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Figure drawings have been used as a clinical tool by psychiatrists and psychologists for the last forty years. In 1926, Goodenough demonstrated significant correlations between the level of complexity of such drawings and Stanford-Binet scores, thus furnishing a simple but effective means for estimating I.Q. levels of young children.
Figure drawings also achieved wide acceptance as a means of gathering insight into the body image of the individual. It has been hypothesized that such a drawing is, in effect, a projection of the postural, libidinal and interpersonal experiences which are then integrated as components of the body image (Schilder, 1935). Careful analysis of the figure drawn thus yields information on neurological maturation and integration (Bender, 1946); (Cohen, 1953), on zonal and object-libidinal cathexis, and on the interpersonal preoccupations of both the adult and child (Machover, 1949).
Schilder (1935) maintained that the body image is not a given entity of psychology, but is rather the functional composite of a