Fingerprints and Intelligence

[Charles Parker]

The following is taken from the Finger Print and Identification Magazine, Vol. 52, No. 12, June 1971, p. 16. Highlights made by C. Parker.

[Last August we reported that Dr. Glasow, Professor of Education, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Ill., was planning to make a study involving finger print patterns which he hoped would “be of some psychological and sociological significance.” He has completed his study and has written a paper on it which he titled “A Study of the Relationship between Selected Intelligence Quotients and Their Corresponding Friction Ridge Patterns in Fingerprints.” Because it is so long, involved and technical, we are unable to publish it in these columns, so Dr. Glasow has most kindly boiled it down into brief summaries, the first of which is presented here. Editor.]

“Is there any relationship between intellectual level and friction ridge patterns in fingerprints? According to the results of this study, which was conducted under the auspices of the Iowa Department of Social Services, there definitely is.

Finger print classifications were examined in the aggregate and separated into arches, loops, and whorls. The patterns were then grouped both numerically and from a percentage standpoint within the various I.Q. ranges which they represented.

In the lower intelligence quotient ranges (70-89), arches were found most in conjunction with loops; in the upper I.Q. ranges (110-129), loops were found more often in conjunction with whorls.

Both normal (90-109) and above normal (110-129) intellectual ranges were found to have statistically significant amounts of whorl patterns as compared to below normal (70-89) intellectual ranges.

Below normal intellectual ranges had statistically significant amounts of loops as compared to normal and show normal intellectual ranges.

However, it must be stressed that no conclusions about the relationship of any one individual’s finger prints to his own intellectual level can be drawn. In this study only total finger prints were compared to their respective intellectual classifications.

WHAT RESULTS MAY MEAN
Nevertheless, the evidence gathered in this study can lead to quite an interesting hypothesis. It is well know that the arch pattern underlies all finger prints. Arches, particularly tented arches, begin to merge with loops, and loops in turn merge with whorls—for example in the central pocket loop and double loop patterns. Now, the results of this study seem to indicate that the lower I.Q. groupings tend to combine arches with loops and, as the I.Q. level increases; more whorls appear in conjunction with the loops.

Can it be concluded, then that the whorl pattern corresponds to a more complex intellectual level, especially when found either alone or in conjunction with loops? The logical projection would seem to point in this direction. But more research is indicated before such a hypothesis could be said to be verified.”

1). This article is interesting in that it starts off with a definite. Then in the 5th paragraph you have the disclaimer. The sixth paragraph then counters the disclaimer with Nevertheless. The last paragraph uses the logic word and that if you do not accept the studies then you are not logical. Of course the last sentence is the disclaimer again.

2). I wonder if Dr. Glasow looked at any finger prints of the great apes. It would seem from this study that I have a good chance of having a lower intelligence than the great apes (certainly possible).

3). I personally would not even favor this concept with the word hypothesis. It is closer to being just a thought or an idea. An idea that was not very well thought out.

The point I wanted to bring out is that in any purported scientific study, always look closely at how it was constructed; the information behind it; the citations that are used and lastly look at it with a very critical eye. If it is a good study it will survive the analysis. Hopefully the bad ones will not. As with any human endeavor there are good scientific studies and there are bad ones.

Just because somethng is proffered as scientific does not always mean that it is.

[David L. Grieve]

I recall reading this article when it was first published. At the time, a few other "learned" presentations attempted to establish a direct relationship between certain formation in friction ridge skin and intelligence. Once I was discussing this subject with Bob Olsen, who chuckled at the mention. Bob had an article which clearly established a correlation between intelligence and creases in the palm, with particular reference to what was called a "simian crease,"a proximal transverse crease that went from one side of the palm to the other. The article stated categorically that such a pronounced crease was indication of very low intelligence. Bob held up his hand to reveal his palm that bore the mother of all simian creases. The author of that addition to "science" hadn't even bothered with a disclaimer. Over the course of my career, I have read how fingerprints can reveal anti-social behavior, inherited diseases and whether one's right foot was longer than the left or vice versa. And it always warms my heart that the good people of Canada funded through their tax dollars the "scientific" research that sexual preference was revealed in the palm. Imagine my dismay when I discovered I was in the wrong group. Bad science dressed up with lipstick and a wig is still bad science.

[Ann Horsman]

Well, dang, this study classifies me to the bowels of proletarian society since I am running about 50/50 with loops and arches.

This guy, however, is up in the genius class with all of his whorls! Yes, his fingers are all whorls. I have some better photos somewhere....

[David Fairhurst]

All sort of alarm bells ring when I read these studies.
I wonder about the cultural neutrality of the study. What with some populations having different pattern distributions, could some people be disadvantaged in the test simply because they don't have the cultural education required for the test to give accurate results. What if such a population had a higher instance of arches?

Dave, the single transverse crease is present in people with trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome) which also caused severe mental impairment.
Now there's an obvious explanation for the correllation. I wonder of the authors of that study had a few people with mild mosaic trisomy 21 which skewed the results.

[David L. Grieve]

David, from what I can recall about the study, I believe you are absolutely right. My wife and I once provided respite care for the parents of a girl afflicted with Downes, to include severe retardation. She had been born in Germany, and for some reason, we also got copies of medical records going back to her birth. Included in the various diagnoses was a report dealing with a study of her palm prints. The report read that the anomolies in the palm noted merely corroborated the observations of delayed development and was not used as a primary means of diagnosis.

The Canadian study, if I remember correctly, used the number of ridge between triradii in the interdigital area of the palm. They found a lower number in those with same sex orientation as opposed to heterosexuals. But the overlap of ridge counts essentially made the study meaningless. And, of course, they could only go be the avowed sexual orientation of the test subject, which may or may not have been truthful.

Ann's illustration makes Planet of the Apes not so far fetched after all.

[Thomas Taylor]

After fingerprinting a number of criminals during my career, both felons and petty criminals, I cannot help but observe that they all have fingerprints. Therefor, I assume all people with fingerprints are criminals (to one degree or another). So far, I have found no exceptions. Would anyone like to argue that fact?

But I do remember the study Mr. Grieve mentioned on sexual orientation. If I recall, did it not draw the conclusion that homosexual males, as a group, have higher ridge counts from core to delta (both loops and whorls) than heterosexual males? It seems there was a statistically significant difference. No conclusion could be attached to one individual's ridge counts, but the significance of that difference in the whole group seemed to imply that perhaps homosexuality has a biological basis in fetal development concurrent with ridge formation. Isn't that the whole foundation of dermatoglyphics? From the predominance of arches and simian creases in people with Downes Syndrome, to the studies Dr. William Babler conducted trying to relate birth defects to fingerprint patterns, to the ethnicity studies that disclosed slightly difference frequencies of patterns in racial groups, to several studies of pattern types among women with breast cancer and those without, there does seem to be differences in groups of people. But that does not mean a latent fingerprint with an arch pattern was left by a burglar with Downes Syndrome, nor does it mean a woman with all whorls will develop breast cancer.

I believe dermatoglyphics is good science, but it is a misapplication to apply general group observations to specific individuals.

[Steve Everist]

In this article, from 2004, a 13-year old studied the link between Alzheimer's and fingerprint patterns. I haven't found if his findings were published:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/200 ... -alz_x.htm