and for blatancy of drive eXpression. Linda Brody Myers E0 Significant differences among the animal, male, and female stories were found in terms of either GSR frequency or drive content. This finding was interpreted in light of the instructions used, the written nature of the stories, type of pOpulation used, and scoring system used. Differences in GSR activation for the drawings concurred with previous research by Handler & Reyher (1965) with the exception that no difference was found between the automobile and female drawings. This was interpreted in terms of the observation that girls often spontaneously draw female faces and figures as a pastime while boys are more likely to draw airplanes, rockets, etc. This practice may have reduced the anxiety-producing potential of the female drawing. The automobile drawing did differ significantly from the male and animal drawings. This was taken as evidence of the clinical usefulness of the automobile as a relatively neutral baseline figure for females as well as for males. THE CLINICAL USEFULEESS OF ST RIBS TOLD ABOUT MALE, FE-IALE, ALID AKILmL Dam-Jigs by Linda Brody Myers A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of EASTER OF ARTS Department of PsycholOgy 1965 ACKECHLEDGTHEITS The author would like to eXpress her sincere appreciation to her chairman, Dr. Joseph Reyher for his guidance, encouragement and particularly for the speed and efficiency with which he helped her to complete this study. Also the author would like to thank her other two committee members, Drs. Bertram Karon and John Hurley. A special thanks to Arlys Nelson who so efficiently scored the stories for me, to Ray Sanders who helped acquaint me with the intricacies of the GSR polygraph, and to David Myers who made me laugh at the right times. ii TABLE OF COKTEHTS ACKH “LEDGEMEETSooooooooooooooooooooo000000000000 LIST OF TABLESOOOO0......OOOOOOOOCOOOOCOOOOOOOOOO IITTRODUCTIOIJOOOOOO00......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I’ZETHODO0..0.0.0.0...0..O..OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Subjects and ApparatuSoooooooooooooooooooooooo InStrUCtionSo0.0000000000000000...00000.0...oo scoringOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... RESULTSOOOOOOOOOO0.0.0.0...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOO StorieSOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOO DrawingSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DISCUSSIOIJ...’0.00.0000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO REFERELECESOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0.00....00.000.000.000... APPLT‘TDIX0.000000000000000.00000000COOOOOOOOOOOOOO 111 Page ii iv on a mwk # 10 14 21 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Analysis of Variance for GSR Frequency Scores for Stories.............. 17 2. Mean Drive Content Values for Stories..... 18 3. Analysis of Variance for GSR Frequency Scores for Drawings............. 19 4. Comparison of Drawing Means............... 20 iv The Clinical Usefulness of Stories Told About Male, Female, and Animal Drawings Linda Brody Myers Michigan State University Although the Draw-A-Person (DAP) Test is one of the most widely used projective techniques in hospitals, clinics, and counseling services in the United States (Sundberg, 1961), research results have cast serious doubts on commonly used methods of interpreting the figure drawings. Attempts to relate in a one to one manner, psychodynamic factors with Specific symbolic representations in the figure drawings as well as other common method010gical practices have been shown to be unsatisfactory (Swensen, 1957). Handler & Reyher (1965), in a review of the literature on anxiety indices in figure drawings, found that research results do uphold the validity of a number of the graphic indices as pre- dictors of anxiety. Recently, efforts have been made to show that the DAP is amenable to research under controlled laboratory conditions. In an attempt to add a control figure to the usual male and female drawings, Handler (1963); Handler & Reyher (1964) demonstrated the neutrality of 2. the automobile as a stimulus figure, its consequent value in interpreting graphic indices, and its use as a baseline figure from which to evaluate the relative contributions of psychodynamic factors, drawing style and quality. In these same studies (Handler, 1963; Handler & Reyher, 1964), externally induced anxiety was shown to increase graphic manifestations of anxiety on figure drawings. The sources of this anxiety were two: a) the laboratory stress situation, and b) anxiety-producing intrapsychic processes, activated by drawing the human figure. Certain of the graphic indices were shown to be particularly useful as reflectors of external stress and others as reflectors of intrapsychic stress. In a subsequent study, Handler (1964); Handler & Reyher (1965) obtained continuous GSR records as well as graphic indices as subjects took the DAP. This autonomic measure of arousal and anxiety has provided objective support to previous findings and impetus for a new approach in research with the DAP. His GSR data support the validity of certain of the graphic indices as well as the neutrality of drawing an automo- bile as compared to a male or female figure. Most recently, Sanders (1965), using this same autonomic measure, showed the clinical usefulness of extending the standard DAP figures to nude figure drawings. 3. The GSR is used as an autonomic measure of arousal and anxiety in the present study to investigate the clinical usefulness of stories usually obtained as a part of the DAP test. These stories are related by subjects about the male, female, and animal drawings which they make. It is hypothesized that telling a story about an animal will be less anxiety-producing in terms of GSR than telling a story about the human figures because of the greater remoteness of the animal stimuli from the subject. The stories are also analyzed for possible differences in amount and blatancy of drive content. It is hypothesized that the animal story will contain more drive material than the male or female stories because of the possibility of circumventing the defenses of the subject due to the remoteness of the animal stimuli from the subject. An attempt is also made in this study to replicate previous research by Handler (1963); Handler & Reyher (1964); Handler (1964); Handler & Reyher (1965) using females instead of males. Specifically, it is hypothesized that for females, as previously shown for males (Handler, 1963; Handler & Reyher, 1964; Handler, 1964; Handler & Reyher, 1965), there will be a difference in the anxiety-prod— ucing qualities of drawing a man, woman, and automobile, with the automobile the least anxiety-producing in terms of 333 activation and the figure of the Opposite sex the 4. most anxiety-producing in terms of GSR activation. It is further hypothesized that the anxiety-producing qualities of drawing an animal will lie between those of the automobile and the male and female figures. It was thought that the animal would be more remote from the subject than the human figures but not as remote as the automobile. Method Subjects and Apparatus Forty-eight undergraduate female college students, who were enrolled in introductory psychology classes, were attached to a Grass #5 Polygraph and asked to draw four figures: a man, a woman, an animal and an automo- bile. They were also asked to write stories about three of their drawings: the man, the woman, and the animal. The drawings were made and the stories written on sheets of 8 s x 11 unlined paper attached to a clip- board which was securely anchored to one of the arms of a chair. The arrangement of subject, polygraph, and polygraph operator was identical with that described by Handler (1964) in which the subject was seated in a large chair with double armrests with his back to the polygraph. Electrodes were attached to the fingers of the non-pre- ferred hand, and 10-15 minutes were allowed for skin hy- dration and general adaptation. ‘The polygraph was in 5. continuous Operation throughout the testing session, GSH activity being permanently recorded on polygraph paper. Electrode paste manufactured by the Yellow Springs Instrument Company was utilized. The chart speed was set at 2.5 mm/sec. Instructions During the 10-15 minutes allowed for hydration and adaptation, a GSR baseline was established for each subject.‘ Then the subject was told that she would be asked to make a series of drawings on the first sheet of paper and thereafter one drawing per page. She was also told that she would be asked to write a story about some of the drawings she made and that she would be told when to begin, what to draw and would be given a freshly sharpened pencil for each drawing. The subject was then instructed as follows: "Now let us begin." The result of these minimal instructions was invariably a large GSR reaction and time was allowed for the subject's skin resistance to return to her pre- stimulus baseline. The subject was then instructed to write her first name and time was again allowed for GSR activation to subside. The same procedure was followed for the subject's middle and last names. In a likewise manner, the subject was saked to draw a circle, triangle, pentagon, square, octagon, and rectangle. After each of these, tine was again allowed for the subject' 3 skin 6. resistance level to return to the original baseline. This series of preliminary drawings served the purpose of reducing GSR activation produced by the testing sit- uation, the examiner's presence, and instructions. The subject was then instructed: "How draw a picture of a man (woman, aninal, automobile) and tell me when you are finished." After the drawing of the man (woman, animal), the subject was instructed: "How write a story about the man (woman, animal) which you have just drawn and tell me when you are finished." The order of the drawing requests was counter- balanced, thus taking into consideration known adaptation effects of GSR (Handler, 1964). The four drawings yielded twenty-four possible orders, and two subjects were then randomly assigned to each of them. After each of the four drawings and three stories, the subject's resistance was allowed to return to the prestimulus level. Scoring for GSR A measure of GSR frequency was used. This was the number of GSR'S divided by time (in cm's) taken for each drawing. A discriminable GSR was Operationally defined as an inflection of at least 500 ohms followed by a decline of at least 500 ohms. The first GSR response for each drawing and story was excluded from the analysis because of its relationship to the instructions. Scoring for drive content Seventy-two stories, three for each of twenty- four subjects, were scored in random order for drive content by means of Pine's system (Pine, 1960). This system defines a unit of drive content as a group of words in a story which eXpresses an aggressive, libid- inal, and/or partial drive such as oral, anal, phallic, etc. Each unit of drive content receives three scores - a score for type of drive eXpressed (aggressive, libi- dinal, or partial), a score for integration of the drive into the story, and a score for directness of drive eXpression. A more detailed eXplanation of the scoring system may be found in Appendix A. Results Stories GSR data. GSR frequency scores were summed for each of the three stories and the three means compared with an analysis of variance test for repeated measures on independent groups (Edwards, 1950). A summary of this analysis appears in Table l. InSpection of this table shows that no significant differences were found among the stories at the .05 level (F21.24). Thus, the hypothesis that the animal story would differ from 8. the male and female stories in anxiety-producing qualities was not supported. Drive content. Inter-rater agreement for Pine's system was checked by having two raters independently score thirty-six of the seventy-two stories for drive content. There were sixty-six rated units of drive content and six stories which received no ratings at all. An agreement was counted when both raters rated the same unit of content and when both agreed that a story should receive no ratings. The raters agreed 76% of the time as to what should be scored. This is higher than the 69% agreement reported by Pine (1960). Inter-rater agreement was 100% for type of drive exgressed (libidinal, aggressive, or partial) and 100%, 68%, and 40% for Levels I, II, and III, respectively. The author's ratings were used for the analysis. Comparison of the animal, male and female stories was made by means of analysis of variance tests in terms of the following categories: Total drive content, aggressive, libidinal, and partial drive content, and Level I (direct-unsocialized), Level II (direct-socialized), and Level III (weak, disguised) responses. Table 2 gives the means for the above categories and F values for the correSponding analysis of variance tests. No 90 significant differences were found among the stories at the .05 level in terms of these categories. Thus, the results for the analysis of drive content support those of the G33 data and the hypothesis that the animal story would contain more drive material as com- pared to the male and female stories was not supported. However, it may be noted that in terms of total number of scored units of drive content, the animal was highest (39$) followed by the male and female (32% and 29%, respectively). The animal story also had the largest number of Level I and Level II responses (75% of total Level I reSponses and 38% of total Level II reSponses, respectively) which would suggest that the animal stories did tend to contain more drive units, more blatantly expressed than the male and female stories. It may also be noted that the female stories contained the largest number of libidinal responses (39% of total libidinal reSponses) and the male stories the largest number of aggressive reSponses (43% of total aggressive reSponses). Level II and III responses accounted for 9 % of the total number of scored units. Drawings GSR data. GSR frequency scores were summed sep- arately for the male, female, animal, and automobile drawings. An analysis of variance test for repeated measures on independent groups Edwards, 1950) showed a significant difference among the drawings at the .05 level (?=§.85). A summary of this analysis appears in Table 3. Individual comparison of drawing means was made with Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (Edwards, 1960). A summary of these comparisons is shown in Table 4. The automobile drawing mean (.200) differed significantly from the means of male (.248) and animal (.242) drawings but not from the mean of the female (.209) drawing. The female drawing mean (.209) differed significantly from the male (.248) and animal (.242) drawing means. The animal drawing mean (.242) did not differ significantly from the male drawing mean (.248). Thus, the hypothesis that the male drawing would be most anxiety-producing followed by the female, animal and automobile drawings in that order was partially supported. Discussion The results of drive content were disappointing in light of the eXpectation that the stories to the animal drawings would be psychodynamically more reveal- ing than the stories to the human drawings. There are, however, several alternative eXplanations of the results 11. other than the null hypothesis. One is in the nature the instructions. Unlike clinical practice, the F‘b o is were not asked specific questions about the draw- ings but were simply asked to make up a story. This could have provided 3 with such a wide lattitude of response that she could ward off with ease the anxiety- producing implications of the drawings. Another possi- bility is the written nature of the stories which differs from the orallygiven stories in clinical prac- tice. The written nature of the stories allows for the more effective Operation of secondary process and other forms of defense attendant to the process of writing. This interpretation is supported by previous research (Perkins, 1965; Smeltzer, 1965; Wiseman, 1962) which drew samples from the same pOpulation and had the gs respond orally to the projective materials (TAT and Rorschach). Additional support for this interpretation is provided by the different levels of GSR activation of the drawings which showed they differed in the degree of threat they posed for gs. The lack of differentiation among the stories in terms of drive content might also be a function of the po ulation used in the research. In contrast to clinical practice, the gs were well adjusted. A pOpulation of disturbed §S'would tend to have more intense intra- psychic conflicts and problems in interpersonal re- lationships that would be stimulated by the drawings l2. and reflected in the stories. Under these conditions the animal drawing should tend to elicit derivatives that are less remote than those elicited by the human drawings. Impressions from clinical practice strongly support this possibility as does the predom- inance of highly socialized responses (Levels II and III) that were obtained from the pOpulation of §$° The foregoing considerations are reinforced by the fact that the trends in the data favored the hypotheses that were formulated and warrant further investigation. The obtained differences in GER activation among the drawings is further evidence that the foregoing considerations might have played a part in vitiating the dynamic prOperties of the stories that were obtained. As previously cited research has shown, the anxiety- producing prOperties of the drawings do differ and, as the indifferent results would imply, it might be that the scoring system itself is not sensitive enough. At the moment this seems unlikely in view of the great sensitivity the Pine and Holt systems have demonstrated in previous research in our laboratory (Goodman, 1962; Perkins, 1965; Wiseman, 1962). These differences in GSR activation were similar to the differences reported by Handler & Reyher (1965). The only exception was that there was no difference be- tween means for the automobile (.200) and female (.209) drawings. Since these drawings had the lowest means 13. the obvious conclusion is that the female drawing is not as anxiety-producing for female gs as the male drawing is for male gs. This discrepancy may be due to overpractice on the part of females during their development. It has been noted that girls will often Spontaneously draw female faces and figures as a pastime in contrast to boys who are inclined to draw airplanes, automobiles, rockets, etc. Continued prac- tice in drawing the female éfigure over a long period of years might have divested the female drawing of anxiety- producing properties, but not symbolic value. A request to draw a nude figure (Sanders, 1965) would probably undo the effects of overpractice of clothed figures. Final conclusions, however, must await replication of this study in regard to the GSR. Concern that the drawing of the automobile would be a foreign task for females and, therefore, elicit task anxiety was unwarranted. The automobile had the lowest mean and differed significantly from both the male and animal drawings. This outcome was frankly a surgriSe and fully supports the clinical usefulness of the automobile as a relatively neutral baseline for females as well as for males. Block, J. Edwards, Elliott, Goodman, Haggard, Handler, Handler, Handler, References Measurement dimensions in a palmer resistance situation. Psychol; Rep., 1962, 11, 319-331. A. EXperimental design in psychOIOgical research. (revised ed.) New York: Rinehart, 1960. D.N. & Singer, E.G. The Paintol index as an indicator of skin resistance changes to emotional stimuli. J. of Exp, Psychol., 1953, 45, 429-430. J. Primary process in children as a function of age and remoteness from the stimuli. Unpublished master' s thesis, Michigan State University, 1962. E. Experimental studies in affective processes: II. On the quantity and evaluation of "meas- ured" changes in skin resistance. J. of Exp. Psychol., 1945, 35, 46-56. L. The effects of stress on the Draw A Person Test. Master's thesis, Michigan State Uni- versity, 1963. L. The relationship between GSR and anxiety indices in projective drawings. Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1964. L. & Reyher, J. The effects of stress on the Draw A Person Test. J. Consult. Psychol., 14o 15. Handler, L. & Reyher, J. The relationship between GSR and anxiety indices in projective drawings. Accepted for publication in J. Consult. Psychol., 1965. Handler, L. & Reyher, J. Figure drawing anxiety indexes: a review of the literature. Accepted for pub- lication in J.Projective Tech.., 1965. Lacey, 0. & Siegel, P. An analysis of the unit of measurement of the GSR reSponse. J. Exp. Psychol., 1949, 39, 122-127. Machover, Karen. Personality prqlgction in the drawing of the human figure. Springfield, Ill.: Charles Thomas, 1949. McCleary, R. Hature of the galvanic skin response. Psychol. Bull., 1950, 47, 97-117. Perkins, K. Repression, psychOpatholOgy, and drive rep- resentation: Management of impulse inhibition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1965. Pine, F. A manual for rating drive content in the TAT. J. Proj. Tech., 1960, 24, 32-35. Rickers-Ovsiankina, A. Rorschach PsychOIOgy. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1960. Sanders, R. The clinical applicability of nude figure drawings. Unpublished master's thesis, Michigan State University, 1965. l6. Smeltzer, W. A comparative study of free imagery and free association. Unpublished master' 5 thesis, Michigan State University, 1965. Solkoff, H. & O'Connor, J. Effects of changes in in- structions and pictorial variations on story- telling performance of paranoid schiZOphrenics. J. Pro}. Tech., 1965, 29 (2), 245-247. Sundberg, H. The practice of psychological testing in clinical services in the United States. Amer. PsychOIOgist, 1961, 16, 79-83. Swensen, C. Empirical evaluations of human figure draw- ings. Psychol. Bull., 1957, 54, 431-466. Hiseman, R. The Rorschach as a stimulus for hypnotic dreams: A study of unconscious processes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1962. Hoodworth, R. & Schlosberg, H. Exoerimental PsychOIOgy. A Jew York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1954. 17. Table 1 Analysis of Variance for GSR Frequency Scores for Stories Source SS df MS F Between Orders .2280 5 .0456 Between Subjects 3.4101 42 .0811 Within Orders Total Between (3.6381) (47) Stories .0182 2 .0091 1.24 Stories X Order .3701 10 .0370 5.06** Stories x Subjects .6148 84 .0073 Within Orders Total Within (1.0031) (96) Total (4.6412) (143) ** p(.01 18 VNHZ mm. Hm 0?. HH om mm. Va Hm ow. Ha om HHH Hm>mq 0v. mm vo.a mm mm or. 0H mm mm. mm o0 HH Hm>mq ms.m mu mm. m o oo. 0 SN ma. m HH H Hm>wm Hw.H mm mm. m mm SH. V cm ma. m ma Hmfipama om.H mm on. wH om mm. om am so. ma Hm Hmcflnfinfiq E; mm ms. 2. 2 mm. 0 me mm. om S 338891 mo.a om w.H av om v.H mm mm n.H om mHH wcmwcou m>floo Hmpoe HmHOH :mmz Tammm Hmwop cam: .Qmmm Hmpoh cmmz .Qmom .Qmmm a to a a .8 a 11 ta #1 Hmefic< mHmEmm mam: k Hmpoh mmflhopm How mosam> pcmucoo m>flno cmmE N mHQmH 19. Table 3 Analysis of Variance for GSR Frequency for Drawings f t“ -—_- Source SS df MS F Between Orders 1.453 23 .0631 Between Subjects 3.021 24 .1258 Within Orders Total Between (4.474) (47) Drawings .0820 3 .0273 3.85* Drawing x Order 2.123 69 .0308 4.34** Drawing x Subjects .5164 72 .0071 Within Orders Total Within (2.7214) (144) Total (7.1954) (191) *p<.05 **p<.01 20. Table 4 Comparison of Drawing Means Auto Female Animal Male Shortest .200 .209 .242 .248 Significant Range (.05 level: Auto .200 .009 .042*-Nr .048** .028 Female .033* .039* .029 .209 .006 .030 Animal .242 *p(.05 **p<.01 Appendix A Instructions for Rating the Stories I. Presence of drive content A. The term "drive" is used in the psychoanalytic sense to refer to instinctual drives and their deriva- tives. This includes aggressive and libidinal drives and partial drives (oral, anal, phallic, genital, etc.) B. "Drive content" refers to observable ideational derivatives of the inferred aggressive and libidinal drives. 0. Drive content is rated only if it is stated eXplicitly in the story, i.e. only the manifest content is rated. D. Drive content is rated without regard to its extent; one word, a sentence, or a whole paragraph about, say, an aggressive incident would each be rated. E. Drive content which is too far removed from aggressive or libidinal connections is not rated (for example, friendship, achievement motives, etc.) F. Affective eXperiences which are directly linked to particular drives (anger, love) are rated, although affective states in general are not (shame, guilt, sad- ness, elation, etc.) 11. Units of analysis A. EXpressions of derivatives of different drives 21. 22. are rated as separate instances of drive expression. B. Expressions of drive with differing degrees of integration into the story (thematic, incidental, or non-apprOpriate) are always rated separately, even if the drive expressed is identical. 0. A new level of an already expressed drive would not get a separate rating. D. Within the same general type of drive content and the same degree of integration separate ratings are given if new behavior sequences are described or if the eXpressed impulse has a new aim. III. Each unit of drive content receives three scores A. A score indicating type of drive expressed - aggressive, libidinal, or partial B. in integration score 1. Thematic - drive content which is a part of the central theme or character portrayal of the story 2. Incidental - incidental to the main theme but still a part of the story. 3. HonapprOpriate - those eXpressions of drive which are not in accord with the task of telling a story. f1 v. A score for level of drive eXpression 1. Level I (direct-unsocialized) - includes those expressions of drive content where libidinal or aggressive impulses are directly expressed in a way contrary to 23. conventional social values. For example, murder, robbery, rape, prostitution, etc. A second criterion is applied for aggression derivatives, i.e. physical expression. 2. Level II (direct-socialized) - includes those expressions of drive content where libidinal or aggressive impulse are expressed directly but in socialized ways. 3. Level III (indirect-dnguised; weak) - includes two kinds of drive content. a. Indirect and disguised drive expression which includes those instances that are associated with drives, but where the underlying impulse is neither explicitly thought nor acted upon in the story. b. heak drive eXpression includes drive expressions which are weak and highly derived. HICHIGQN STQTE UNIV. LIBRQRIES | IN" «WIN! Will) I “IN" HM 31293102484728