The Practice of Handwriting Analysis and Phenomenological-interpreting Approach to the Validation
Dr. Christian Katz
Abakaba AG, Hünenberg See, Switzerland
DOI:
In Chernov, Y., & Nauer, M. A. (Eds.). (2018). Handwriting Research: Validation & Quality. P. 30-36.
Abstract
The skepticism about graphology, supported by some publications in professional journals, is not well-founded. Discussions with specialists and studying of multiple publications lead to the conclusion that graphology is undeservedly denied. With regard to the difficulty of scientific verifiability, however, handwriting psychology hardly differs from other personality-diagnostic procedures such as the standardized personality questionnaire.
The handwriting experts are called upon to recall their method in the personnel departments. Of course, handwriting psychology cannot provide information on all aspects of a person’s personality structure, but no other method provides such extensive information with relatively little effort. They should not even hesitate to be compared with the widespread but much more expensive assessment centre. In the selection process, handwriting psychology can provide valuable confirmative or critical information as a supplement to the assessment center. A further advantage of handwriting psychology is that the analysis of handwriting samples does not require the presence of authors. The assessment of the personality can therefore take place without any influence of sympathy or antipathy. There are sufficient factual reasons to make increased use of handwriting psychology that has been forgotten in recent years for personnel selection. Interested parties are invited to test the method of graphology and form their own opinion. It goes without saying that the data protection regulations must be observed: The authors of handwriting must be given access to the results of the written psychological examination.