Transcript Dr. Arnold Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test: Gender Variation Across the Ages

Dr. Arnold Gesell’s
Incomplete Man Test:
Gender Variation Across the
Ages
By: Kayleigh Zeppa
“Unfortunately, we are too
inclined to talk of man as it
would be desirable for him
to be rather than as he
really is….True education
can proceed only from
naked reality, not from any
ideal illusion about man,
Dr. Arnold Lucius Gesell
• 1880-1961
• Psychologist and
Pediatrician from Wisconsin
• Received his M.D. from Yale
• Established and directed
Yale Clinic of Child
Development from 19111948
• Established Gesell Institute
of Child Development in
New Haven, CT in 1950
Dr. Arnold Lucius Gesell
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Biological Maturationist
Development leads learning
Developed behavioral/age norms
School Readiness Tests
All children pass through the same
developmental stages, just at different rates
• Creator of one of the first infant intelligence tests
• Identified three basic principles of growth:
Reciprocal Interweaving, Functional Asymmetry,
Self-Regulation
Words To Know
• Biological Maturation- the idea that a child’s
behavior unfolds according to his or her genetic
blueprint, or inner timetable
• Developmental/Age Norms- a set of intellectual
characteristics attributed to each age group.
• ‘School Readiness’- This is the term Gesell used
to describe what his tests determine. They are a
means of deciphering whether a child is
developmentally ready to enter a school
environment
More Words To Know
• Reciprocal interweaving- the developmental process
by which two tendencies gradually reach an effective
organization
• Functional asymmetry- as humans, we have a degree
of asymmetry that is highly functional. We are most
effective when we confront the world from an angle
• Self-regulation- the belief that intrinsic developmental
mechanisms are powerful enough to regulate its own
development to a certain degree
Where Would I Place Gesell?
NATURE
NURTURE
Montessori
Rousseau
Piaget
Gesell
Locke
Vygotsky
Gesell’s School Readiness Tests
• Developed interviews, paper and
pencil tests, visual tests, naming
and identification, and many others
• There is one in particular that I am
basing my experiment on: The
Incomplete Man Test
• A drawing of a man who is only
halfway completed (e.g.. missing a
leg, an arm, facial features, etc.) is
administered to a child. Based on
how the child completes the man
(how many body parts the child
adds) one can decipher his or her
developmental stage.
The Experiment
• How do the results of the Incomplete Man
Test vary between genders?
• Does this variation increase, decrease, or
remain relatively the same with age?
• Is this still the case today?
• If so, has this variation remained stable?
• What information, if any, does Gesell offer as
explanation for the variation in development
between genders?
What Did Gesell Say About Gender
Differences?
• Girls add more parts than boys do, on the
average, from 5 to 8 years of age.
• Girls are ahead of boys in achieving good
length of leg, adding a pupil to the eye, and
completing the neck area.
• Boys are ahead of girls in placement and
direction of arm, making good fingers, and
placing ear correctly.
• Other differences are small and variable.
From School Readiness by Frances L. Ilg and Louise Bates Ames
The Test
• I administered the Incomplete Man Test to
first graders, third graders, and fifth graders at
Gilbert Elementary
• I then divided the results by gender and by
age
– Analyzed and compared data between genders in
each age group to find out differences between
genders, and whether those differences increase,
decrease, or remain the same over time.
My Hypothesis
• I predict that, through administering Gesell’s
Incomplete Man Test to a group of first graders,
third graders, and fifth graders, the results will
still show an apparent variation between genders
in scoring, and that this gap in development will
slowly disappear as age increases.
• I also believe that girls will still be roughly 6
months ahead of boys developmentally, and that
this difference between genders will decrease
over time.
Grading Rubric for
Incomplete Man Test
0 Points
1 Point
2 Points
3 Points
Hair
Did not add hair
Added Hair
Hair is a proper
length
Hair has proper length
and good placement
Ears
Did not add an ear
Added an Ear
Ear has good
placement
Ear has good placement
and size
Did not add eyes
Added Eyes
Eyes have good
placement and
match
Eyes have good
placement, match, and
have pupils
Neck Area (includes
bow and body)
Did not complete
neck, body, or bow
tie
Completed body line
Completed body
and neck
Completed body, neck,
and bow
Arms and Hands
(fingers)
Did not add an arm
Arm is proper length Arm is proper length and
Added an arm and hands
or hands
and placement placement, good fingers
Legs and Feet
Did not add a leg or
feet
Eyes
Added a leg and feet
Leg is proper length Leg is proper length and
and placement
placement, good feet
*An extra point will be given for each extra part (i.e. eyebrows, lips, clothes)
Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Age 6
Boys
Girls
Average Body Parts:
9.56
9.96
Arm:
Correct
Correct
Fingers:
Correct
Correct
Leg:
Too far out, too short
42% correct leg, too far out
Foot:
Good placement, too long
Good placement, good
length
Eyes:
Correct
Correct
Ears:
48% had good placement,
too big
Too low, too small, good
size
Hair:
Correct, too few
Correct, too few
Neck Region (Bodyline,
bow, and neck):
Majority make neck, bow, or
bodyline. 32% made all 3
46% made all 3 parts
Percentage of Extra Parts:
20%
24%
Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Age 8
Boys
Average Body Parts:
Arm:
Fingers:
Girls
10.17
good length
10.52
too short
correct
placed well, good length, too
straight
pointed correctly, good
length
even, matching. 42% have
pupils
placed well, size varies. 36%
had indentation but was
inaccurate
good, too few
correct
placed well, good length (or
short), too straight
pointed correctly, up too
much, too short
even, matching. 40% have
pupils, 34% have eyebrows
Neck Region (Bodyline,
bow, and neck):
52% did all 3 parts
all 3 parts
Percentage of Extra Parts:
22%
16%
Leg:
Foot:
Eyes:
Ears:
Hair:
placed correctly or too low,
good size, no indentation
good, too few
Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Age 10
Boys
Girls
Average Body Parts:
10.44
10.24
Arm:
correct
correct
Fingers:
good
Leg:
good length and placement
good
46% good length and
placement
Foot:
correct, good length. 42%
point up too far
correct, good length
Eyes:
good, 42% have pupils
good, 54% have pupils, 42%
have eyebrows
Ears:
good placement and size.
30% have good shape. 42%
have indentation
good, too few
Hair:
good placement and size.
40% have good shape
good, too few
Neck Region (Bodyline,
bow, and neck):
66% have all 3 parts
neck and bow dominate
(58%)
Percentage of Extra Parts:
32%
20%
My Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Grade 1
Hair
Ears
Eyes
Neck Area
Arms and Fingers
Boys
Girls
Good, some had too few
Good
Generally good placement,
bad size
90% drew eyes, none drew
pupils
50% drew all three, 30%
drew two of three.
Generally good, some are
too long or too short
50% had good size and
placement, some had foot
backward, some had foot
pointed up too high
None drew extra parts
Too low or too big or both
All drew eyes, 37% drew
pupils
25% drew all three, 37%
drew two of the three.
Bad fingers, generally good
length, too low
Legs and Feet
75% had good size and
placement
Extra Parts
63% drew extra parts
*50% of the boys were 7 years old, the other 50% were 6 years old
*30% of the girls were 7 years old, the other 70% were 6 years old
So What Do the Results Look Like
With Just 6-year-olds?
My Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Age 6 Only
Hair
Ears
Eyes
Neck Area
Arms and Fingers
Legs and Feet
Extra Parts
Boys
Girls
Good, too few
Good, too few
Too low, too big
Too low
100% drew eyes, 25% drew 86% drew eyes, none drew
pupils
pupils
25% drew all three, 25%
43% drew all three, 86%
drew the neck, 100% drew drew the neck, 71% drew
the bow, 50% drew the
the bow, 57% drew the
body line
body line
Good placement, too short Good placement, too short
Generally good, one boy
Generally good, one girl
drew foot backwards
drew foot backwards
75% drew extra parts
None drew extra parts
My Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Grade 3
Boys
Hair
Ears
Eyes
Neck Area
Arms and Fingers
Legs and Feet
Extra Parts
Girls
40% did not add hair, those
Good, too few
that did usually had too few
40% did not add an ear,
Good placement, some are
those that did had good
too big or too small
placement
100% drew eyes, 20% drew 100% drew eyes, 60% drew
pupils
pupils
20% drew all three, 60%
40% drew all three, 60%
drew body line, 80% drew
drew the bow, 60% drew
the neck, 20% drew the
body line, 80% drew the
bow, 20% did not draw any
neck
Too short, fingers not good Good placement, too long
60% drew foot backwards, Good, too high, 20% drew
too short
foot backwards
20% drew extra parts
80% drew extra parts
*60% of the girls were 8 years old, the other 40% were 9 years old
*60% of the boys were 8 years old, 20% were 9 years old, and 20% were 10 years old
So What Do the Results Look Like
With Just 8-year-olds?
My Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Age 8 Only
Boys
Hair
Ears
Eyes
Neck Area
Arms and Fingers
Legs and Feet
Extra Parts
Girls
1/3 did not draw hair, 1/3
2/3 drew good hair, 1/3
drew good hair, 1/3 had too
drew too few
few
1/3 did not draw an ear, 1/3
had good placement but
Generally good
too small, 1/3 drew an ear
but too big and too low
3/3 drew eyes, 1/3 drew
3/3 drew eyes, 1/3 drew
pupils
pupils
1/3 drew all three, 3/3
1/3 drew all three, 2/3
drew neck, 2/3 drew body, drew neck, 2/3 drew bow,
1/3 drew bow
2/3 drew body
Good, too short
Good, too long or too short
2/3 drew foot backwards
and leg was too short, 1/3
Good, too high
had good leg
1/3 drew extra parts
2/3 drew extra parts
My Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for 5th Grade
Boys
Hair
Ears
Eyes
Neck Area
Arms and Fingers
Legs and Feet
Extra Parts
Good, some had too few
Girls
Good
Good, some too low or too
Good, some too low
high
14% did not draw eyes, 43% 17% did not draw eyes, 42%
drew pupils
drew pupils
75% drew all three: those
71% drew all three: 100%
who did not draw all 3 drew
drew the neck line
the neck line only
14% did not draw an arm,
Good, some too short or
otherwise good, some too
too low
low
Good, one drew the foot
Good
backwards
57% drew extra parts
67% drew extra parts
*71% of 5th grade boys were 11 years old
*50% of 5th grade girls were 11 years old
So What Do the Results Look Like
With Just 10-year-olds?
My Incomplete Man Test
Gender Results for Age 10 Only
Boys
Girls
Hair
Good
Good
Ears
Good
Good
Eyes
½ did not draw eyes, ½
drew pupils
6/6 drew eyes, 3/6 drew
pupils
Neck Area
2/2 drew all three
6/6 drew all three
Arms and Fingers
Good
Good, too short
Legs and Feet
Good
Good
Extra Parts
0/2 drew extras
4/6 drew extras
How Did My Results Compare With
Gesell’s?
• My results showed the complete opposite of
Gesell’s!
• Boys started out visibly ahead in first grade,
but then the girls ended up being ahead by 5th
grade.
• The gap between genders did, for the most
part, level out by 5th grade
Things To Notice
• Many of the kids drew the foot backwards. This is
most likely because of children's’ tendency to
imitate what they see.
• A lot of kids thought that the line for the nose
was an eye
• Why is it that my results are so drastically
different from Gesell’s?
– My pool of students was much more limited.
– The students I tested were lower on the SES than the
students that Gesell tested.
– The students I tested were mostly Hispanic.
So What About the Test?
This experiment leads to another question:
Is the Incomplete Man Test a reliable
way to gauge the developmental
level and therefore “readiness” of a
child?
Typical Characteristics by Age
Example of 6-year-old
Example of 7-year-old
Example of 8-year-old
Example of 9-year-old
Example of 10-year-old
Interesting Find #1
Interesting Find #2
Interesting Find #3
Things I Would Do Differently
• Test a much larger group of students
• Develop a more complex grading systemsomething more along the lines of the point
system Gesell used
• Accompany the test with interview and other
tests
Thank You!