AUTO-GRAPH  

BASIC INFORMATION	

AUTO-GRAPH is a short for "AUTOmated GRAPHology". The program is a simple questionnaire that allows you to analyse most samples of handwriting to give a character profile of the writer.

You do not need any knowledge or experience of graphology to use this program, but you should allow yourself some learning time to become familiar with the concepts of graphology and to gain experience of different handwriting styles and characteristics.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

A QL or  QDOS/SMSQ(-E) compatible computer with memory expansion and disk drives. The program requires about 120K memory. Toolkit 2 should be active and the pointer environment files or SMSQ-E installed.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

AUTO-GRAPH is a Q-LIBERATOR compiled program and was written using the EASYPTR suite. It incorporates a short routine from the DIY Toolkit by Simon N Goodwin.


FIRST ESSENTIALS

Please check the supplied media to see if there is a file called UPDATES_DOC. If present this will contain details of last minute changes to the program. It can be read and printed using the Quill word processor. You should also make a copy of the master disk before proceeding further.


ON THE DISK

The following files are on the AUTO-GRAPH disk:

Boot: Loads and runs AUTO-GRAPH
Autograph_obj: Program
Updates_doc: Updates file if available


BOOTING UP

AUTO-GRAPH can be booted from the disk.

It can also be run via the direct command:

EX flp1_autograph_obj

AUTO-GRAPH is a "stand alone" program and can be installed on and run from any disk drive.


USING A PRINTER

The results of an AUTO-GRAPH analysis can be printed out. As supplied, the program assumes the use of a PARallel port, which is probably now the most commonly used QL printer port. If you do not use "Par", you should modify the configuration block built into the program by using either the QJump CONFIGURE program or MENU_CONFIG from Jochen Merz. 


THE PRACTICE

Usually the second page of a Just Words! manual contains a Quick Start section. Unfortunately the nature of AUTO-GRAPH means that it is impossible to have either a Quick Start section or a demonstration disk. There is no alternative to plunging straight in. It is better to try the program straight away and follow your progress in the manual than to read the entire manual in one go. 

Put a copy of the AUTO-GRAPH disk in flp1_ ; type EX flp1_autograph_obj; and then press ENTER to start running the program.

You now have the opening screen of AUTO-GRAPH, which gives you two choices. For the moment you can forget the HELP option, as this manual will give more detailed information. Before you click on CONTINUE, first some general comments about the program.

AUTO-GRAPH is a lengthy questionnaire divided into 6 sections. On the upper left hand side of each screen, there is a question, and on the right hand side are the permitted answers. With some questions there will be additional help or information on the bottom left of the screen.

Try to answer the questionnaire as fully as possible. You will find some questions tricky, particularly at first, but do not worry too much about giving a wrong answer in your first attempts. Handwriting analysis relies on finding positive indications of a character trait, and requires at least three pointers to that trait in different aspects of the writing. A single wrong answer will rarely seriously distort the final analysis. 

If you are in doubt about the answer to a question, then choose the most neutral option. This will usually be "AVERAGE", "NO", "NEUTRAL" or "NONE". In some questions, particularly if the handwriting is unrythmic, you will have to make a judgement about the predominate style of the writing in order to answer the question. There is a highly subjective element in handwriting analysis, but, as you gain experience of different handwriting styles, you will find it easier to answer some of the more subjective parts of the questionnaire.


STAGE 1 - DOCUMENT DETAILS

The first stage of the questionnaire gathers basic information about the handwriting sample. This is used to determine the parts of the questionnaire that are relevant to the document. It also helps to structure your thinking about answers to some of the questions.

Of course, we first need a handwriting sample. In practice almost any sample, even just a few words, can be analysed, but the smaller the sample, the fewer the tests that can be applied and the greater the chance that it is not representative of the writer's normal handwriting. The ideal sample is an original document, written in either pen or ballpoint, covering at least one full sheet of normal thickness unlined paper and including a full signature and a handwritten addressed envelope.

When you click on "CONTINUE" the first questions concern the materials used to produce the document.

You are then asked about the document's margins. You should use your common sense here. A (photo)copy may or may not show the original margins; a letter may not cover a full page and thus have no bottom margin; and a post card, with its smaller space, may have tighter margins than a letter.

When you are asked about a signature, only answer "yes" if this is the full and normal signature of the writer. (Often people sign personal or informal messages with just part of their name.)

The final two questions ask about an addressed envelope and whether or not the document is on lined paper.


STAGE 2 - GENERAL TESTS

In this stage the analysis proper begins with a number of tests.

If your document has margins, you are first asked about the width of these. 

The next question asks about the slant of the handwriting. If you are doubtful about whether or not the writing has a slant, then place a ruler or piece of paper along the line of writing. If you are still in doubt, then enter UPRIGHT.

A series of questions about ascenders and descenders follow. Handwriting has three zones. These are the upper zone or ascenders, the area covered by the upper strokes of letters like b, d and f. The middle zone is the body of the letter, which is the whole letter of a, c e etc. The lower zone or descenders are the lower strokes of letters like g, p and y. 

Think of a hypothetical piece of balanced handwriting in which each of these zones is one-third of the total height of the writing. In practice writing varies. Some samples have larger ascenders than descenders or vice versa. Some have large middle zones and other small.

If you are in doubt about the relative sizes of the zones in your sample, then try measuring them with a ruler. If the handwriting is unrythmic, you may find inconsistencies in zone size throughout the writing. You should still try to judge the predominant style.

AUTO-GRAPH gives you no escape route to difficulties with ascenders and descenders, but forces you to make a judgement.

The next three questions look at the pressure the writer has used. This is an important, but tricky part, of handwriting analysis, because you have to keep the used materials in mind. The first question looks for light pressure, and asks if the writing is faint and perhaps unreadable. Be careful that this is not because of a poor copy or a ballpoint pen running out of ink. 

The next question looks for heavy pressure, of which there can be several signs. The ink may penetrate the page, but only apply this test to normal thickness paper. You may be able to feel indentations on the reverse of the page, but not if a pencil or felt tip is used or if the writing is on cardboard. You can also look for heavy ink strokes, and in particular differences in thickness between vertical and horizontal strokes, but these are best seen if a pen is used. 

The final question asks about variable pressure, something that is easiest to see when you look at the writing upside down.

Pressure tests are extremely difficult to do when you have a (photo)copy and not the original document. A writer's pressure can also be affected by temporary factors such as illness or stress.

The next questions look at lines and spaces. When you are asked if the lines of writing slope, do not rely on visual observation, which can be misleading. Take a ruler, set square or just another piece of paper to check several lines of text. The next two questions are more subjective and ask about the spacing between lines and between words. These questions will become easier as you gain experience of different handwriting styles.

We now look at the frequency of connections. Although we speak of "joined up" writing, many writers do not join up all the letters in a long word. Thus "satisfactory" may appear as "satis factory" with no join between the s and the f. Some writers do not join any letters at all. Others join all letters and even some words.  

The final question in this section looks at corrections in the writing.


STAGE 3 - DESCRIPTION OF WRITING

This is the most subjective part of the questionnaire and is designed to find the words that best describe the writing. You are given words with opposite meaning in the form

BIG  -  NEUTRAL  -  SMALL

and are asked to choose the best word to describe the writing. 

In answering this section you should choose the word that obviously describes the writing. If you have any doubts, then "neutral" is the correct option. Do not worry if most of your answers are "neutral". Remember, handwriting analysis looks for positive indications of a personality trait in different characteristics of the writing.

Here are one or two hints. When examining whether writing is broad or narrow, look at letters like n or u. Are the uprights larger or smaller than the space between them? When asked if the writing is light or heavy, think of the pressure tests in the previous section. Ornate writing has lots of decorative loops and flourishes, but plain writing is simple. If you have trouble assessing the size of ascenders and descenders, the slope of the writing or the size of loops, then the writing is obviously unrhythmic.


STAGE 4 - SIGNATURE

You will only have to complete this section if your document contains a full signature.
Many people believe a person's signature tells you much about his personality. It is even possible to do a reasonable analysis with no material other than a signature, provided it is a legible signature.

The questions in this section are straightforward and mainly concern the size and underlining of the signature.


STAGE 5 - ENVELOPE

You will only have to complete this section if your document contains a handwritten addressed envelope.

The questions in this section are straightforward and concern the size and position of the address.



STAGE 6 - LETTER FORMATION

This is the final and possibly most difficult section of the questionnaire because it can involve some painstaking work.
In this section we are looking at the shapes and formation of individual letters.

The section starts with the letters "m" and "n". At the bottom of the screen are four different ways of writing an "m". One of these is highlighted by two arrows. In the question you are given a description of the shape and asked if it occurs in the document. Unless your writing sample is very small, you should check that the shape occurs sufficiently to be seen as typical of the writing.

In practice when you have some experience of using AUTO-GRAPH you will look for all the four shapes of "m" straightaway, and decide which one or two form the predominant style before answering all four questions.

The next questions look at the first letters of each word; the last letters of each word; the dots on the letter "i"; the crossings on the letter "t"; the shape of descenders in letters like "y" ; letters with an intersection; and square-shaped letters.


THE ANALYSIS

While you have been answering the questionnaire AUTO-GRAPH has been working very hard, making lots of calculations and looking for evidence in your answers of some 37 different personality characteristics.

AUTO-GRAPH displays its findings over two screens.


SCREEN 1

In the first screen AUTO-GRAPH looks at some opposite characteristics. These are:

Public  v  Private
Forwards  v  Backwards looking
Self confidence  v  Reserve
Submissive  v  Assertive
Realistic  v  Unrealistic
Spontaneous  v  Cautious
Adaptable  v  Inflexible
Practical  v  Imaginative

You should take care in interpreting these results. A person who is assessed as being more assertive than submissive, does not necessarily have an overbearing personality. AUTO-GRAPH could have found little evidence of either quality, but the indications of an assertive personality were still stronger than those of a submissive personality. 

What AUTO-GRAPH does in this section is convert the number of found assertive indications divided by the maximum possible to a score out of ten. It then does the same for the submissive indications. If the assertive score is at least two points higher than the submissive score, then the writer is judged to be more assertive than submissive. 

The writer could have scored 3/10 for assertiveness and 1/10 for submissiveness, in which case he is unlikely to have an overbearing personality. If he has scored 5/10 or more on either the assertive or submissive score then you will see an asterisk to indicate that a strong score has been found for at least one of the qualities. Even this does not necessarily mean the person is overbearing. He could for example have scored 8/10 for assertiveness and 6/10 for submissiveness. The second screen will give a better idea whether or not a person is overbearing.

Remember to take a broad view and be prepared for some surprises. The department head who is a dictator over his own staff, may be as meek as a lamb in the presence of the managing director or even have a dominating wife.

Where the difference between the assertive and submissive score is less than two points we can speak of a balance between the two qualities. However this balance could be between two low scores or between two high scores. In the latter case this is likely to be a source of tension in that person's personality. 

You will quite often find tension between self confidence and reserve, realism and unrealism, adaptability and inflexibility and practical and imaginative.


SCREEN 2

The second analysis screen gives more specific characteristics of the writer. AUTO-GRAPH looks for some 37 different personality traits. For each of these it first looks to see if there is evidence of that characteristic in at least 3 places in the handwriting. If so, it converts the number of places that the trait is found divided by the maximum possible into a score out of 10.

The list of traits found is then sorted by score, and those traits that have a score higher than 4 are printed. If the score for a character trait is higher than 7 then an asterisk is printed alongside to indicate it is a significant trait.

In other words, when you see the list of personality traits, the strongest characteristic appears first and the weakest last. 

The number of traits found can vary considerably from one handwriting sample to another. You may even get the occasional sample where there are none found. This will most likely occur when the handwriting sample is small.

You can make a print out of the analysis, and this is advisable if you are making serious use of the program. As supplied AUTO-GRAPH assumes that you are using a parallel interface. If your printer port is other than PAR, you should amend the configuration block built into the program.

Please be sensible in interpreting the results. The purpose of handwriting analysis is not to prove that your boss is a secret alcohol and drugs abuser who beats his wife and is a potential rapist and murderer. In practice, if you analyse the handwriting of a person you know well, you probably will learn no more about them than you already know. It is best to look at the results dispassionately and unemotionally and not make moral judgements about a person's character.


THE THEORY

Graphology is controversial, but many people take it seriously, including companies who use it to assess job applicants. AUTO-GRAPH was written from an agnostic point of view. It is designed to structure the process of handwriting analysis to enable the user to judge for himself how serious it should be taken. It is no more than an introduction to graphology and the professional graphologist will provide much more detailed and qualified reports than AUTO-GRAPH does.

What is the theory behind graphology? The basic premise is that we learn to write at school and, within certain boundaries, are taught to write in the same way. As adults our handwriting has changed from what we were taught at school, and how it has changed says something about our personalities. There are adults who retain much of the "copy book" style in their handwriting. Some writers produce ornate scripts that are more complicated and take longer to write than copy book style. Most of us do the opposite and use a style that is quicker to write than copy book. Some can do this and still produce legible writing and others not. It is likely that these differences are reflected in our personalities. 

A good example is the letter "m". In its copy book form it has smooth rounded tops. However when a person writes an "m" quickly they start forming the curved top part way up the first upright, and then have to make a sudden downward stroke. In this way the top is no longer a smooth curve, but has a more jagged appearance. In an extreme case the curve is started at the bottom of the first downward stroke making the letter more like a "w". If the letter "m" is written very quickly, it becomes a snake-like squiggle.

People who write a copy book "m" write more slowly and more neatly than other writers. Could they be more conventional and formal than other people? Are they, in a sense, "holding back" and wanting to retain their privacy? Could they be artistic and want their writing to be aesthetically pleasing? 

People who write with a jagged "m" are writing more quickly. Does this mean they are anxious to "get on with the job", perhaps a little impatient? Do they enjoy organising? Does the jagged top indicate a somewhat prickly personality?

As the "m" becomes more and more like a "w" it loses some of its jaggedness and again becomes smooth. Does this indicate a softer personality? Are they looking for an easy way of life? Does this mean they are flexible and adaptable?

Finally the "m" becomes a squiggle. Has adaptability now gone too far and become changeability? Is it possible that their writing has become a thread because they do not want to commit themselves? An illegible, unclear message gives more room for manoeuvre in personal relationships.

We often speak of people having "ups" and "downs", but how far is this reflected in their handwriting? People whose lines of writing slope upwards are supposedly excitable and enthusiastic, while those whose handwriting slopes downwards are depressed and pessimistic. A variable slope belongs to a person who is unreliable and indecisive, whereas a person whose handwriting does not slope is well balanced and straightforward. Is this perhaps a little too obvious and fanciful? Does it make graphology more a pseudo-science than a true science?

Whatever the scientific basis for graphology, it has to be conceded that is has a strong subjective element.  The letter "m" may have 4 basic shapes, but most writers do not use one of these to the exclusion of the other three. The graphologist is constantly making intuitive judgements about which is the predominant shape and which of the others are present in sufficient number to indicate a facet of the writer's personality.

AUTO-GRAPH does not give any explanations of why each question is asked. To do so would have added to the complexity of the program and reduced the objectivity of the analysis. This is particularly so if you study the handwriting of a person you know well. If you want to learn more about the technical side of graphology, then you should study a book about the subject. AUTO-GRAPH gives a more superficial analysis than that of a professional graphologist. It does, however, provide you with a good start in looking at and studying handwriting and enables you to form your own opinions about the validity and worth of graphology.



FINAL WORDS

AUTO-GRAPH is an unusual program, and I hope you have found it an interesting addition to your software collection. Every software author needs feedback. If you have praise, criticism, can suggest an improvement, discover a bug or mistake please let me know.

Also, all suggestions for new programs are welcome.

As I have written many times before, the QL market is small, but small is beautiful. And small means the sensible QL trader will have an ear for your problems and ideas.

Geoff Wicks 
5b Wordsworth Avenue, Sinfin, Derby, DE24 9HQ.
Tel: 01332 - 271366
gwicks@beeb.net




