Unobtrusive Assessment of Interpersonal Affect through Expressive Line Drawings

Abstract

Lott and Lott (1970) provide a rationale as well as empirical support for the contention that nonverbal, indirect measures of social affect are highly economical and unobtrusive means of obtaining important information about children's interpersonal attitudes. The present investigation examined the sensitivity of expressive line drawings as an indirect measure of social affect in a school setting. 20 boys and girls ranging in age from 11 to 13 yr. were asked to select classmates representing four points on a scale of liking and were instructed to produce expressive line drawings of any shape or form in response to each of the identified peers. Two raters assessed 80 drawings on the following content categories: curvedness-angularity, simplicity-complexity, repetitive-nonrepetitive, warmth-coldness, and friendliness-aggressiveness. The structural features of the drawings differed as a function of liking, with male subjects evidencing a tendency toward finer discriminations than females across levels of liking. Expressive line drawings for disliked classmates were rated more angular, complex, nonrepetitive, cold and aggressive. The results of the present study suggest that various indirect measures may well reveal a more complex and refined set of social affective responses than have been previously noted.