Drawing Styles of Schooled and Unschooled Adults: A Study in Ghana

Abstract

The study is a replication of the work of Willats (1977), who identified six classes of drawing systems in a sample of schoolchildren in London. The primary aim was to discover whether, as Willats claimed, the drawing systems were largely independent of formal teaching and that the depiction of overlap followed a line of development distinct from that of drawing systems. Results comparing schooled and entirely unschooled Ghanaian adults essentially confirmed Willats’ findings. Nearly all Ghanaian drawings could be reliabily allocated to Willats’ classes, and the distribution of classes was unrelated to experience of elementary schooling: by contrast, depiction of overlap was significantly enhanced by schooling. While the Ghanaian data generally support Willats’ scheme, they also suggest certain modifications in the definition of classes and raise questions about their implications, which are discussed.