Graphology

[kk107]

Is graphology a branch of psychology or a field in its own? I was just doing it as part of my degree course and the question just popped into my head; and i cant come up with a conclusive answer either way.
Anyone know if it is or not?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

It's not a recognized branch of psychology. Indeed, I have no doubt that many psychologists would doubt the legitimacy of the practice.

 

[kk107]

yeah, well isn't that what they said about psychology when it was in its infancy? i wasn't exactly starstruck by the idea at first, but its theories and conclusions are really quite accurate when you get a profile of a person from (in my case, thanks to my course) court and crime case profiles and then compare them to a textbook handwriting analysis. i'm still not convinced its without its loopholes and grey areas but only as much as i'm not convinced psychology isn't without them either.
the jury's still out on this one for me, and their use of the scientific method and links with freudian psychology and behaviouralist perspectives are hard to ignore; but then, as you say, its rarely accepted my experts so thats got to mean something.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I haven't "written off" graphology, if you'll pardon the pun, but as you say they need to do some empirical validation if it's to gain any real acceptance.

 

[kk107]

its a vicious circle - its not going to be accepted without the empirical validation and its not gonna get empirical validation unless it gains a higher level of acceptance. any experts reading this who want to create a few experiments and such to validate it, its gladdly accepted