The psychopathology of everyday art: a quantitative Study - World ...

3. Research Questionnaire on Dominant Form for Raters. Test sheet1. DAPA Hacking
and Foreman 1999 ©
Dominant Form
This study is part of an experiment to find ways of describing a picture. This is not the
whole of the study but one of the elements being tested. Please try to understand the
explanation given by the experimenter as if you were part of a group trying to score
exactly the same as everyone else.
DEFINITION:
An object or space enclosed by a boundary, explicit or implicit.
It should be exceptional in
Size and/or
Colour
Contrasting hue/intensity/saturation.
It should be single (there must not be two opposing forms).
The shape may be repeated, the repetitions will be smaller or less intense. It is usually
a regular shape.
What is going on in the picture (the content or narrative) is secondary to the structure.
It need not be a recognisable shape or a person.
When you have understood the explanation to the experimenter’s satisfaction, you will
be asked to rate some pictures. Keep this explanation by you and refer to it every time.
The experimenter will now describe the grid system.
Please look at the picture as a whole first, can you see a shape which is large, singular and
whose outline is generally echoed throughout the picture?
Point out to the experimenter which squares the shape occupies. Cut off extremeties
which are not integral to the regular shape. The shape must occupy more than 25% of
the square to be counted.
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