dr. arnold gesell’s incomplete man test: gender variation across the ages by: kayleigh zeppa
TRANSCRIPT
“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, however attractive.”
Carl Jung
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 1911-1948
• Established Gesell Institute of Child Development in New Haven, CT in 1950
Dr. Arnold Lucius Gesell• 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
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
Eyes Did not add eyes Added EyesEyes 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
tieCompleted body line Completed body
and neckCompleted body, neck,
and bow
Arms and Hands (fingers)
Did not add an arm or hands Added an arm and hands Arm is proper length
and placementArm is proper length and placement, good fingers
Legs and Feet Did not add a leg or feet Added a leg and feet Leg is proper length
and placementLeg is proper length and
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 Girls
Average Body Parts: 10.17 10.52
Arm: good length too short
Fingers: correct correct
Leg: placed well, good length, too straight
placed well, good length (or short), too straight
Foot: pointed correctly, good length
pointed correctly, up too much, too short
Eyes: even, matching. 42% have pupils
even, matching. 40% have pupils, 34% have eyebrows
Ears: placed well, size varies. 36% had indentation but was
inaccurate
placed correctly or too low, good size, no indentation
Hair: good, too few good, too few
Neck Region (Bodyline, bow, and neck): 52% did all 3 parts all 3 parts
Percentage of Extra Parts: 22% 16%
Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test Gender Results for Age 10
Boys Girls
Average Body Parts: 10.44 10.24
Arm: correct correct
Fingers: good good
Leg: good length and placement 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 placement and size. 40% have good shape
Hair: good, too few 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 TestGender Results for Grade 1
Boys Girls
Hair Good, some had too few GoodEars Too low or too big or both Generally good placement,
bad sizeEyes All drew eyes, 37% drew
pupils90% drew eyes, none drew
pupilsNeck Area 25% drew all three, 37%
drew two of the three.50% drew all three, 30%
drew two of three.Arms and Fingers Bad fingers, generally good
length, too lowGenerally good, some are
too long or too shortLegs and Feet
75% had good size and placement
50% had good size and placement, some had foot backward, some had foot
pointed up too highExtra Parts 63% drew extra parts None 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
My Incomplete Man TestGender Results for Age 6 Only
Boys Girls
Hair Good, too few Good, too fewEars Too low, too big Too lowEyes 100% drew eyes, 25% drew
pupils86% drew eyes, none drew
pupilsNeck Area 25% drew all three, 25%
drew the neck, 100% drew the bow, 50% drew the
body line
43% drew all three, 86% drew the neck, 71% drew the bow, 57% drew the
body lineArms and Fingers Good placement, too short Good placement, too short
Legs and Feet Generally good, one boy drew foot backwards
Generally good, one girl drew foot backwards
Extra Parts 75% drew extra parts None drew extra parts
My Incomplete Man TestGender Results for Grade 3
Boys Girls
Hair 40% did not add hair, those that did usually had too few Good, too few
Ears 40% did not add an ear, those that did had good
placement
Good placement, some are too big or too small
Eyes 100% drew eyes, 20% drew pupils
100% drew eyes, 60% drew pupils
Neck Area 20% drew all three, 60% drew body line, 80% drew
the neck, 20% drew the bow, 20% did not draw any
40% drew all three, 60% drew the bow, 60% drew body line, 80% drew the
neckArms and Fingers Too short, fingers not good Good placement, too long
Legs and Feet 60% drew foot backwards, too short
Good, too high, 20% drew foot backwards
Extra Parts 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
My Incomplete Man TestGender Results for Age 8 Only
Boys Girls
Hair 1/3 did not draw hair, 1/3 drew good hair, 1/3 had
too few
2/3 drew good hair, 1/3 drew too few
Ears 1/3 did not draw an ear, 1/3 had good placement
but too small, 1/3 drew an ear but too big and too low
Generally good
Eyes 3/3 drew eyes, 1/3 drew pupils
3/3 drew eyes, 1/3 drew pupils
Neck Area 1/3 drew all three, 3/3 drew neck, 2/3 drew body,
1/3 drew bow
1/3 drew all three, 2/3 drew neck, 2/3 drew bow,
2/3 drew bodyArms and Fingers Good, too short Good, too long or too short
Legs and Feet 2/3 drew foot backwards and leg was too short, 1/3
had good legGood, too high
Extra Parts 1/3 drew extra parts 2/3 drew extra parts
My Incomplete Man TestGender Results for 5th Grade
Boys Girls
Hair Good, some had too few GoodEars Good, some too low Good, some too low or too
highEyes 14% did not draw eyes,
43% drew pupils17% did not draw eyes,
42% drew pupilsNeck Area 71% drew all three: 100%
drew the neck line
75% drew all three: those who did not draw all 3 drew
the neck line onlyArms and Fingers 14% did not draw an arm,
otherwise good, some too low
Good, some too short or too low
Legs and Feet Good Good, one drew the foot backwards
Extra Parts 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
My Incomplete Man TestGender 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?
Things I Would Do Differently
• Test a much larger group of students
• Develop a more complex grading system-something more along the lines of the point
system Gesell used
• Accompany the test with interview and other tests