Аннотация:The article presents the results of the first-ever Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) used in Russia to study the image of the scientist which children develop at the age of 9-11. The author describes the content specifics of the image of the scientist and his stereotypical components. The patterns revealed in their perception of the scientist were compared with those obtained by using the DAST in other countries on a similar sample which found the image of the scientist to remain stable regardless of the cultural context.
Younger schoolchildren were found to structure the image of the scientific worker on the basis of such stereotyped criteria or indicators attributing a person to the scientific community as clothing, eyeglasses, facial hair growth, symbols of research and knowledge, scientific results and relevant captions. In addition to these indicators for attributing a person to the scientific community, junior schoolchildren’s social and perceptive imagery includes such additional indicators in the description of the image of the scientist as gender, race, age, object environment, elements of danger, facial expressions.
The following stereotypic indicators of the image of the scientist were found to be specific to the domestic sample: the scientist had his hair standing on end, a bald patch on his head, a disproportionately large head, youth, dirty clothes, as well as general trends - uncertainty of the image and its archaization. The results obtained show that children possess incomplete information about the activity of scientists and have undeveloped and amorphous perception of this image. The data allow for using the draw-a-scientist test (DAST) as a projective way of revealing social ideas that young people entertain about the sphere of science and scientists.