Lack of evidence for the assessment of personality traits using handwriting analysis

Gawda, Barbara

doi:10.2478/ppb-2014-0011

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…These findings are consistent not only with studies related to handwriting in psychopathic individuals but also with research into relationship between other personality traits and handwriting. In contrast to the proponents of personality assessment based on handwriting, previous scientific research did not find associations between handwriting patterns and personality traits [10,25]. For instance, two studies failed to confirm correlations between the Big Five personality traits and handwriting [26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

The computational analyses of handwriting in individuals with psychopathic personality disorder

Gawda

2019

PLoS ONE

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The main aim of the present study was to examine several parameters of handwriting in order to identify the putative specific patterns of writing associated with psychopathic personality disorder. The hypothesis-generating study was carried out with the use of Mann-Whitney U test to compare two groups of prisoners, without p-value, effect size, and confidence intervals for effect size. The handwriting samples were obtained from two groups of individuals: prisoners diagnosed with psychopathic personality (n = 50), prisoners without psychopathic personality disorder (n = 30). Two groups were matched in terms of intellectual level, age, and education. The examined handwriting samples were identical. To examine graphical parameters such as structure, proportions, density, inter-spaces, and impulse, the computer programs GlobalGraf were used. This software is employed by Polish Forensic Association. The inter-group comparisons of graphical parameters have shown there is no significant difference (95% confidence intervals for the effect sizes included 0, or negative numbers) in handwriting between prisoners with psychopathic personality disorder and prisoners without this disorder. Logistic regression has been calculated to show whether any handwriting patterns allow to predict psychopathic personality disorder. Results indicate that participants with psychopathic personality disorder do not exhibit significant motor impairments manifesting in structural, density, topographic, proportions, letter spacing, and impulse features of handwriting. This suggests, contrary to many beliefs related to graphology, that psychopathic personality cannot be identified on the basis of computational forensic examination of handwriting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

The computational analyses of handwriting in individuals with psychopathic personality disorder

Gawda

2019

PLoS ONE

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“…Past studies that extract handwriting features and map them to personality traits have struggled to provide convincing evidence for the principles of graphology. They have either employed dubious approaches or provided little to no explanation of their own empirical methodologies (see Górska and Janicki 2012;Gawda 2014;Kumar 2010, 2011). Despite their failures, these studies illustrate graphology's attractiveness and increasing visibility, even within academic communities.…”

Section: Graphology Its Controversies and Allurementioning

confidence: 99%

“Nonsense Rides Piggyback on Sensible Things”: The Past, Present, and Future of Graphology

Thorpe

2018

Medical Paratexts From Medieval to Modern

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Abstract“Nonsense rides piggyback on sensible things”, declares professional sceptic and questioned-document analyst Joe Nickell concerning graphology. This chapter examines graphology’s enduring allure and reach, despite its controversies, and considers its relationship with other types of handwriting analysis. It first asks: is it possible to metaphorically “dissect” the page of handwritten texts, to scrutinize writing as a “medical paratext” rich in information about the writer’s state of health? It then interrogates the nature of the connection between physical and mental states and handwriting. It demonstrates how academics are going “back to basics” with their enquiries into individual difference and handwriting features, and how digital methodologies are contributing to this. Thus, this chapter is an updated study of graphology, providing a wider understanding of the concept of the paratext by considering the information captured in handwriting in the context of a digital age.

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“…High inter-rater agreements were also reported in previous studies (Gawda, 2013(Gawda, , 2014. A distribution of each variable was tested.…”

Section: The Number Of Letters Of Each Size In the Textmentioning

confidence: 89%

Dysfluent Handwriting in Schizophrenic Outpatients

Gawda

2016

Percept Mot Skills

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Taking into account findings in the literature, the author aimed to test whether specific graphical characteristics of handwriting can distinguish patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorders from healthy controls. Handwriting samples (one sample from each person) from 60 outpatients (29 women, 31 men; age M = 28.5, SD = 5.4) with paranoid schizophrenia were analyzed by three documents examiners and were compared to samples from 60 controls (30 men, 30 women, age M = 28.0, SD = 3.0) without psychiatric disorders. Document examiners assessed 32 graphical features potentially related to schizophrenia. The comparisons between groups revealed that only 7 out of 32 handwriting properties were significantly different in the handwriting of schizophrenic outpatients from controls: the calligraphic forms of letters, loops in ovals, lacking of dots, tremor, sinusoidal baseline, and irregularities size of lower zone. These findings are discussed in terms of motor disturbances in schizophrenia and in relation to the previous research on handwriting of other mental disorders. Similarities between the graphical patterns of handwriting of schizophrenic patients and those of other mental disorders and/or other mental states have been demonstrated.

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Lack of evidence for the assessment of personality traits using handwriting analysis

Cited by 9 publications

References 24 publications

The computational analyses of handwriting in individuals with psychopathic personality disorder

The computational analyses of handwriting in individuals with psychopathic personality disorder

“Nonsense Rides Piggyback on Sensible Things”: The Past, Present, and Future of Graphology

Dysfluent Handwriting in Schizophrenic Outpatients

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