Handwriting 'experts' analysing the gunman who is on the run's handwriting........

[joeluke]

.........what complete b0ll0cks, money for old rope

How can you tell what someone is like just from their handwriting? Which 'experts' originally decided the 'handwriting analysis rules'?

[Zeuhl]

Well we all add features to our handwriting which are idiosyncratic.

That's self evident otherwise we would all print like junior school teachers.

The features we add are controlled by our unconscious mind, unless someone is deliberately concentrating on how they form the letters, so they are added without us thinking about it and the underlying structures of the letter shapes we form are pretty consistent over time.

Comparison of handwriting samples with personality profiles have revealed patterns that are repeatedly identified so particular handwriting features have been correlated with particular personality preferences.

Although analysis is based on generalisations and archetypes and won't be 100% accurate, experiments have shown high degrees of accuracy in matching handwriting with personalitiy profiles.

In reality JL, we wouldn't use handwriting analysis alone in assessing someone but as a part of an overall assessment which would include a personal interview and other psychographic and aptitude tests.
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[rowanwitch]

Doodle analysis is pretty good too....

[4getmenot]

I've analysed his hadwriting and he has issues, he's a bit unhinged, I see a lonely man who thinks the world owes him a living.

[Zeuhl]

Yes 4get

and we always watch out for people who write in crayon, use only capitals and press down on the paper very hard!

:-)

[sandyRoe]

Now, I could see that's he's a man capable of great anger. He believes the world is out to get him. He could be very dangerous to those people he thinks have done him harm.
Hindsight's a wonderful thing.
Handwriting analysis belongs in the same category as the i Ching, Tarot cards, and all the other mumbo-jumbo that's about now.

[jake-the-peg]

Got any links to these studies zeuhl?

There was a meta-analysis (ie a study of the available research) in 1992 (Dean) that found it totally worthless in a particular individual although you might get a generalisation in a large enough Sample

Do you suppose that the analysis showed the gunman to be a violent individual liable to harbour a grudge?

[4getmenot]

oh and capitals would suggest he's very angry

[4getmenot]

and not much punctuation means he had fish for dinner last Tuesday

[joeluke]

Good post zeuhl, but surely handwrighting experts are not really relevant in this case, as we can all see that this maniac has a grudge against the police for putting him behind bars and a grudge against his ex for dumping him

...and btw, I tend to print when I write but I'm not a junior school teacher!

[joeluke]

^ capitals don't necessarily suggest he's very angry, his hand might be stuck in caps lock mode

[Zeuhl]

///you might get a generalisation in a large enough Sample ///

Quite so.

///Do you suppose that the analysis showed the gunman to be a violent individual liable to harbour a grudge? ///

The analysis revealed someone whose handwriting was affected by the loaded shotgun he was holding.
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[jake-the-peg]

So graphology *might* have some use in a field like insurance in for example determining whether a large group of people had a larger than average tendency to be risk takers.

In this circumstance the Police might as well cast his horoscope.

it's really very disappointing to see

[Zeuhl]

///we can all see that this maniac has a grudge against the police for putting him behind bars and a grudge against his ex for dumping him ///

Yes JL, top marks to Handwriting Expert for stating the blindingly obvious!!

It's all the fault of the bl00dy media (again), 'expert' sitting there minding their own business and some journo offers them a couple of hundred quid and their name in print/on screen for some generalised bollo. Been there, done it, never again, it's not worth it.
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[4getmenot]

or that he is shouting. Whenever anyone puts a post in capitals up on here people say it could be seen as shouting. What do you read from my typing joeluke?

[joeluke]

4get......that you didn't have fish for dinner last Tuesday?

[Zeuhl]

Jake

there is much more value in asking a few questions and observing 'how' they are answered. In the absence of that, analysis of how he has constructed the letter, word choice, constructions etc will probably reveal more pertinent insight into an individual than handwriting analysis.
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[4getmenot]

well done joe, took a bit of working out, but I had lasagne :-)

[joeluke]

4get.....I already knew that

[Crazylegs]

Joeluke what are your views on psychological profiling as a whole?
http://library.thinkq...logical_profiling.htm

[joeluke]

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