A Barking-Mad Test - excerpt from Psy-Q

A Barking-Mad Test Draw a dog.

Yes, that’s it. Just draw a dog. Don’t worry, this isn’t a lie detector test à la Liar, Liar. Just draw a dog; the best dog you can.

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a ns wer OK, now we will rate your drawing. Score one point for each of the following features.

do g p o int sc ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Head present Neck present Neck -dimensional – must flow into head or body Eyes present Eye detail – lashes Eye detail – pupil Glance – eyes focused/in same direction Nose present – any indication Nose present – -dimensional Mouth present Lips -dimensional Hair or spots – any indication Hair I – scribble closely conforming to body – includes spots Hair II – more than just scribble or on circumference Ears present Ears in proportion – length greater than width Legs present – any indicator  Legs Legs engaged in activity – or lying down Legs in proportion – length greater than width Legs -dimensional Some distance between front and rear legs Legs in perspective Crotch-like indicator for legs Legs in proportion – taper off from top Digits present Feet – any indication Feet – -dimensional Details of toes correct

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. . . . . . . . . . . .

Trunk present Trunk in proportion – length greater than width Head not more than ½, nor smaller than /, of body width Length of face greater than width Tail present Tail – -dimensional Tail shaped Motor coordination lines Motor coordination junctures Head outline – good contour Trunk outline – deviation from oval form Collar or leash

The Draw-A-Dog Scale is a real psychological test, used to measure children’s cognitive development. The average score for five-, sixand seven-year-olds is ,  and  points respectively, with boys and girls showing similar performance. So if you didn’t manage to beat this, you should be asking yourself some serious questions.

The logic behind this test, and the more widely used Goodenough-Harris Draw-A-Person Test, is that it provides a relatively pure measure of cognitive development that is unclouded by other factors. For example, more traditional IQ tests based on language, maths or logic are affected by factors such as children’s ability to read or understand verbal instructions, and – as such – are more a measure of education level than of pure cognitive development.

But the Draw-A-Person Test also has a darker – and more controversial – cousin: the Draw-A-Person Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance. As its name implies, clinicians use these drawings to identify children who are emotionally disturbed. Some people have claimed that individual errors or distortions represent specific problems (e.g., that children who miss out eyes are unwilling to interact with the world around them). Although there is little evidence for such specific claims, some studies have found that, when taken as a whole, drawings can help to distinguish normal and disturbed children. One scoring criterion, for example, is whether children draw fists, claws, guns or knives. Drawing a b arkin g - m ad t est

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monsters instead of people and writing swear words are both cause for concern, as is drawing unusually huge or tiny people.

That said, this is an inexact science; even the study that provides perhaps the strongest support for this test found that drawings could correctly classify only around  per cent of children as normal versus potentially disturbed.

So if some of your child’s drawings are a little bit – ahem – colourful, don’t start calling the doctor just yet. But if – like the Simpsons bully Nelson Muntz – she draws ‘a robot with guns for arms, shooting a plane made out of guns that fires guns’, you should probably run for the hills.

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