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, however attractive.” Carl Jung “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.”

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 early in his life, Gesell decided he wanted to become a teacher. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1903 and then became a high school teacher and principal before entering graduate school at Clark University, where he received a Ph.D. degree in 1906. Gesell believed that in order to do research in child development, he also needed medical knowledge, so he studied medicine at Yale, receiving an M.D. in 1915. Early in his career he taught psychology and child hygiene at the Los Angeles State Normal School. Yale Clinic became the focal United States center for the study of child behavior in its time. From 1948 until his death, Gesell served as director of the famous Gesell Institute of Child Development in New Haven, Connecticut, which continued the work begun in the Yale Clinic

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 Gesell's initial work focused on developmentally disabled children, but he believed that it was necessary to understand normal infant and child development in order to understand non-normality. Gesell was one of the first to attempt a quantitative study of child development.

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 Rousseau Gesell Montessori Locke Piaget 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. So what are the school readiness tests, and what exactly do they test? They test the developmental preparedness of a child to enter school. His tests are actually still used today in conjunction with other types of testing. The only test that we are going to focus on is the Incomplete Man Test. The test is very simple and self-explanatory. It’s a picture of a man who is halfway completed. This picture is administered to the child who is then asked to complete the man. Depending on how many and what parts the child adds, the test administrator can determine where that child is developmentally.

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? I had a few questions about this test. I wanted to know if Gesell found any difference between genders when he did his experiment. He did find that girls tended to be about 6 months ahead of boys developmentally. What I wanted to know is if these differences 1) still exist today, and 2) how they change over time.

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. Just so you know, Gilbert Elementary is 80% Hispanic.

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 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 or hands Added an arm and hands Arm is proper length and placement Arm 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 placement Leg is proper length and placement, good feet This is the rubric I used to grade all of the Incomplete Man Tests that I administered. I didn’t have access to the grading system that Gesell used, so I made my own. *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 Fingers: Leg: Too far out, too short 42% correct leg, too far out Foot: Good placement, too long Good placement, good length Eyes: Ears: 48% had good placement, too big Too low, too small, good size Hair: 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% These red highlighted areas represent areas in which girls tend to be slightly developmentally ahead of boys. As you can see, the girls excel in a majority of areas.

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 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 Neck Region (Bodyline, bow, and neck): 52% did all 3 parts all 3 parts Percentage of Extra Parts: 22% 16% At first glance, this chart shows girls to still be slightly ahead developmentally, but there are two big changes in the boys. Girls still have the lead, but boys are excelling in a couple of areas. This is important to note as the ages increase.

Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test Gender Results for Age 10 Boys Girls Average Body Parts: 10.44 10.24 Arm: correct Fingers: 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 Neck Region (Bodyline, bow, and neck): 66% have all 3 parts neck and bow dominate (58%) Percentage of Extra Parts: 32% 20% Notice how many more yellow regions there are in this chart for 10-year-olds. You can see where the gender variation begins to switch from girls being slightly ahead, to boys being slightly ahead in certain areas. There are still a couple of areas where girls remain slightly ahead (eyes and ears), although even in the ears category we can see that boys are catching up (note the indentation). So notice that as the ages have increased, the yellow regions have increased, red regions have decreased, and blank regions (where boys and girls are the same) have increased overall. But now let’s look at my results.

My Incomplete Man Test Gender Results for Grade 1 Boys Girls Hair Good, some had too few Good Ears Too low or too big or both Generally good placement, bad size Eyes All drew eyes, 37% drew pupils 90% drew eyes, none drew pupils Neck 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 low Generally good, some are too long or too short Legs and Feet 75% had good size and placement 50% had good size and placement, some had foot backward, some had foot pointed up too high Extra Parts 63% drew extra parts None drew extra parts Already the boys seems to be ahead of the girls! Not by a whole lot, but this is much more noticeable of a difference than Gesell’s results showed! But could this be because of the mixture of 6 and 7-year-olds? *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 Boys Girls Hair Good, too few Ears Too low, too big Too low Eyes 100% drew eyes, 25% drew pupils 86% drew eyes, none drew pupils Neck 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 line Arms and Fingers 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 Even when we narrow the results down to 6-year-olds only, the boys are still slightly ahead. This is very different from what Gesell’s results showed. This could be because of the difference in the types of students tested. Gesell’s tests were done on students with good SES. The students I tested were usually average, but some had low SES. (Refer back to Gesell chart) This could also be because of a limited data pool.

My Incomplete Man Test Gender 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 neck Arms 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 Again, wow! The girls were better in every category. I’d like to bring your attention to the neck area. The girls were only better in how many of them drew all three, otherwise they were even with the boys on how many drew individual parts. Also, notice how many more girls 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 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 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 body Arms 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 leg Good, too high Extra Parts 1/3 drew extra parts 2/3 drew extra parts The girls are still ahead just not in as many categories. This is extremely limited data, however. There were only three boys and three girls that were 8 years old. That’s why I used fractions instead of percentages because otherwise they would skew the data.

My Incomplete Man Test Gender Results for 5th Grade Boys Girls Hair Good, some had too few Good Ears Good, some too low Good, some too low or too high Eyes 14% did not draw eyes, 43% drew pupils 17% did not draw eyes, 42% drew pupils Neck 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 only Arms and Fingers 14% did not draw an arm, otherwise good, some too low Good, some too short or too low Legs and Feet Good, one drew the foot backwards Extra Parts 57% drew extra parts 67% drew extra parts This chart is interesting because it seems that boys and girls have evened out. They each have two areas in which they excel. But I’d also like to point out that the majority of both genders are 11 years old. *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 Ears 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, too short Legs and Feet Extra Parts 0/2 drew extras 4/6 drew extras When we narrow the results down to 10-year-olds we can see that the girls are slightly ahead, but the genders are otherwise very even. But, as you can see, when I narrowed the fifth grade boys down to 10-year-olds, I only ended up with two boys!

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 The gap between genders leveled out by 5th grade, but this was obviously not a gradual leveling out like I assumed it would be. But, because my data pool was so limited I wouldn’t base any type of conclusion on my results. However, as the test administer, the incomplete man test showed me quite a bit about where a child stands developmentally, and it also opened a door to their personalities. I have previously worked with the first graders I tested in my Math Practicum class, so I had a sense of their personalities and their learning abilities already. This made it very interesting to see what they drew.

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. Many kids in 1st and 3rd grade drew the foot backwards. Children begin learning by copying-they imitate what they see. This would explain their direct imitation of the foot that was already drawn. Once I narrowed down the results to one age group, my data pool was significantly low

This experiment leads to another question: 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? Truth is, there is no answer to that question-at least not one that can be based on my experiment. If we were to speak hypothetically, however, I would have to say that although I believe the test does a great job in general, I don’t think that it can be aptly applied to all kinds of students. I’m talking about students that are of a different nationality, different SES, different language, etc. Some say Gesell's conclusions were based on a limited number of cases and a restricted sample of all white, middle-class children in one New England city. Others believe he made too little allowance for individual variations in growth and for cultural influences on child behavior.

Typical Characteristics by Age

Example of 6-year-old As you can see, the man is pretty simple. This is very normal. Here I have circled the things that stand out and set apart a 6-year-old’s drawing. Only the neck line is completed, and the foot is drawn backwards. Also notice that there is not enough hair, and the ear is too high and very pointy. One thing I noticed about many different drawings across grades was that the mark for the nose was mistaken for an eye. I’m not sure why they did this!

Example of 7-year-old This is actually a very interesting drawing for a couple of reasons. This was done by a boy in first grade. Again we see the nose mark being used as an eye, but what is more interesting is that he drew a full outfit! This is very rare to see in a first grader. Most young children draw what is most obvious to them. For instance, most children draw the head much larger than the body because this is the feature that they notice most. But this boy even forgot the arm, a very basic part, but then put extreme detail into clothing.

Example of 8-year-old As you can see here, there’s a lot more detail being added. The drawing is very neat. We see pupils, eyelashes, and eyebrows, a shoe, and buttons. But, the neck line hasn’t been completed, and the arm is a little too long and placed low.

Example of 9-year-old As we move on in age, we see more precise detail. This man has a good amount of hair, pupils and eyebrows, all neck lines, and buttons. The arm is a tad long, but a good size and placement. The foot is also very even.

Example of 10-year-old Here we can definitely see how the students add more detail with age. This was drawn by a girl who decided that she did not want to draw a man. There is hair with texture and bangs, pupils, eyelashes, and eyebrows, a mouth, all neck lines drawn, a bow and tie, and polka-dots. The arm is very even and has good placement. The leg is pretty good, but a little long.

Interesting Find #1 This man was very interesting to me. It was drawn by a 5th grade boy. He has the man wearing a jersey, and he made the legs and arm 3D. What’s even more interesting is that again we see the nose mark being mistaken as an eye, but the eye drawn has a pupil and eyelid. Also, the ears have more detail and they have earrings!

Interesting Find #2 This was drawn by a first grade boy. He did a very good job on this man. He drew pupils, eyelashes, and eyebrows. He has a good amount of hair. The leg he drew is very good. In my opinion, however, this looks like a girl! I just thought this was an interesting thing to note.

Interesting Find #3 This was drawn by a first grade boy. There is what looks like hair drawn all around the head. This could be a beard. Also, there is something drawn on the man’s shoulder. It took me a while to figure out what it is. It’s the other part of the bow! As we talked about earlier, younger children tend to imitate what they see. So I think that’s what this child did. He drew the bow exactly the way he saw it on the other side. Also, he drew what kind of looks like two feet. But I think this might be a shoe.

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

Thank You!