ASSESSING DRAWING OF TRIBAL CHILDREN IN TRIPURA : A STUDY BASED ON

THE ESSENCE OF PSYCHIC EDUCATION OF SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER

Debdulal Dutta Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)

THE FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

Topographical Model

• The conscious mind contains information of which we are aware at any given moment: anything that is thought, perceived, or understood resides at this level.

• One level down is the pre-conscious , which contains the memories and thoughts that are easily recalled, ready to break into consciousness at any moment.

• At the bottom level is the unconscious , which contains the personal information of which we are NOT aware: the drives, urges, wishes, and thoughts of all of our past experience, by far the largest receptacle of the psyche. All these threaten to destabilize the conscious mind if they surface.

Layers of Mind • Mind has three layers - Outer, Inner and Inner

core.

• Outer layer : It is composed of tangible forms, actions and interactions

• Inner layer : It is composed of feeling, the abstract form and the intangible one. It is not visible to others even to self sometimes.

• Inner core : It is the inner self, the Atman, immortal and remains same through all our lives.

Can these layers be examined ?

• Art is the expression of inner knowledge about the surroundings or outer nature. It is the inner journey to from outer layer to Inner core layers of mind. Initially, a child draws from his outer layer later he moves to the inner and inner core layers. Though drawing includes overlapping of different layers. Here an attempt was made to separate them to examine specific changes of layers.

Attributes of outer layer drawing

• Drawing from outer layer can be examined through – figure selection, – figure ground relation, – size, – location, – spatial distance, – color discrimination etc.

Attributes of Inner layer drawing

• Inner layer drawing consists – vividness, – emotional expression, – missing parts, – anomalies, – complexity.

Attributes of Inner core layer drawing

• It includes– Harmony : Harmony between figure and its

surroundings– Orderliness : Order in placement of different

things of the figure– Cleanliness : Crossing, rubbing– Aesthetic : Beauty of the figure

Study Objective

• To examine the outer, inner and inner core layers of mind of the tribal children in Tripura by assessing different attributes of their drawings.

TRIPURA

A TRIBAL FAMILY

Weaving

Sample• N : 50 tribal children of remote tribal villages

of West Tripura. • Age : The average age of the child was 9.26

with SD 1.05• Edu : III and IV• SES : Most of the parents were illiterate

belonged to Tripuri community. Their occupation was agriculture and manual labor.

Procedure

• Children were requested to sit separately so that one could not see other’s drawing. They were asked to draw any picture nicely on a given white sheet. I allowed them 15 minutes to draw the picture. Their drawings were administered to three psychologist with some experience in children art. The drawings were rated by the judges with rating scale developed for this purpose.

DRAWING CONTENTS ( %)

0 10 20 30 40 50

Flower Plant

Fruit

House

Flower

Fruit Plant

Human

Bird

Home Objects

OUTER LAYER OF DRAWING ( 1 )

DRAWING LOCATIONS (%)

6%

40%54%

Top

Middle

Low er

SIZE OF DRAWING (%)

16%

80%

4%

Tiny

Appropriate

Large

OUTER LAYER OF DRAWING (2)

MISSING IMPORTANT PARTS (%)

4

50

40

6

0 20 40 60

Very few

Few

Some

Most

ANOMALIES ( % )

0

40

44

16

0 10 20 30 40 50

Very low

Low

High

Very high

Verymuch

Much LessLeast

S1

0

48

42

100

10

20

30

40

50

VIVIDNESS ( % )

Very lowLow

HighVery High

S1

0

62

36

20

20

40

60

80

COMPLEXITY ( % )

INNER NATURE ( % )

HARMONY ( % )

Very low20%

Low48%

High30%

Very high2%

ORDERLINESS ( % )

Very high0% Very Low

22%

Low40%

Very low38%

CLEANLINESS ( % )

Least0%

Less28%

Much60%

Very Much12%

AESTHETIC ( % )

Very low10%

Low64%

High26%

Very high0%

INNER CORE ( % )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 81. Harmony 1.002. Orderliness 0.56** 1.003. Cleanliness 0.39** 0.46** 1.004 Vividness 0.58** 0.68** 0.74** 1.005. Aesthetic 0.41** 0.58** 0.72** 0.73** 1.006. Anomalies -0.46** -0.64** -0.56** -0.75** -0.59** 1.007. Complexity 0.31* 0.34* 0.23 0.37* 0.31* -0.22 1.008. Missing -0.33* -0.39** -0.24 -0.41* -0.35* 0.49** -0.32* 1.00

CORRELATION MATRIX

CONCLUSIONS (1)

• Analysis of Drawing is useful method to understand outer, inner and inner core layers of mind as suggested by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

• It helps in identifying key areas on which specific educational intervention (Physical, vital, mental and Psychic) can be made.

CONCLUSIONS (2)

• The four inner core attributes (Harmony, orderliness, cleanliness and aesthetic) are significantly related with each other.

• Correlation matrix shows that inner core layer is facilitated by the inner nature of mind.

CONCLUSIONS (3)

• Tribal children are introverted, not aggressive rather passive, environment friendly, and nature lover. They have interpersonal conflicts with human beings.

• Vital,Mental and Psychic educational intervention are needed for their development of personality.

CONCLUSIONS (4)

• Personality development does not mean reducing of inner desires in the unconscious mind as proposed by the Western Psychoanalyst. Attention should be paid to the different attributes of divine consciousness (Harmony, Orderliness, Cleanliness and Aesthetic ) for development of Integrated personality.

FUTURE STUDIES

• Effect of color on the drawing will be determined.

• Cultural effect on the different layers of mind can be examined

• Drawing can be used in case of Pre post experimental design method followed across various stages of physical, vital, mental and psychic educational intervention by the trainers.

THANK YOU

What is Psychic education ? • It is a process of education by which one can raise

his personality out of the amorphous subconscious mass and make him a well-defined self-conscious entity. This helps to discover the true motive of existence, the purpose of life on earth. This discovery is not associated with mystic feeling rather a feeling of universal consciousness by giving up all personal seeking for comfort, satisfaction, enjoyment or happiness. It occurs after Physical,vital and mental education.