Perceptions of ugliness in the mentally retarded

Thirty male and female retarded adults were asked to draw a picture of a person and then to draw a picture of an ugly person, in order to determine whether broader facial features are a measure of ugliness (as found by McCullers and Staat). Additionally, measures of broadness of facial outline and body outline of the drawings were taken. Although there were no significant differences, there was a trend to exaggerate the drawing of the ugly person, and the rationale for this was discussed.