ブラジルと日本の幼児の箱庭制作に見る文化的差異の起源 THE ORIGINS OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCE: SANDPLAY EXPERIMENT STUDY WITH BRAZILIAN AND JAPANESE CHILDREN (original) (raw)

In this study, through sandplay experiments realized with Japanese and Brazilian children, we will discuss when, from the developmental point of view, the cultural difference appears and their significance. In previous researches, sandplay works showed several archetypical spatial images. The image named as male spatial singularity has a center axis that integrates all the elements in the sandplay box. It has a vertical axis passing through the center and is usually symmetrical. This type of image often occurred in the works of male subjects with a continental origin, with Western or Eastern cultural background. The image named as spatial plurality shows an asymmetric and a horizontal spread of the toys in the box and appeared in the works of Japanese male subjects. The image named female spatial singularity has the whole spatial organization centered around a determined space. Inclusion, enclosure, and intimacy are the main characteristic of this type of spatial structure, which appeared in the works of female subjects in general, independent of their nationality or cultural background. In this experiment, we compared the sandplay works of Japanese and Brazilian kindergarten children. We analyzed the works according to the direction, the position, and the order the children placed the toys in the box, and how long the children played. Japanese children took longer (average play time 36min) and eagerly enjoyed playing with the sandbox and toys than the Brazilian children (average play time 20min). All children’s works showed a scale from chaotic, enumeration, partially structured arrangement, to a structured arrangement in the way the children placed the toys in the box. The structured works had archetypical spatial images: male spatial singularity and spatial plurality in boys’ works and female spatial singularity in girls’ works. Most Japanese children started placing the toys from the left side (inner world) and spread the toys gradually to the right side (outer world). In contrast, Brazilian children from the early age of 5 years placed the toys from the center of the box to the outside (boys) and from top to bottom (girls). Brazilian children showed domination of the space in the box in whole, proactively, aggressively expressed their ego, and showed a strong force pushing to the outer world. Brazilian children’s works presented a higher level of aggressivity in the placement of the toys. Also, compared with Japanese children a more significant number of Brazilian boys’ sandplay works showed the typical characteristics of male spatial singularity, which express male aggressiveness. Japanese children sandplay works revealed a sense of unity with the surrounding world in contrast to Brazilian children that from an early age separate themselves from the world and had an autonomous tendency. In resume, Brazilian boys from an early age showed in their sandplay works the male spatial singularity, the archetypical spatial image of male adults with a continental cultural background. Brazilian girls also showed the archetypical female spatial singularity, but there were aggressiveness traits on the way of placing the toys. Japanese children sandplay works indicate a sense of unity with the outside world in contrast to the autonomy of Brazilian children, which were raised in a more hostile environment. The appearance of archetypical spatial images at an earlier age in Brazilian children's sandplay works confirms that the relationship with the outside world has an impact on individuals from the early childhood.