Children's expressive drawing strategies: the effects of mood, age and topic

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate whether the impact of mood state on children's choice of expressive strategies (literal and non-literal content and abstract) varies as a function of mood valence, age and topic to be drawn. The sample (N = 96) consisted of four groups of children aged 5, 7, 9 and 11years, respectively. Half of the children in each age group were induced with a positive mood state and the other half with a negative mood state. Following mood induction, children were asked to draw one of two topics, an animate (person) or an inanimate one (tree). The results showed that: (a) happiness and sadness activated similar expressive drawing strategies; (b) from the age of five years onwards children were able to use both literal and non-literal expressive strategies in their drawings; (c) non-literal content strategies were used more frequently compared to abstract ones by all age groups; and (d) topic had an effect on the choice of expressive strategies: children used more literal strategies for the depiction of the person and more non-literal ones for the depiction of the tree. The implications of these findings and future directions for research are discussed.