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1963 · DALE B. HARRIS · AFTER GOODENOUGH (1926) · 9 SOURCES

Draw a man. A woman. Then yourself.

Harris revised Goodenough's 1926 Draw-A-Man test, added a woman and a self-portrait, and rebuilt the scoring and norms. He described what the drawings measure as "intellectual maturity" rather than intelligence.3,9

SHEET 1A man73 items
SHEET 2A woman71 items
SHEET 3Myselfscored on the man or woman scale

From one figure and 51 points to three figures and 73

Harris set out the changes in his 1963 book Children's Drawings as Measures of Intellectual Maturity, published by Harcourt, Brace & World.1,5

1926Goodenough's Draw-A-Man
46 items plus 5 bonus items for profile drawings, 51 in total.1,2
1963Harris's revision
73 items for a man and 71 for a woman. The point system was completely revised and restandardized, and points were now given for clothing and accessories.1,3
A woman and a self-portraitScales for drawing a woman and drawing oneself; a self-portrait is scored on the scale matching the child's gender.9
Deviation IQRefinements to scoring and standardization, including the use of a deviation IQ.4
Norms to age 15Norms were extended up to age 15.8
"Intellectual maturity"Intended to replace the idea of intelligence with intellectual, or conceptual, maturity: the ability to form abstract concepts.5

Sources disagree on the item counts. Most give 73 for a man and 71 for a woman, but one says 73 items with 71 shared by both.3,2

TRY IT · THE FIRST 11 POINTS

"Make the very best picture you can"

Draw a person with your mouse or finger, then tick each feature that's there. A point goes for each item present.3,5 These are the first 11 of Harris's items for the man scale, which concentrate on the head.3

Points so far0/ 11

The real scale has detailed rules for deciding whether each point is earned, and turns the raw score into a standard score for the child's age.3 This page does neither, and your drawing isn't saved or sent anywhere.

Count the details, or judge the whole

POINT SCALEOne point per item

Items were chosen because they (a) separate age groups, (b) relate to tests of general intelligence, and (c) distinguish children of lower and higher ability.6 Drawings are judged on accuracy, proportion, control of line and level of detail.3

12-POINT QUALITY SCALE
123456789101112

The whole drawing is rated from 1 (lowest) to 12 (highest). Norms are provided for both methods.5

Quick and enjoyed, but not culture-free

FormatA nonverbal test of mental ability that can be given to a group or one child at a time, taking 10 to 15 minutes for ages 3 to 15.5
InstructionsBrief and basic: make a picture of a man (or woman), the very best picture you can. That makes it, for practical purposes, a nonlanguage test.4
Works well withYounger children, especially those of lower ability, with language handicaps, from minority groups, or bilingual.6
TodayCommonly used as a school-readiness check and a predictor of academic success.3
LimitsIts cross-cultural use is questionable.6
Not projectiveUses beyond estimating cognitive development are purely projective and not endorsed by the test's creator.1

Before and after 1963

1926Draw-A-ManFlorence Goodenough makes human-figure drawing a standardized intelligence test.4
1949Machover's projective useKaren Machover separately adapts figure drawing as a projective personality test.8
1963Goodenough-HarrisHarris adds the woman and self scales, rebuilds scoring and extends norms to 15.1
1988DAP: Quantitative Scoring SystemJack Naglieri's system scores 14 aspects, with 64 items for each drawing.1
1991DAP:SPEDNaglieri's screening procedure for emotional disturbance.1

References

  1. [1]Wikipedia contributors. Draw-a-Person test (accessed 30 Sept 2026).en.wikipedia.org
  2. [2]Draw-A-Person Test. In Encyclopedia entry, Springer Nature Link.link.springer.com
  3. [3]The Draw-A-Person test as a measure of intellectual maturity (thesis). Penn State University Libraries, ETDA.etda.libraries.psu.edu
  4. [4]Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (study flashcards summarising Gregory's textbook account). Quizlet.quizlet.com
  5. [5]Goodenough Harris Drawing Test. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics (Vol. 3, p. 407). SAGE Research Methods.methods.sagepub.com
  6. [6]Goodenough Harris Drawing Test. Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics (2007). SAGE Reference.sk.sagepub.com
  7. [7]Harris, D. B., & Pinder, G. D. The Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test as a measure of… Vital and Health Statistics, Series 11, No. 138. National Center for Health Statistics (PDF).cdc.gov (PDF)
  8. [8]Draw-a-Person test. Grokipedia (2026).grokipedia.com
  9. [9]Draw-A-Person Test: child psychology assessment. Arab Psychology (2025).db.arabpsychology.com
HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE
What's Your IQ. (2026). Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (1963). In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved September 30, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/goodenough-harris-1963
EDITORIAL RECORD
First published2026
Last reviewed30 September 2026
Sources9, all from visible search results
Open questionsItem counts (73/71 vs 73 with 71 shared); 1963 norm sample; full title of the NCHS report
Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/goodenough-harris-1963

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Part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content under CC BY-SA 4.0. Only the first 11 item names are listed, as published in a secondary source; the full scoring manual is not reproduced.

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