By Carlos E. Musse

Desastres.org talked to an expert in Graphology and asked her to analyze the writing of Cho Seung-Hui and to give as any evidence of disturbed behavior. Also she commented about the feasibility of taking psychological tests to university applicants.

As a Graphologist what could you tell us analyzing a handwriting sample of Cho Sueng Hui?

Before the publishing of the NBC envelope, I was quite sure corrugations would be quite evident in the writing of Cho Sueng Hui and they certainly proved to be in the sample. These corrugations are actually quite easy to see for the non-professional handwriting analyst. They are evidenced in this sample in the uneven pressure. Refer in particular to the A and I in Ishmael.

The pressure is deeper or darker than the rest of the name and is somewhat “shaky” (lacking stability) or corrugated. He does this throughout the addresses, both in writing his own address and in writing to NBC. His rhythm and speed in writing are not even and therefore the pressure is uneven and becomes corrugated.

The pressure may appear at times to be somewhat “muddy” due to the unevenness of the pressure. Although uneven pressure can be a sign of physical or emotional stress ranging from moderate to severe, it is the muddiness of this writing which would be a “high danger” sign and alert the handwriting analyst to the strong possibility of a violent personality.

So, with handwriting can you detect potential violent behavior?

Graphology cannot predict a single instance of behavior. However, it is the best assessment tool of personality trait outliers or those traits which fall out of the statistically normal realm of behavior traits and patterns. So, a handwriting analyst could assess whether or not there is a strong possibility of the threat of violence from a writing sample. Graphology does not predict the future in any instance. Perhaps that is why the use of handwriting analysis is compelling as a violence prevention method. It could give insight into the personality of the writer before a horrendous incident like that at Virginia Tech occurs. The individual student could then be provided with needed professional help and the violence prevented. Handwriting analysis may also be used in considering how best to approach the individual to persuade him/her to get help.

Would it be possible that American Universities request a mandatory Psychological Test for discarding any mental illness as they request the TOEFL or GMAT?

American universities and colleges could request a mandatory psychological test to determine mental illness. However, this would have to be handled carefully due to the American Disabilities Act (ADA) which does include mental disabilities. Therefore, academic institutions would have to follow the legal and ethical use of assessment measures, just as employers do, in order to remain in accordance with the ADA.

For this purpose Graphology would be cost and time effective?

I have worked in psychological testing in academia, counseling, medical settings and employment settings, and firmly believe that handwriting analysis is the best assessment of individual personality. Because personality can be one predictor of behavior, whether in assessing the possibility for violent acts or such individual differences as introversion/extroversion, graphology should be considered as a tool to prevent violence within the schools.

A handwriting sample can be easily obtained, is relatively static and can be examined at leisure. It is actually a relatively simple task to assess the capacity of violence in an individual for the trained graphologist. A graphologist is rapidly alerted to “red flags” in the writing making the tool time effective. The cost would be dependent on the individual graphologist hired as a consultant. Standards could be set by academic institutions.

A graphology report could be used as a possible “red flag” if any sign of violence is found and precautions could be taken. It would be up to the individual institution to act upon that knowledge regarding the application process.

In order to clarify misconceptions, could you give us a technical definition of Graphology?

Graphology is the study of handwriting to assess the personality, character and aptitudes of the writer. Handwriting is often referred to as “brainwriting” as it is the impulses from the hand traveling down the arm and hand through the fingers to the pen and onto the paper. Persons who are disabled and write with the pen between their lips or toes also express their individual personalities. Graphology is a projective technique. Persons project their personalities onto the sheet of paper. It is also described as an expressive technique. Persons express themselves through writing, much as they express themselves through speaking, walking and talking, even smiling.

Graphologists look at many aspects of the writing: global aspects considered include size, slant, form, pressure, rhythm and speed. There are over 300 single traits such as confidence, optimism, helpfulness, etc., all of which must be evaluated in conjunction with all other significant traits and related to the whole or the integrated global aspects.

It is the global aspects of rhythm and speed combined which would "tip off" the graphologist to the possibility of violent behavior in a student such as Cho Sueng Hui. A student may be asked to write a paragraph on why he wants to attend the specific school and/or what program he/she wants to pursue. The writing would have to be done in cursive rather than printed but could be done in any language. In assessing rhythm and speed in a violent personality, one would expect to find uneven rhythm or flow of writing caused by variation in speed. The graphologist would see ‘corrugations’ in the writing indicating that the writer is not in control of their behavior.

How scientific and reliable is this technique?

Graphology has been the subject of numerous research studies. In order for any projective technique to be accepted, inter-rater reliability must be proven. In other words, a number of raters, in this case graphologists must agree on their findings. Graphology has an inter-rater reliability of 72%, very high for a projective test. Even objective tests such as those which use multiple-choice self-report questionnaires and are considered to be excellent clinical assessment tools have a reliability rating of about 80%. Validity studies are numerous and have been performed in many fields in which graphology can be of use including mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression & suicide and criminology. However, since reliability caps validity, validity may not be higher than 72% in the field at this time.

An important aspect of choosing graphology as a selection technique is that you cannot fake a handwriting analysis. While many objective tests (multiple-choice, true-false answers) do have validity scales indicating whether the test-taker is faking, even a well-trained graphologist could not fake a handwriting analysis.

How would it be a typical basic graphology test for admission at universities?

A possible method of using graphology in the application process would be ask the student to write a paragraph or more in cursive which has relevance to his/her desire to attend the particular school. The student would be informed that the answer may be used for the purposes of a graphology assessment. It may include a disclaimer by the academic institution that the graphological assessment is only one part of the application process. As the student is answering questions concerning his application, it is implied that the institution is also going to look at the content of the writing sample. Because graphology cannot race, gender, religion, or age of the writer, nor any other disability other than neurological, the assessment method cannot discriminate. However, it may be prudent to follow-up with selection methods to insure there is no occurrence of adverse impact due to using graphology.

Could this be applied by university personnel or only by certified psychologists?

The main concern in using graphology in the United States may be due to the lack of certification of professional graphologists. Psychologists are not trained in this technique. Although all major universities in Europe taught graphology before World War II, it was banned by Hitler in all occupied countries and never again reached the height of respect it was once given by academia.

A number of psychologists, concentrated mostly at Harvard in post World War II, Gordon Allport, among them, did keep graphology “alive” until the 1960 s. After this time, graphology became inundated with individuals using the science for commercial purposes. Having neither education in psychology nor graphology with the exception of reading a book or two on the subject, they tried to benefit financially from graphology.At times they aligned themselves with the occult, making it quite difficult for academia to remain open-minded about assessment tool.

It was not until the 1980 s that the Library of Congress changed graphology from the occult section to individual psychology and personnel selection sections. Since that time, both reliability and validity studies have been completed in the United States, although more research does need to be done.

Being a licensed psychologist myself, I have permission from the Minnesota Board of Psychology to teach professionals in the areas of medicine, social work and psychology in order to help their clients. I believe it would be advisable to train professionals working with students; for instance: student counselors, psychologists, possibly educators. They could then be certified within their professional fields which would hold them responsible for ethical conduct, continuing education, etc. The individual professional Boards would have to construct a basic course and method of evaluation of knowledge obtained, possibly an examination.

Looking towards the future and the broader application of graphology within university settings, I believe it could be used as a means to select students due to their aptitudes, character and personality traits. It could not only be used as a means to screen potential violent individuals, but to find the career aptitudes and personality strengths which would help students to achieve their academic goals.

Because graphology looks at the global aspects of the writing, such as size, space, form, rhythm and speed along with individual graphic “signs” which can be detected in the script of any nation, much of the proposed training mentioned above can readily be expanded outside of the United States.

About our guest:

Jane M. Hollis, M.A., L.P. is Licensed Psychologist and Master Certified Graphoanalyst. She founded Career Development Consultants in 1985. She is based in Saint. Paul, Minnesota. (HollisCDC@aol.com, www.cdccdc.com)