Abstract
ABSTRACT Children aged 8-10 years in 11 primary schools were asked to draw a very clever person, a very stupid person, a very nice person and a very nasty person. The elicited drawings were analysed for content revealing commonalities and some stereotypes. Cleverness was shown to be gender-independent. Clever people shown were good at maths, wore glasses, and were happy and confident. Stupid people were predominantly male, unhappy, bad at maths, anxious, untidy and small in stature. They were shown as having a negative self-concept. Nice people were mostly female, pretty, smiling and kind. Nasty people were male, aggressive, large, often 'punk' and threatening. It is suggested that the 'stupid' group corresponds to those with learning difficulties and the 'nasty' group to those with behaviour problems. These represent anxiety, threat and disadvantage, whereas the more fortunate are characterised by confidence, prosperity and happiness. This paper uniquely uses the images generated by the children themselves in response to stimulus words. Drawings are independent of verbal report and give children freedom to respond creatively. A comprehensive range of drawings illustrate the paper.
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