Handwriting Comparisons of John & Patsy Ramsey with Ransom Note Author

Thanks, WY, for posting links to some of the studies available regarding the scientific basis for graphology.

There is further research being added to an already impressive array of clinical experiments in this field. The ability to "watch" the brain at work through MRIs, and other scanning equipment, is advancing our knowledge of the link between the neural impulses of the brain and tactile tasks such as handwriting. Much of this work has been in association with research into the rehabilitation of stroke victims.

It's interesting, isn't it WY, that when a person doesn't fully understand something, or has no experience and knowledge of the subject, they will often dismiss it as "a lot of hooey" based on nothing but their opinion?

That's what many people said to Copernicus when he said the earth revolved around the sun. They scoffed, and said he couldn't prove it scientifically, so it couldn't be true. It wasn't until many years later that man developed tools that were able to confirm the reality of Copernicus' theory.

Even now, technology is advancing and giving us scientific data on the science of handwriting analysis. Someday, what was once dismissed as "hooey" will be not only accepted knowledge, but will help promote an understanding of the psychology of the brain.


Cherokee
Resident Hooeyologist

 

Cherokee

I can see, thanks to WY, that Graphology is definitely a science, that serious research in that field has taken place and I agree that it's very interesting and promising. What I'm still waiting for, however, are references to the scientific breakthrough in this field that has made it possible for graphologists to claim that they absolutely positively can tell, from things like slant, pressure, openness, clarity, etc., whether or not a person is rigid, flexible, domineering, narcissistic, etc. I've seen references to scientific research on graphology but NOT references to specific research of the sort that confirms the power of graphologists to make that sort of claim.

By the way, Sheila Lowe has gone on record saying that John's exemplars resemble the ransom note more than Patsy's.

 

Doc, I don't think it's hooey at all. There is nothing in life that is certain, except that we are born, pay taxes, and die, and there are even exceptions to that - some never pay taxes.

It just makes sense to me that open, expressive personalities have handwriting that is open and expressive, while tight, rigid personalities and people with personality defects, such as the ones you mention have handwriting that reflects those defects. I've never ran any tests, but I can tell you I have seen it over and over again, maybe because the correlation between handwriting and emotional stability has always interested me.

I have no expertise in handwriting analysis, to be sure, but since I was a teenager, I've truly been fascinated by handwriting. I have four sisters, one of whom passed away when she was 38. All of my sisters, except one, have flowing and expressive handwriting. I could never figure out how my one sister (the one who died) could have handwriting so much smaller than mine; yet we basically wrote alike, and our personalities and outlook on life were basically the same.

The sister who did not have similar handwriting was born with physical deformities, including fingers that were webbed together on her right hand and fingers that ended in knobs on her left hand. The left side of her chest was caved in, one leg was somewhat shorter than the other. She had to have several painful operations before she was five years old to separate her fingers. In those days, there wasn't much they could do about the knobs on her left hand.

Even though she was dearly loved and supported at home, as we all were, by very loving parents and each other, when she went to school there was the inevitable teasing by the other kids because of her scarred up hands. She turned out to be left-handed, which meant she wrote with her knobs. Her thumb was okay. Her writing has always been quite legible and normal compared to others', but where we other four girls had handwriting slanting to the right, her handwriting slants very much to the left, and I've always thought it reflected her pain and her emotional state. To this day she remains very sensitive to her hands, which is something I didn't even notice while we were growing up. None of us did. She was never as boisterous or outgoing as the rest of us, but I thought that was just the way she was. I never knew the emotional pain she was going through, but I know now it was showing, and still shows in her handwriting.

Since those days, I've paid attention to handwriting. As I said, there is nothing scientific about it, but I've learned you can tell a lot about a person by his/her handwriting. I see it right here in the office where I deal with professors and students all the time. I don't look at individual letters or the way someone crosses their t's or dots their i's. I look at the size of the writing, the slant, the general look - it's like a hobby, and it can get pretty personal, especially when I see tiny writing that carries tons of secrets or beautiful, flowing script slanted to the right.

Occasionally, there are contradictions and I am forced to acknowledge there is more to a person than he's allowing his handwriting to show. We had an art professor here who had the most beautiful handwriting - full of flourishes, slanted to the right, quite large. Through personal interaction and the rumor mill, I believed he was basically an arsehole. I was forced to rethink my position, though, and look deeper. He had the soul of an artist, but he had some bad habits. His habits, though irritating to some, weren't as ingrained in his personality - I suspect that's why they didn't show up in his handwriting.

I know my handwriting reflects my personality - open, slanted to the right, nothing to hide.

But, as I said, there are always exceptions to the rule, and the same is probably true with handwriting.

 

Ah, WY, I see you are a budding graphologist yourself. It is the interest you speak of that leads to wanting more knowledge of the phenomenon. Anyone interested in the specifics of psychology, for example - the correlation between handwriting and emotional stability that you mentioned - can see there is a link between our inward impulses and our outward actions.

This link is becoming an important area of research. In the West, we have mistakenly treated "the head" and "the body" as separate, whereas in Eastern Traditions, they have known for a long time they are one. Finally, Western medical thought is realizing the need for a "holistic" approach to healing ... that the whole person must be treated, not just a specific symptom, or area of the body.

As for that link in graphology, there have been scientific studies done on the correlation between certain strokes, and certain personality traits. That is how we know what we know about graphology. In the past, many of these studies were done in Europe. Anyone with an Internet connection can research this for themselves.

Of course, without seeing your sister's handwriting, it is difficult to make a complete analysis, but from what you have said, the smallness of her handwriting possibly relates to the "smallness" of her ego and/or self-esteem. Some people who have great attention to detail write with a small script, but generally, writing takes up space on a line, and on a page, in relation to the way we feel we have the right to take up space in this life.

You are quite right, WY. Her left slant is a pulling away from people, as it were, and indicates an inner retreat into self where your sister felt "safe." In her experience, interaction with people could mean them noticing, and then ridiculing, her deformities. There are many reasons people begin writing with a left slant (as we are all taught to write with a right slant), but whatever the reason, it is a pulling away. It takes more control to write with a left slant, and people who do so have more control over their emotional responses to people. In general, they are not as trusting of others with their true self, which they feel may need protection.

You are right that sometimes a person may try to present a certain image through their handwriting, but eventually, there WILL be a tell-tale signs of their personality that come through. When you say the professor had handwriting that was "quite large" ... it could be an indication of an over-inflated ego ... especially if his uppercase letters were large and slightly overblown. (I saw this in the handwriting of my late father-in-law, and it was a major component of his personality.) It could be something about the professor's ego that made him act like an "arsehole."

Handwriting DOES reflect personality. I know this is true because of all the handwriting I have personally analyzed. The proof is in the pudding, and I can tell you that I have told people things about themselves that shocked them for me to know. I was able to tell people who were strangers to me details about their family life, their relationship to their parents, and other personal information. It is not fortune-telling or hooey. It's merely analyzing handwriting for the sub-conscious revelation of personality.

In fact, a person who reads on this board has had me analyze the handwriting of at least 20 of their friends and family whom I have never met. They can attest to the fact I have not been wrong yet about any aspect of their personalities. One person even cried when they heard parts of my analysis, and said they had just sought counseling for something I mentioned that had hurt, and influenced them, but they had never told anyone else.

I am not saying I am infallible. There is always more to learn. But I have analyzed handwriting for a long time, and I have become convinced of its merits. I can only testify to what I know. Others are free to be skeptical, and even derisive, but it does not change my experience, nor the experience of others, like yourself, who know first-hand of the veracity of handwriting analysis.

 

My sister who passed wasn't lacking in self-esteem, Cherokee. She was very confident and very open. Her writing was smaller than mine, but not tiny. She was an artist, and everything she did had symmetry to it - everything was done in scale.

Although I feel my handicapped sister's left-slant reflects the pain in her life from her handicap, I admit that some of her writing style may be attributed to the state of her fingers. I've noticed some left-handers do write with a back-hand slant. She has to write with her arm and hand bent almost in a circle because of her hand deformities. She is a loving and gentle person, and I think that also shows in her handwriting. Though her slant is to the left, her letters are well-formed and neat, which, to me, shows attention to detail and pride in her work.

 

Cherokee and WY

I did some research and found the following web site on graphology and its claims:

http://www.ntskeptics.org/FACTSHTS/graphol.htm

This is pretty extensive and thorough, with many references cited.

Here's a quote:
"Unfortunately for the graphologists, scientific research has found no clear correlation between handwriting behavior and basic personality patterns. Although some psychologists believe that the subject is worth further study, the existing research is almost uniformly inconclusive or negative.

The article by Bowman discusses the difficulties psychologists have in attempting to measure personality and predict behavior, and contrasts this with the glib claims of graphologists to do the same thing. (Bowman 1992)."

Another:

"For example, one study examined the ability of graphologists to predict sales success, in the sense that graphologists' evaluations would concur with supervisor's ratings. The researchers found no evidence of validity (Rafaeli and Klimoski 1983). In a later survey of research on handwriting analysis for personnel selection, Klimoski discusses the standards for evaluating personnel selection methods, and concludes the "credible, empirical evidence" does not support the claims of graphology as applied to personnel selection. (Klimoski 1992). A study for the Netherlands Society of Industrial Psychology considered 2250 judgments by graphologists and 6000 by a control group. The Dutch researchers found that graphological judgments, for large numbers, were slightly more often correct than incorrect, but they concluded that for judging the individual, "...graphology is a diagnostic method of highly questionable and in all probability minimal, practical value." (Jansen 1973)."

Finally:

"In summary, then, it seems that graphology as currently practiced is a typical pseudoscience and has no place in character assessment or employment practice. There is no good scientific evidence to justify its use, and the graphologists do not seem about to come up with any."

I agree with WY to the extent that graphology might well have some potential in relating handwriting style to personality and there do seem to be some excellent reasons for making that assumption. But at this point in time the scientific evidence is simply not there. Possibly the correct approach has not yet been found.

 

I'm sorry, WY, I misunderstood. I thought your sister's handwriting was very small in comparison to yours, but now I know it wasn't ... it was just smaller than YOURS. Even so, size does have something to do with how expansive we feel on the inside. However, a person does not have to have large handwriting to have a good self-image, or be confident. In fact, handwriting that is TOO large is an indicator of other problems. The handwriting must be taken as a whole, and the key is balance. It sounds like your sister had that in her handwriting, and in life. I'm very sorry for your loss.

I agree, and I think it says a lot about your sister that she writes so well in spite of her life-long physical problems.

 

Cherokee,

I ended up marrying my husband, a Civil Engineer because I was the only one who could read his reports when they came in. His writing was so tiny. At least I thought it was until I saw the writing of his 6'2" brother. Looks like a spider crawled across the paper with muddy boots.
My husband was in an executive position before he retired, so his tiny writing didn't hold him back there. :winko:

WY I am more than sorry for the loss of your lovely sister.

 

Ah, Elle, I know what you mean as I'm also married to an engineer. As I said in an earlier post, "Some people who have great attention to detail write with a small script ..." And most engineers I know are very detail-oriented. It goes with the territory.

It's like I've said many times ... that's why a person can't take a handwriting trait out of context. It may mean one thing when verified by another trait, or mean something else depending on the mix of traits. It's like they are finding out a combination of genes may predispose someone to a certain disease, but just having ONE of the genes doesn't.

One of the common mistakes beginning graphologist make, or people who just like to dabble in it for a bit, is to try to make each stroke or trait mean something by itself. It's akin to holding up one puzzle piece with red and blue colors on it, and announcing the finished puzzle will be of the American flag. You don't know that. It might be the Union Jack. Or the Australian Southern Cross. Or it might not be a flag at all ... it might be a red, white and blue Harley motorcycle. You have to have all of the puzzle pieces to see the whole picture ... and that's exactly what a person needs for competent handwriting analysis.

 

I won't be dabbling in graphology, Cherokee, I will leave this for you and the other young experts around here, but I do enjoy reading what you all have to say. I find it interesting and if I learn something about it, I'm happy, so thank you for your very interesting post.

I especially liked your "colourful/colorful " explanation. I'll throw in the American sp to keep you happy.

 

Oh Elle, you know what an Anglophile I am. You don't have to "throw in" the American spelling for anything to keep me happy. Different spellings remind me of the international flavor of this forum, and having Brit/Aussie friends, I see them all the time anyway. Those extra "u"s just remind me of a smile.

 

That's a nice way of putting it, Cherokee. You have a way with words! Looking forward to corresponding! :laughup:

 

I love this thread.

 

Me too, WY. It takes a long time to go through it all again.

Edited to move discussion of Cherokee's analysis to the proper thread.

 

I think it was LE (Boulder Detective, maybe (?)) who stated Creative people in the Arts were the most difficult people to check out when it came to handwriting, because they were always changing theirs. This is true. Like Patsy, I painted, and also took Calligraphy lessons, which really makes it very easy to change your style of handwriting , so I think Patsy falls into this slot, that she could easily change her handwriting at the drop of a hat. Patsy was a creative arty type person.