Age Patterns of Color Usage in a Projective Technique Non-Existent Animal (in Russian)

Abstract

The article considers the age pattern of the usage of color in the drawing, which is determined by the demands of clinical psychological practice, as far as the knowledge of age characteristics of color preferences allows differentiating norm and pathology with greater accuracy. The analysis of the scientific literature showed that children prefer long-wavelength part of the spectrum (mostly yellow and red), but with the age there is a tendency to reject these colors and prefer more dark and calm chord. In the psychological practice specialists use projective drawings rather often. This article considers a widely used by psychologists technique Non-Existent Animal. On the first stage 3 experts selected analyzed pictorial indices, then the calculation of the level of experts’ consensus was made with the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. On the second stage the evaluation of the age patterns of the selected pictorial parameters took place, in particular, the usage of color. Thus, the material of the study is the color properties of the artistic activity of the subjects. The sample consisted of the 6 age-groups from 10 to 25 years of age. The statistical significance of differences was evaluated by the χ2. In the result of the mathematical-statistical processing of the data the assumption is made that the preference of color in children has less variations than in adults, that’s why the detection of general regularities in the senior age group is hindered. On the parameters of brightness/ paleness of the drawing, as well as the usage of the black color it is found that the smooth regularity after the age 19 is “floundered”. The achromatism and the color paleness in the drawing of a non-existent animal predominate with the age, which is determined by the characteristics of maturation of the central nervous system and/ or growth of the sinistrocelebral index.