Dr. Arnold Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test: Gender Variation Across the Ages By: Kayleigh Zeppa.

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

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

Rousseau

Gesell

Montessori

LockePiaget

Vygotsky

NATURE NURTURE

Where Would I Place Gesell?

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%


Boys Girls


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



Boys Girls


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%)


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

So What Do the Results Look Like With Just 6-year-olds?

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



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



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?

Typical Characteristics by Age

Example of 6-year-old





Interesting Find #1

Interesting Find #2

Interesting Find #3

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!

Dr. Arnold Gesell’s Incomplete Man Test: Gender Variation Across the Ages By: Kayleigh Zeppa.

Documents

incomplete man testa

term gesell

gender variation

school environment

developmental stages

developmental process

variation increase

pencil tests