Children’s Drawings of the Self as an Expression of Cultural Conceptions of the Self

Abstract

The present study is based on the assumption that the figure size of young children's drawings of themselves is mediated by cultural conceptions of the self. It was hypothesized that Cameroonian rural children, developing predominantly an interdependent self-conception, draw themselves alone and in a family picture smaller than urban German children, who predominantly develop an independent self-conception. A total of 570 preschool children were recruited from Cameroonian Nso-farmer families and German middle-class families. Drawings of 76 Cameroonian and 72 German children, matched for age, graphical competence, developmental stage, and structural level of human figure drawing (tadpoles, transitional drawings, and conventional human figure drawings), were entered into final analyses. According to our hypothesis, the figure size as well as the head size of Cameroonian children's drawings are substantially smaller compared to the drawings of German children. Results are discussed in regard to the cognitive size of the self, which is mediated differently by different cultural contexts.

Children's Family Drawings as Expressions of Attachment Representations Across Cultures: Possibilities and Limitations

“…It is, for instance, part of the school entry examination to draw a man with paper and pencil. Moreover, previous studies showed that there was not a significant difference in basic graphical competences (Rübeling et al., ) or in the elaborateness of human figure drawings between children of the two cultural groups (Gernhardt et al., ).…”

“…In fact, there is substantial evidence questioning the concordance of meaning of drawing signs across cultures. Especially, characteristics such as figure size, facial details, facial expression, and arrangement of family members, which are interpreted as indicators of attachment quality, have revealed tremendous cultural variability in comparative analyses of children's drawings of themselves and their family (e.g., Aronsson & Andersson, ; Payne, ; Richter, ; Rübeling et al., ; Yusuf, ). In several sub‐Saharan regions, for instance, children have been shown to depict themselves and their family members as much smaller, with less facial details, and with a preference for neutral facial expressions, as compared to children from urban regions in Europe (Aronsson & Andersson, ; Gernhardt et al., ).…”

“…In several sub‐Saharan regions, for instance, children have been shown to depict themselves and their family members as much smaller, with less facial details, and with a preference for neutral facial expressions, as compared to children from urban regions in Europe (Aronsson & Andersson, ; Gernhardt et al., ). These differences have been assumed to be linked to children's culture‐specific socialization experiences (Richter, ; Rübeling et al., ).…”

Identity and sociocultural change: Comparing young indigenous people in Chiapas who have different sociodemographic trajectories

“…Such aspects should be analysed in greater depth in future studies in order to identify elements of abstract thinking and individualistic self‐concepts using the identity drawing technique employed in this study. Indeed, Keller and colleagues shown that the figure size of young children's drawings of themselves is mediated by cultural conceptions of the self (Gernhardt, Rübeling, & Keller, ; Rübelling et al, ). This study contributes to this line of research by analysing the content of identity drawings produced by young people, rather than the analysis of preschool aged children's self and family drawings focused on structural composition of the human figure or the number and position of family members.…”

Schooling and Identity: A Qualitative Analysis of Self-Portrait Drawings of Young Indigenous People from Chiapas, Mexico

“…Overall, the studies revealed that figure size, facial depiction, and gender-specific characteristics could be linked to the culturally shaped understanding of self and others in the respective cultural context (Gernhardt et al, 2014, 2015). Regarding the size of the figures drawn, for instance, rural Cameroonian children (who represent the cultural model of hierarchical relatedness, interdependent self-conception) draw themselves alone in a family picture smaller than urban German children (examples of the cultural model of psychological autonomy with an independent self-conception) (Rübeling et al, 2011). However, this line of research did not address, among others, cultural differences due to educational background in drawings made by young people.…”