Implications of the People= Male Theory for the Interpretation of the Draw-A-Person Test

Abstract

Researchers in the language and social-cognitive fields have suggested that social mores and the use of masculine generic grammatical terms such as he and man have resulted in a people = male bias. This information processing bias causes most people to attribute male gender to a gender-unspecified person. Male gender appears to be prototypic of the person construct or category. These research findings have implications for the interpretation of the Draw-A-Person Test (Machover, 1949).

Attitude Toward Asian Americans: Theory and Measurement

“…they actually responded based on their attitudes toward Asian American males in general or Asian American male students. These findings are consistent with previous studies (Merritt & Kok, 1997;Yee, 1992) and highlight the limited generalizability of the findings (e.g., to Asian females).…”

“…We also wanted to determine what came to mind specifically when participants were asked to evaluate the group "Asian Americans." Since individuals tend to attribute male gender to a gender-unspecified person (Merritt & Kok, 1997), it is predicted that most participants will think of Asian American males, rather than females.…”

Exploring Children's Stereotypes Through Drawings: The Case of Musical Performance

“…The present data can be interpreted as relating to older girls’ awareness of the male domination of public musical performance across a range of instruments, a result of historical gender stereotyping, which in turn influenced the girls’ perceptions of a person playing music. Alternatively, the linkage between ‘person’ and being male (Merritt & Kok, 1997), may have influenced their interpretations of ‘a person playing music’. Since the person data also show a similar but non‐significant age effect, it is possible that both factors contributed to the data.…”

“…Children have an overwhelming tendency to draw same sex figures (Brown, 1979; Houston & Terwilliger, 1995; Wieder & Noller, 1950; Zaback & Waehler, 1994), although there is some evidence that adolescent girls produce fewer same sex drawings than younger girls (Dickson et al., 1990). This latter finding could be due to a developmental change in internal reference or, alternatively, to older children's perceptions of the meaning of the word ‘person’, since traditionally male terms have been used as generic in grammar (Merritt & Kok, 1997). Deviations from this normative tendency have been regarded as indicative of gender stereotyping in children's internal representations.…”