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OBJECTIVE
The following elements enhances graphology's
objectivity as a personality test:
- Subject is not aware of being
tested
- Independent of subject's background
and physical appearance
- Independent of personal disclosures,
unobtrusive
- Repeatability of the written
specimen
- The act of writing maintains
a "newness" each and every time
- Independent of where the test
was taken or specimen written. The assumption is made that the
specimen was generated in a non-moving comfortable sitting position.
- Impossible to forge and significantly
alter test without detection
- Cannot significantly distort
writing or know how to maintain a false impression
- Quantitative measurements for
the graphic stroke-structure operational definition
- Operational definitions repeatable
and reliable
- Absence of test giver and his
influence
- Absence of testing clues as
to what answers are desired
- Separation of test administration
and operational definition measurements
- Separation of operational definition
measurements and personality evaluation
- Separation of personality evaluation
from subject's influence
- Descriptive analysis that does
not require knowledge to past root causes or to personality models
for evaluation
- Test validity- can predict behavior
with its or any personality test inherent limitations
- View the macrocosmic personality
from the individual microcosmic characteristic traits
- View the whole personality from
individual crystallized gestures
- Meets all the conditions for
a projective personality test
PRACTICAL
Graphology is a practical and an economical
personality test for the following reasons:
- Minimum effort and only a few
minutes for a subject to prepare a written specimen
- The visual writing is a clearly
identifiable form of an expressive movement and probably the
most accessible
- Simple test conditions and tools
that only require a comfortable sitting position, table top,
writer's choice of pen or writing instrument, and unlined paper
- Universal test that can be used
with respect to special needs or situations such as vocational
placement, compatibility assessment, forensic identification,
and comprehensive personality description
- Adaptable to experimental studies
and is especially useful for measuring the affects of before,
during, and after administrating controlled conditions such as
drugs or hypnosis
- No training required by tester
- Little training and minimum
direction required by the subject, other than knowing how to
write and how to generate a written specimen. Normally by the
age of ten, a child has mastered the ability to write and is
familiar with an alphabet model
- Simplified personality assessment
test in terms of time, means, location, availability, training,
education, cross disciplines, and background information
- The written specimen is a permanent
record
- The written specimen is a simplified
record of expressive movements compared to most gestures. For
example to permanently capture a speech, voice, hand, or facial
gesture requires a movie camera and is time consuming to examine
- Test data and analyzed results
are conveniently stored, cataloged, and copied either electronically
or with paper
- Easy to obtain previous history
from past specimens for current assessment e.g.- the onset of
the affects of an illness, disease, drugs, age, fatigue, traumatic
experience, and situation anxiety. Personality changes of historical
figures can be observed.
- No direct contact required for
testee, tester, and examiner
- Longitudinal studies can be
performed retroactively
- Can utilize only operational
definitions. Can easily establish group norms from the graphic
stroke-structure measurements
- The testing situation is not
limited in duration such as during an interview or attending
an exam. A specimen can be collected at any convenient time.
- The same unaltered raw data
test specimen or test results can be analyzed by team of experts
- Analyzed and re-analyzed at
any time
- If test is questioned during
execution (e.g.- an external disturbance or interruption), it
is easy to repeat test without loss of information
- Can perform follow-up studies
using same test method
- Adaptable to standard statistical
analysis and computer utilization
- A protractor-ruler and a 20X
magnifier are the suggested examiner's tools. A high resolution
scanner and an electronic writing pad or tablet with a 0.2 mm
resolution, one gram pressure sensitivity, and a 100 Hz sample
speed can be helpful for special evaluations.
- Efficient method of an objective
self-evaluation for self-improvement. No one else needs to be
involved. Can analyze self in stages. The intimate knowledge
of others is dangerous, but can lead to understanding and then
acceptance and/or adjustment.
- A simple method to change personality
by practicing graphic formations to modify their associated behavioral
traits.
- Flexible for comparison to other
psychological tests
- Adaptable to different personality
models
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