DMIT vs.

Conventional Career Counselling

About DMIT:

Dermatoglyphics refers to the branch of science which constitutes the study of the patterns
i.e. prints of skin (dermal ridges) on the fingers, toes and the soles of human beings.
Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence test is a biometric assessment of the individual’s
finger prints to map his/her brain functioning.

Conventional Career Counselling, on the other hand takes aid of standardised Psychometric
Tests in order to identify an individual’s intelligence, interests, aptitude and personality.
These factors are then carefully analysed and a summary of most suitable careers is drawn for
the individual, keeping in mind his/her identified attributes.

To briefly discuss the history of DMIT: in 1926, Harold Cummins proposed the term
“Dermatoglyphics” for the study of fingerprints at the American Morphological Society.
After this, Noel Jaquin researched and proposed that each fingerprint pattern corresponds to a
specific type of personality, in the year 1958. Subsequently, in the year 1981, Professor
Roger W. Sperry and his co-researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Biomedicine for
their research work on the left and right brain functions as well as the dual-brain theory.
Finally, in 2008 Prof. Lin Ruei procured U.S. Patent for Dermatoglyphics.

Dermatoglyphic Multiple Intelligence Test [DMIT] came into being when the idea of
Dermatoglyphics was combined with the theory of Multiple Intelligence. Multiple
Intelligences was theorised by developmental psychologist Howard Gardner in the year 1983
in his book 'Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences'.

Gardner’s theory opposes the idea of one dominant factor of intelligence. He states that there
can be several different types of intelligences, i.e. linguistic, musical, kinaesthetic etc. The
idea is to not generalise intelligence as one factor and put a numerical value to it, but to
identify the areas towards which the individual has inclination in terms of potential and
interest. For example, a child with low IQ score as determined by convention methods could
have an exceptional musical ability, a feature often observed in William’s syndrome, that
would be his specific intelligence.

Career Counselling process, as mentioned earlier, tests an individual on three different

parameters. Intelligence: which informs about the overall cognitive capacity of an individual
to understand instructions and adapt to the environment. Aptitude: this helps identify the
specific area in which an individual has potential. Interest: this is an objective and systematic
method of concluding which field will be most suitable for the individual, given the activities
that interest him. Personality: different jobs require a different personality type. For example,
it would be very difficult for a shy and introvert person to be a party conductor. Thus
knowing one’s personality traits and determining the career path ensures that one enjoys their
work in a stress free manner.

DMIT is, hence, a so called ‘psychometric’ tool to assess the specific intelligence and innate
aptitude of an individual. Proponents of DMIT advocate it to be a better alternative to
Conventional Career Counselling.

By the time a foetus is six months old and approximately 12 inches in size, his/her
fingerprints and footprints are fully developed. Once formed fingerprints are static and do not
change with age—so an individual will have the same fingerprints throughout life. This is
pointed out as an advantage of the DMIT technique, as the results are a pure measure of
innate abilities, not tampered by environmental conditions. However, Environmental factors
definitely play a role in finger print formation, such as the foetus's exact location in the womb
as well as the density of the mother's amniotic fluid. Conventional Career Counselling, on the
contrary, does not claim to measure innate factors exclusively, rather it takes into account
both genetic and environmental factors.

One of the main pros of DMIT that is often emphasised is that the test cannot be forged or get
confounded by social desirability as it is not possible for the client to influence the input. This
is the primary advantage that DMIT claims to have over Conventional Career Counselling.
However, most of the psychometric tests used in the process of Conventional Career
Counselling have an in-built lie scale or some sort of correction for social desirability.
Therefore, this argument is not entirely one-sided.

Criticism of DMIT:

To begin with, DMIT is adherent to the premise that intelligence, interests and behaviour
patterns are innate i.e. physiological/genetic and have no influence from environmental
factors, whatsoever. In the nature v nurture conflict it lies entirely on nature end of the
continuum. This could potentially be the biggest drawback of the concept, since cumulative
research has notably suggested that it is a confluence of the two. Genes make a substantial
difference in intelligence, but they are not the sole determining factor. They account for about
half of all differences in intelligence among people; the other half comes from environmental
factors.

Genetic determination of intelligence also implies that one’s aptitude, interest and behaviour
patterns are fixed and have no scope of change through lifetime; this again could not be
further from the observed truth. An individual could be weak in, let’s say numerical ability, in
their school years but develop impressive numerical ability in adulthood. One’s aptitude
increases and enhances with experience and practice.

The psychometric measures used in the process of conventional career counselling identify
the individual’s aptitude at that given point of time. Thus the results that are obtained reflect a
constellation of all the factors that have played a role in the individual’s life and hence the
individual’s present potential. The traits that are measured via this process are a confluence of
both, one’s innate abilities and one’s learning. Thus the results might not be identical at all
points of time, which is a good thing. Since Convention Career Counselling can capture the
enhancements that an individual has gone through and accordingly suggest what’s best for
him/her from here onwards.

Secondly, DMIT attempts to measure factors like IQ, AQ, EQ etc. IQ refers to "Intelligence
Quotient" which is a numerical representation of one's intelligence. Scientific research has,
till date, shown no specific correlation between IQ and fingerprints. Same applies for the
other ‘Quotients’ as well. Conventional Career Counselling on the other hand, uses
thoroughly researched, standardised tests that have been validated and proven reliable, where
each item is carefully selected, to measure one’s IQ.

Thirdly, DMIT is entirely based on the concept of Multiple Intelligences by Dr. Howard
Gardner. There are many arguments which suggest that Gardner's theory is not built on
empirical evidence and is actually recognized as an example of pseudoscience. It is more of a
concept rather than an empirically proven framework or model of intelligence.

Fourth, another concept that DMIT heavily relies on is that of the 'left-brain vs. right brain
lateralization' which became popular after the findings of neuropsychologist Roger W.
Sperry's 'split-brain experiments' in1970's. These findings are now outdated and recent
researches point towards the contrary. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting ‘brain
plasticity’ as opposed to brain localisation, meaning that the brain works like a whole
network rather than different areas specialising in different functions. Thus this theory lacks
support from modern brain research.

The origins of the 'finger-brain lobe connection' can be traced to Taiwan, and in specific the
works of education Professor Lin & kindergarten Principal Mary Lai. They proposed the
'finger-brain lobe connection' hypothesis - which suggests that each finger represents a brain
lobe on the opposite side of the body. This too is contradictory to brain research findings, that
conclude that all five fingers have the strongest connection with only a small parts of the
brain that is known to represent the 'primary motor cortex' and the 'primary sensory cortex’.
For example, according to DMIT 'Musical Intelligence' manifests in the hand through the left
ring finger and is assumed to correlate with especially the right temporal brain lobe. Actually,
according the cognitive neuroscience research today, musical skills actually require the
involvement of both hemispheres and various brain lobes from both hemispheres are involved
in the processing of music.

Some serious concerns

Since DMIT claims to report a child’s aptitude and interests from toddler years onwards, and
also suggests that education and parenting should be tailored accordingly, this can have
devastating implications in events when the analysis is inaccurate. This will lead to the child
being put in a box and forced towards only one kind of activities that he/she might not be
suited for.

Such a pattern of upbringing is detrimental to exploration and to the freedom of choice, at the
core. It is a natural part of development to try out new activities and consequently infer what
one’s best fit is. Since DMIT claims to pre analyse what one’s best fit is, this process is
thwarted, and so is a major area of personality development.

The errors in Conventional Career Counselling are less likely, since they are self-report tests,
and also heavily based on scientific research. Also it suggests the best career path for an
individual while giving a summary of their interests, aptitude and personality. It does not
concretise an individual to a particular field. Additionally, it recognises that one’s interests,
personality and aptitude change throughout life, and thus conventional career counselling is a
lifelong process and takes into account these changes.

Conclusion:

To conclude, while DMIT is a new and innovative method of career suggestion, it might not
be the most trustworthy. Conventional career counselling might come with its own set of
drawbacks, but it is a well tested and scientific method. This model has been functioning well
for years, and if it must get replaced, it should be with something that stands even more
firmly on scientific grounds. Since, what career path to chose is one of the most important
decisions in an individual’s life, it can, therefore, certainly not be taken a chance with.