I had to read a case recently for my Ethics class about Handwriting Analysis in the work place. More and more organizations are doing these handwriting analyses on potential employees (companies like Ford, GM, and H&R Block).
Graphologist analyze a sample of writing and from that they can tell certain personality traits about the person. Some of the examples the book gave were... the height of the signiture. "People with signitures above 1/4" in height are creative and motivated by prestige (making good sales people). People with small handwriting are good listeners and not persuaders. And people with medium handwriting are good team players." Some of the other stuff they look at include pen pressure (hard meaning you are aggressive and vice versa), inconsistant legibility, slant of the letters, margins, etc. These people charge between $150 and $500 for these reports.
The Wall Street Journal sent out a writing sample to several different firms. The results they got were varied and some even contridicted each other. It does not seem that these tests are going to be very accurate. What do you think? Do you think it could be an invasion of privacy? Should employers be using this as a means of deciding whether to hire someone?
Handwriting analysis is as accurate as your daily horoscopes.
No...I don't think employers should use stupid stuff like that to decide if they're going to hire the person. I think that's interesting though; I wonder what they'd say about me based on my handwriting.
I think the entire thing is fascinating. Though it is a good point that they're just like a horoscope, isn't it intruiging that they have an entire career devoted to it? I wouldn't hire/not hire someone based solely on their signature, but it will be interesting to see how many people become graphologists.
It's an interesting idea, however most handwriting analysis books/websites say that analyzing a signature only will not give you accurate results.
If you are interested in it you can do a self-test for shits and giggles at websites like http://handwritingwizard.com/
Yeah, I think they were mostly talking about analyzing samples in the article I read. But thats interesting... I didn't know there were websites about it out there.
Employers, esp. corporations, are desperate to find a way to pigeonhole and quantify personalities. They use personality tests and all sorts of other shit that is insulting, inaccurate and, to my mind, rather unethical. Anything they can do to standardise people into very specific categories is done. Handwriting analysis, like you found, is really a load of crap. The findings are contrafictory and inaccurate.
Btw I have the handwriting of a violent female sociopath.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Memento mori, mahalo.
I agree employers always want to find new ways to categorize people; mostly because they know that a lot of things effect how well a person will do at a job. Even if you don't believe that they can accurately tell you about a person, personality tests and the like do have some important benefits. For example, questions about morals and ethics are frequently included in the tests. From this the employer can tell if you realize that there are ethical issues with taking things from your employer, or making shady deals. If someone understands that there are ethical issues involved it makes them less likely to do something that the company frowns upon.
Also, handwriting analysis and personality tests are generally vague and tend to stick to strengths. After all... You could always get a sex change and become a violent female sociopath.
I would say that the companies are wasting their time and money on such analysis. If they want to know about the personalities of their potential workers, why not just use a more conventional method, such as psychiatry? At least psychology has a scientific basis to it. To me, handwriting analysis is just bogus.