NONVERBAL MEASURE OF GOD-CONCEPT

Abstract

The Nonverbal Measure of God-Concept is an assessment tool designed to identify differences in religious conceptualization corresponding to Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. Rooted in the research traditions of Ronald Goldman and Ernest Harms, this instrument utilizes visual stimuli to bypass verbal limitations associated with religious expression and developmental stage. The initial 1990 version featured twenty-one black and white ink drawings, which were classified based on their selection frequency by subjects falling into the preoperational, concrete operational, or formal operational stages.

A subsequent 1994 revision reduced the measure to fifteen drawings, equally distributed (five per stage) based on selections made by subjects whose cognitive stage was independently verified using standard conservation and paper-and-pencil tests. The measure posits that an individual’s understanding of God is nonverbally reflected in their preference for specific graphical representations, though researchers have noted concerns regarding formal bias and the visual realism of the drawings.

Keywords

God-Concept, Nonverbal Measure, Religious Psychology, Cognitive Development, Piagetian Stages, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational, Drawing Selection, Visual Assessment, Religious Education.

Authors

Rodney L. Bassett, S. Miller, K. Anstey, K. Crafts, J. Harmon, Y. Lee, J. Parks, M. Robinson, H. Smid, W. Sterner, C. Stevens, B. Wheeler, D. H. Stevenson, K. Perry, R. Repass, E. Silver, T. Welch.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Nonverbal Measure of God-Concept is to establish a standardized set of visual stimuli—specifically ink drawings—that can accurately reflect developmental shifts in an individual’s perception of God. This approach is grounded in the premise that significant aspects of religious experience are inherently nonverbal and require specialized assessment tools.

The measure was also developed to serve research contexts where verbal communication presents a barrier. This includes studies involving very young children, individuals who are speech impaired, or research conducted across different linguistic and cultural groups where standardization of language could compromise the validity of the findings.

Construct

The core construct measured is the individual’s God-Concept, interpreted not through verbal expression but through the selection of visual representations. This conceptualization is explicitly tied to Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, positing that the complexity and nature of religious understanding evolve systematically across developmental stages.

The measure attempts to distinguish between three major cognitive stages in relation to religious understanding: Preoperational Thought (thinking in only one dimension at a time, relying on perceptual information, typically ages 4–7); Concrete Operational Thought (marked by conservation ability and recognition of subclasses, typically ages 7–11); and Formal Operational Thought (involving abstract reasoning, hypothetical constructs, and inference about unobserved entities, typically ages 12 and above).

Validity

The validity of the measure is complex and subject to several critical limitations noted by the authors and subsequent evaluators. Initially, the 1990 version relied on chronological age as a proxy for cognitive development, which is recognized as an indirect and potentially inaccurate indicator. Statistically, the authors’ initial use of an analysis of variance (ANOVA) by assigning consecutive numbers to age groups was deemed an unjustifiable test for differentiation.

While the subsequent application of the distribution-free Kruskal-Wallis test indicated an overall difference in drawing frequency selection across groups, analysis suggested this difference was primarily driven by the acceptance or rejection patterns of the formal operational age group. Even in the 1994 version, where subjects were categorized using standard cognitive tests, most differentiating pictures successfully separated the formal operational subjects from others, but failed to distinguish the concrete operational stage from the other two.

Critics suggest the measure suffers from a potential “formal bias” due to the disproportionately large number of visually realistic drawings, which are inconsistent with how younger, preoperational children typically represent concepts graphically. Furthermore, because subjects selected rather than created their own God concept representations, the measure may reflect what the subject has been taught to recognize instead of their actual internal God-Concept.

Reliability

Formal procedures for assessing the internal consistency or test-retest reliability of the Nonverbal Measure of God-Concept were not specifically reported by the authors. However, an informal comparison across the two major versions (1990 and 1994) offers limited insight into stability.

Three specific drawings were utilized in both studies. Two of these drawings—a bearded man (associated with the preoperational stage) and a symbolic drawing of a cross, flames, and a dove (associated with the formal operational stage)—showed consistent preference patterns across both samples. The third common drawing, “Jesus with children,” failed to maintain its preference association, having been strongly selected by concrete operational thinkers in the 1990 study but not by any specific group in the 1994 study.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis procedures were not utilized or reported for the Nonverbal Measure of God-Concept. The instrument’s structure is determined primarily by external validation—the correlation of drawing selection frequency with subjects’ independently assessed cognitive developmental stage (based on Piagetian tests)—rather than internal psychometric clustering of items.

Instrument

Test Type: Nonverbal Visual Preference Assessment; Psychological Scale

Format: Black and white ink drawings printed on 5 by 7 cards. The 1990 version contained 21 drawings; the 1994 version contained 15 drawings.

Language Available: Nonverbal (Visual stimulus based).

Population Group: Individuals associated with Christian denominations (Conservative Protestant, Catholic, Methodist). Useful for populations where language is a barrier, including young children and those who are speech impaired.

Age Group: 4 years old to adults (up to 75 years old in initial standardization).

Population Details: The 1994 standardization sample (n=104, including 33 preoperational, 35 concrete operational, and 36 formal operational subjects) included both Protestant (conservative and mainline) and Catholic females. Cognitive stage determination utilized standard tests for conservation of volume, mass, and number, as well as paper-and-pencil tests for class inclusion and sequence completion.

Test Methodology: Subjects are shown the drawings sequentially and asked to indicate which images, if any, “most remind them of God.” Data analysis typically requires statistical methods such as one-way within-subject Analysis of Variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and post hoc analyses like the Newman-Keuls test.

Keywords

Religious Perception, God-Concept Measurement, Piaget’s Stages, Visual Realism, Nonverbal Research, Kruskal-Wallis, Cognitive Assessment, Developmental Psychology.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Rodney L. Bassett, Ph.D., Roberts Wesleyan College, 2301 Westside Drive, Rochester, New York 14624.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The measure exists in two principal versions, developed in 1990 and 1994. Copies of the pictures can be obtained by contacting Rodney L. Bassett, Ph.D. (See Correspondence Address). Specific information regarding usage fees or formal licensing permissions is not detailed in the source documentation.

Reference’s

• Bassett, E. (1977). Production strategies in the child’s drawing of the human figure: Towards an argument for a model of syncretic perception. In G. Butterworth (Ed)., The child’s representation of the world. NY: Plenum Press.

• Bassett, R. L., Miller, S., Anstey, K., Crafts, K., Harmon, J., Lee, Y., Parks, J., Robinson, M., Smid, H., Sterner, W., Stevens, C. Wheeler, B., & Stevenson, D. H. (1990). Picturing God: A nonverbal measure of God concept for conservative Protestants. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 9, 73-81.

• Bassett, R. L., Perry, K., Repass, R., Silver, E., & Welch, T. (1994). Perceptions of God among persons with mental retardation: A research note. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 22, 45-49.

• Harms, E. (1944). The development of religious experience in children. American Journal of Sociology, 50, 112-122.

• Kosslyn, S. M., Heldmeyer, K. H., & Locklear, E. D. (1977). Children’s drawings as data about internal representations. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 23, 191-211.

• Krampen, M. (1991). Children’s drawings: Iconic coding of the environment. New York: Plenum Press.

• Lehman, R. (1995). Statistics in the behavioral sciences: A conceptual approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Co.

Items of the NONVERBAL MEASURE OF GOD-CONCEPT

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The specific visual items (drawings) comprising the NONVERBAL MEASURE OF GOD-CONCEPT are not detailed in the source documentation. The measure consists of black and white ink drawings (21 in the 1990 version; 15 in the 1994 version) which are either realistic (e.g., a man with a beard, Jesus with children) or symbolic (e.g., cross, flame, and dove). Subjects select the drawings that “most remind them of God.”