A Comparison of the Validity of Handwriting Analysis With That of the Cattell 16PF

Few British organizations utilize handwriting analysis for personality assessment, but in some European countries handwriting analysis is extremely popular. Research has examined the reliability and validity of both methods of assessment, but few studies have directly compared the two. In this study, the personality of 120 subjects was assessed by the Cattell 16PF and by handwriting analysis. Each subject was presented with five handwriting analysis textual reports and five personality textual reports (one of each being their own) and asked to rank order each set in terms of perceived accuracy. The same ranking process was undertaken by each respondent's social partner. The results demonstrated that handwriting reports were ranked at a chance level by Self and by Other and that personality reports were ranked at a well above chance level by Self and by Other. Self-rankings were more accurate than Other-rankings.     

笔迹与人格关系研究的回顾及评价

西方心理学者对笔相学家的笔迹分析提出质疑,研究表明需要我们重新考虑笔迹分析的适用性,而其利用因素分析技术对笔迹与人格关系的大量研究发现,笔迹特征与EPQ中的E因素、N因素相关显著。我国古代丰富的笔迹学思想和当代笔相学家的实践经验为我们从心理学角度研究笔迹与人格之间的关系,提供了宝贵的资料,但我们在这一领域运用心理学方法的研究还刚刚起步。目前国内外心理学者在研究取向、笔迹特征选择和研究目的上还存在一定局限,对此加深认识,将会对我们具有重要的借鉴意义。     

A reply to "Validity and student acceptance of a graphoanalytic approach to personality" by Vestewig, Santee, and Moss.

Vestewig, Santee, and Moss have interpreted their 1976 study of graphoanalysis as wholly offensive to the validity of this system of personality assessment. But re-examination of their data reveals that some findings actually support the validity of graphoanalysis in spite of the fact that their methodology stacked the cards against the handwriting experts. Suggestions are made as to how this study could have been made comparable to those studies which show validity of handwriting analysis by the "global" or "holistic" method, and it is noted that under these conditions the results might have been quite different.     

Personality research methods: An historical perspective

An historical perspective upon personality research methods is presented and scholarly resources are reviewed to encourage historical perspective-taking among personality psychologists The historical perspective demarcates five periods in the development of personality research methods (1) the pre-identity era, (2) the pre-World War II era, (3) the post-World War II era, (4) the contemporary era, and (5) within the contemporary era, the current situation FOT a set of basic research methods in personality, three types of development are identified Laboratory methods, observer judgments, personality scales and inventories, and projective techniques illustrate continued development, biographical/archival methods and field studies illustrate interrupted methods, and reputational analysis by use of naturalistic observational assessment illustrates arrested development The methodological pluralism evident in the history of personality research and inherent in its scientific agenda has not been fully realized, although current trends are encouraging Recommendations for promoting integrative methodological pluralism are made regarding research planning, institutional arrangements, and graduate research training programs     

Using HyperCard to administer a figural test on the Apple Macintosh

To date, applications of automated assessment techniques in personality testing have largely been limited to objective personality instruments with text stimuli; few assessment applications have involved graphic stimuli. Although projective personality instruments generally include ambiguous graphic or pictorial stimuli, computer applications with these procedures have been limited to automated scoring and interpretation, administration of sentence completion devices employing text stimuli, and the use of mechanical methods rather than computer graphics to display visual stimuli. In the present report, we describe a Macintosh HyperCard application for administering an objective personality test with visual stimuli, the Barron-Welsh Revised Art Scale of the Welsh Figure Preference Test. This test consists of a series of figural stimuli and a binary “like”/“dislike” response format, and it thus represents an administration procedure between standard objective self-report inventories involving text stimuli and a “true”/“false” response or variant, and tests such as the Rorschach or TAT that are both figural and free-response. The HyperCard language provides a variety of promising techniques useful for microcomputer test administration.     

计算机时代的书写心理学

计算机的普及使人们阅读及书写的能力降低, 这引发了社会对书写的关注。书写涉及大量高级神经活动, 与认知、人格、疾病等均有关联, 对个体发展也具有重要作用。现代书写心理学通过使用书写板等设备, 实现了对书写过程及结果的量化研究, 发现了书写速度、压力、握笔等指标与智力、认知负荷等的一些关联。未来对书写过程的研究可以进一步深入; 测量方面的研究成果可以应用到日常人机交互及教学、司法等实践中; 还可以研究用书写促进个体认知及人格发展的具体途径。     

Differentiation of brain damage among low IQ subjects with three projective techniques.

Using a battery of three projective techniques (Rorschach, Hand Test, Bender-Gestalt) only slight discrimination was found between low IQ subjects classified according to the presence or absence of brain trauma (exogenous vs endogenous), while substantial discrimination was obtained between the same subjects categorized in terms of "lower" (60-74) and "higher" (75-89) FS WAIS IQ. All four groups used in this study had been first equated on sex and age. Results were interpreted as supporting the position that some sort of brain impairment underlies most or all retardation. Question was raised concerning the efficacy of projective techniques for diagnosing organicity in subjects of average or better intelligence.     

Differences in Hand Test responses of healthy females across the life-span.

The Hand Test was administered to 175 females ranging from 17 to 72 years. Subjects were all "community-living," within normal range of hearing and vision, in good health, and had a modal education level of high school graduate. Results were consistent with previous findings using projective techniques with the elderly, in that a depletion and constriction of personality appears to be concomitant with the normal aging process.     

非言语五因素人格问卷(FF-NPQ):一种半投射式人格测验评介

非言语五因素人格问卷(FF-NPQ)由Paunonen等人于2001年开发,用于测查人格五因素。它是一种半投射式人格测验,由60幅黑白图片组成,被试用7点李克特量表评价图中中心人物的行为。FF-NPQ多用于跨文化研究,也可用于文盲、老人或有语言、阅读障碍人群的人格研究。多个国家研究表明,FF-NPQ的内部一致性信度、与多个言语式五因素人格问卷的会聚效度及对行为的预测效度,均达到了心理测量学要求。在中国,该测验尚未使用,建议引进并根据使用情况修订。     

Graphologie et personnalité selon le modèle en cinq facteurs

Considered as a personality assessment technique, graphology is defended by some but finds weak scientific base. Validation studies often suffer from methodological weaknesses. In this study, 145 participants wrote a text on a white sheet and answered the NEO PI-R, personality inventory. Having built a reliable grid of analysis of the handwriting, we correlate 13 graphological variables and 35 personality features taken from the five-factor model (FFM). After controlling sample effects, one correlation is compatible with graphology, one contradictory to it and most of them are unexpected. These results evoke type I errors and confirm the very low validity of graphology as a personality assessment technique.     

A new approach to the assessment of structural personality pathology: Theory-driven profile interpretation of the Dutch Short Form of the MMPI

This article presents a new approach to the assessment of structural personality pathology: theory-driven profile interpretation of the Dutch Short Form of the MMPI (DSFM). The assessment method integrates results of a self-report personality questionnaire with psychodynamic theoretical concepts to yield a working hypothesis about underlying structural features of personality. As an illustration, results of a validation study with psychotic phenomena in projective drawings as the external criterion are described. Results show that the DSFM profiles, that are presumed to measure psychotic vulnerability predict psychotic phenomena in projective drawings, after statistically controlling for the effect of age, the single scales that are being used to construct the profiles and their statistical interaction.Results suggest that theory-driven profile interpretation of the DSFM may be considered a time and cost efficient method to derive a working hypothesis about structural vulnerability.     

Bruno Klopfer: a Rorschach pioneer

Bruno Klopfer is perhaps best known for his pioneering work on the Rorschach Inkblot Test. His efforts in developing and popularizing projective techniques were to have a profound impact on the development of psychological personality testing. In fact, prior to the introduction of Exner's comprehensive Rorschach scoring system, the Klopfer scoring system was the most popular among practicing clinicians (Exner & Exner, 1972, p. 13). Professionals in clinical psychology and psychiatry are certainly very indebted to Bruno Klopfer.     

Bruno Klopfer: A Rorschach Pioneer

Bruno Klopfer is perhaps best known for his pioneering work on the Rorschach Inkblot Test. His efforts in developing and popularizing projective techniques were to have a profound impact on the development of psychological personality testing. In fact, prior to the introduction of Exner's comprehensive Rorschach scoring system, the Klopfer scoring system was the most popular among practicing clinicians (Exner & Exner, 1972, p. 13). Professionals in clinical psychology and psychiatry are certainly very indebted to Bruno Klopfer.     

The dynamic programming matching analysis of handwriting movement in delayed vision

Abstract: Dynamic programming matching analysis of the velocity profile of handwriting was used to examine temporally invariant characteristics of handwriting. This was done by comparing the performance of 12 subjects in writing five words under various delayed visual feedback conditions. The rate of temporally invariant handwriting decreased when delay of visual feedback was introduced. That is, the mean number of fluctuations or hesitations increased as a function of the delay time. This indicates that subjects wrote words by segmenting their movements into submovements. The relative positions of the boundaries of submovements was shown using dynamic programming matching analysis by the distribution of fluctuations along a time axis of templates. The results suggest the development of a segmented "move-and-wait" strategy under conditions of delayed vision. It was shown that in the "move" phase, subjects performed appropriate submovements as smoothly as in the no delay condition and waited during the delay until visual feedback caught up. The increased errors were due to inadequate segmentation of movements.     

Seventy years of research on personality and close relationships: substantive and methodological trends over time

The present review is based on a quantitative analysis of the abstracts for 477 studies published since 1932 on the topic of personality and close (romantic) relationships. This approach enables a "bird's-eye" view of the content and methods that have characterized research in this area and an examination of publication trends over time. Results showed that 60% of all published studies in this area relied exclusively on cross-sectional and self-report methods; that nearly all used convenience samples, though more than half used nonstudent samples; and that more than one-third relied exclusively on data from individuals rather than couples. Few studies appeared to include elaborated networks of constructs in either the personality or relationship domain or to attempt to integrate an elaborated model of personality with an elaborated relationship model. Examination of trends over time revealed a mixed picture, with increasing use of the least informative designs balanced by evidence of increasingly complex conceptual models.     

Handwriting process and product characteristics of children diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder

Deficits in handwriting performance limit the school participation of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The aim of this study was to compare the handwriting process and product characteristics of children with DCD to those of typically developing (TD) children in order to determine the best means of differentiation between the groups. Participants were 40 children, from 7 to 10 years old. The experimental group consisted of 20 children who met the criteria of DCD, and the control group consisted of 20 age- and gender-matched controls. The children were asked to perform three graded writing tasks on an electronic tablet, which was part of a computerized handwriting evaluation system (ComPET), in order to obtain measures of their handwriting process. The children's handwriting product was then evaluated by the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE). Results showed significant differences between the groups for the handwriting process measures (on-paper and in-air time, mean pressure) and for the handwriting product characteristics (global legibility, number of letters erased or overwritten, spatial arrangement, and number of letters written in the first minute). The discriminant analysis yielded a high significant discrimination (80-90%), with the 'number of letters erased or overwritten' variable as the most differentiating variable (-.67). We concluded that an evaluation of both handwriting process and product characteristics among children with DCD provides a more comprehensive picture of their deficits. Using this method may enable practitioners to focus on children's main deficits and to tailor intervention methods so as to prevent academic underachievement and its consequences on their emotional well-being.     

A cognitive-perceptual analysis of projective tests used with children.

There are both general and specific problems with projective tests--the production, comprehension, and interpretation of two-dimensional visual representations. At the general level, there is a need to integrate findings from the neuro- and cognitive sciences, cognitive, perceptual, and affective development, and the understanding and interpretation of pictorial material based on the accumulated research base in the arts. At the specific level, much of the research base on projective tests is poor or outdated; evidence for clinical utility is mixed or negative; and the tests possess poor reliability and validity while the putative underlying psychological process of projection" has not been subject to rigorous empirical examination--the term remains vague and elusive. While earlier critiques and reviews have focused on problems in validity and reliability, their has been a lack of attention to the development of children's pictorial abilities as pertain to projective techniques. Although many of the principles delineated here also apply to adolescents and adults, an important challenge for clinicians is to develop and employ better methods in the "projective" assessment of children.     

违法犯罪者人格多种方法研究

本研究运用问卷法“YG人格测验”、作业法“内田－克雷佩林心理测验”和投射法“色塔人格测验”对126名违法犯罪者进行了测试。结果表明,作业法和投射法人格测验二者相互补充和印证,揭示了违法犯罪者人格的某些特点,问卷法人格测验的结果与前者不一致,应该运用多种方法对违法犯罪者的人格进行研究。     

Handwriting analysis in diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism

This preliminary study of the alcoholic personality, based on handwriting material before and after the over-indulgence period shows a characteristic dynamic development which could be manifest in different forms. The prealcoholic individual apparently was subjected to a strong discipline by a strict Super-ego, and at the same time being quite vulnerable, due to a basic emotional sensitivity. The drastic change in the handwriting of the recovery period indicates that the postalcoholic individual has broken the chains of the early discipline. He starts to struggle with his self-image, tries to cope with his now liberated psychic dynamics, experiencing some emotional discomfort. He still has preserved his emotional sensitivity. One could conclude that the handwriting from the recovery period conveys the beginning of individual development.