RELATIONSHIPS OF THE PIAGETIAN COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT TO HUMAN FIGURE DRAWING

The validity of the interchangeable use between the human figure drawing and the cognitive development according to Piagetian tasks was investigated analyzing 211 children (104 boys and 107 girls), from the first to the third grades, aged 7 to II years. Children were requested to draw a man and a woman, and later they were administered five Piagetian tasks. Childrenʹs cognitive tendency in relation to operativeness was obtained by the evaluation of three operative tasks (mental imaging, conservation of mass and length), in relation to creation of novelty using the location of dice and equidistancing arrangements tasks; and general cognitive development by summing the scores of operative and creative tendencies. The human figure drawings were scored for both figures and then averaged. These scores presented positive and significant correlations with the three Piagetian measures. These data suggest the possibility of finding patterns to assess the cognitive development tendency based on the Piagetian model through the human figure drawing.