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Of the procedures that should not be regarded as constituting psychometric testing, but which are often wrongly associated with it, graphology is the most common. It is defined as the analysis of the handwriting of an individual in order to infer personality traits and behavioural tendencies. Graphology in Psychometric Testing The means of interpretation used never seems to have been subjected to rigorous statistical treatment, certainly not in a way to accord with the design standards applied to the general body of psychometrics. Eysenck (1957) and Mackenzie Davey over 30 years later (1989), after reviewing research on handwriting analysis, cast doubt on the scientific nature of the approach. Graphologists believe that idiosyncratic features of a person’s handwriting serve as an expression of his or her personality. No standard form of expression is demanded; therefore the result is expressive of the individual. Methods of analysis vary with one broad distinction being between those approaches that concentrate on individual handwriting phenomena and those that look at a sample of handwriting as a whole. The individual handwriting signs that are used include the following: size of letters, slant, width, zones (top, middle and bottom), regularity of letter formation, margin, pressure, stroke, line of letters (upward, straight, downward), connections of letters, form of connection and word and line spacing. A comprehensive review of the handwriting literature and a series of studies were conducted by Cox and Tapsell (1991). They began their report by pointing out some of the other aspects of handwriting and its significance that may provide further reasons for some of the popularity of the approach. This included the distinguishability of different individuals’ handwriting and, clearly linked to that, the use of signatures as indications of identity. (Another associated idea is, perhaps, the popularity of celebrity autographs.) Their review of the literature suggested that the predictions of non-graphologists were at least as good as those of graphologists. They also noted that, when the subjects of the studies were asked to copy standard scripts, rather than writing entirely freely, they did less well. This suggested that graphologists used the content of what was written in addition to the handwriting as such, though they did point out that some researchers saw their research design as potentially leading to an unnatural handwriting style, thereby limiting the scope for validity to be demonstrated. Their own studies included evaluation of graphological assessments of criteria against those emerging from an assessment centre. Although their two graphologist ‘judges’ were in some measure of agreement between themselves, they did not accurately reproduce the assessment centre ratings. Whilst again pointing out potential limitations in their own experimental design they concluded, along with so many other objective researchers, that there is insufficient positive evidence to support the use of graphology for personnel assessment. Why graphology has continued to be used at all is a matter for speculation. There is probably an element of ‘it would be nice if it did work’. That it continues to command the attention of professional psychologist researchers probably reflects a ‘grain of truth’ argument. All manifestations of behaviour are linked to some extent. Handwriting patterns could be expected to reflect muscular tension, among other things. Muscular tension might well reflect a general anxiety level. However, the grain of truth fails to reveal itself in any adequate scientific demonstrations. The British Psychological Society (BPS, 2003) in a short briefing on graphology did leave the door open for further research to prove wrong the studies conducted to date, but for the moment there seems little justification for the use of graphology. Sonal Aurora is director and co-founder of Top Recruitment Company India. Perfman HR is a premier HR Consulting & Recruitment Company Founded in Mumbai, India. We are an inventive and dynamic Human Resource Company specializing in Executive Search, Performance Management, Assessments, Recruitments, Training, Learning & HR Solutions.
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