Art of Graphology: Understanding Handwriting to Analyze Personalities

Handwriting analysis, which is also known as graphology, is a scientific study to understand and analyze characteristics and patterns of an individual’s handwriting. It is a practice that belongs to ancient times where the writing of a person was used to be a form of communicating and expressing one’s thoughts, intentions, and emotions. It was first used in the early civilizations of Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks to observe and analyze handwriting for different purposes. The systematic form of handwriting analysis or graphology emerged in the 19th century.

What is Graphology?

Graphology is the scientific study of an individual’s handwriting. It says that a person’s handwriting is the reflection of their personality and mental and emotional state. According to the proponents of graphology, studying the handwriting of a person can help gain insights of their personality. It is also helpful in getting insights about cognitive abilities, emotional state, and overall characteristics of a person. According to graphologists, such traits or personality-related aspects of a person can be understood by carefully analyzing the various characteristics of writing such as the size of the letters, the slant in the writing, spacing between words and letters, shapes of letters, and even the pressure with which one writes.

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In the words of Klages, “graphology is deductions about a person’s personality from their handwriting. Graphology is based on the premise that handwriting is a type of personality expression. As such, personality qualities can be identified through a methodological examination of the formation of words and letters. Graphologists take note of the details, including letter sizes, ornamentation, angularity, curvature, and the degree and regularity of slanting. The overall style and impression of the writing, the force of the upward and downward strokes, and the writing’s smoothness are further fundamental factors.

How is Graphology Useful?

It is proven that when we speak, only 15-20% of our brain cells are active, whereas when we write, about 85-90% of our brain cells are active. Hence, this fact in itself explains how graphology can help gain a deep insight into a person’s personality.

However, it is also important to know that graphology is considered as pseudoscience by many of the members of the scientific community. The validity of the claims made by proponents of graphology has been criticized widely because it is not a scientific method to make any personality assessments.

Psychology is a social scientific field, but still, scientific measures are used and applied to test any theory of behavior. But in graphology, the empirical evidence is very little to support the reliability and validity of such assessments. Moreover, many studies have even proved that it is not a reliable method to assess the personality traits of an individual. Still, it has provided some assumptions of human personality and behavior.

Some aspects of handwriting that are emphasized are:

• The size of the letters: Large size suggests the extroversion trait and seeking attention and small size suggests introversion.
• Slanting letters: A slant towards the right side suggests extroversion and outgoing traits and a slant towards the left side suggests reserving behavior and introverted personality.
• Pressure while writing: Strong pressure suggests strong and intense emotions and light pressure suggests a sensitive personality.
• Spacing between words: More spacing may suggest the need to be independent and less spacing may suggest the need to be in a close relationship or attending to the details.

It is also said that because handwriting is kind of a subconscious activity, it might give insight into those aspects of personality that one is consciously unaware of. However, to interpret and reach reliable conclusions through graphology, one needs to be professionally trained as a graphologist.

Process of Graphology Analysis

There is a systematic process following which only a trained graphologist analyzes the handwriting of a person to gain insight into their emotions, mental state, and personality in total.

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The process consists of the following steps:

• The first step is to collect a sample of the handwriting of the person whose writing you are studying. The sample should include a few necessary things in the writing to be able to study.
• The second step is related to analyzing the physical characteristics of the handwriting, which includes the size of letters, the shape of letters, spacing between letters and words, etc. This analysis is done to determine the personality analysis of the concerned individual.
• The next step will be to interpret the results drawn out of the analysis. The interpretations are based on various theories and conventions that are established in graphology. The interpretation of the analysis is subjective as well because it depends upon the expertise and experience of the graphologist.

Application of Graphology

A few areas where graphology has been found useful are:

1) Personality Assessment:

Some professionals and even people use graphology as a tool for the discovery of self by analyzing their handwriting and gaining insights about their personality through their handwriting.

2) Recruitment of Employees:

Sometimes, graphology is used in the process of hiring job candidates in some companies to assess their traits. However, the use of graphology in this context is controversial as it can create potential biases due to its lack of scientific evidence.

3) Forensic Area:

Sometimes, graphology is also used in forensic investigations to find out the authenticity of a particular document or signature. Forensic document examiners may use graphology-based analysis to identify any alterations in legal documents, wills, and contracts.

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4) Psychotherapy and Counseling:

There are some therapists or counselors who specialize in handwriting analysis as well and sometimes they might use it in their practice alongside tools to understand the emotions, feelings, personalities, and behavioral patterns of their clients. However, it is a controversial practice to use handwriting analysis in therapeutic settings, because psychotherapy relies on scientifically proven assessments and methods and graphology is not one of them.

5) Personal Development:

A lot of times, graphology is used in personal development programs. Workshop-like events, coaching sessions, and interpersonal relationship sessions are a few places where you will find the mention of graphology. However, again, many professionals prefer methods that are much more scientific and established when it comes to personal and professional development.

Despite all the uses of graphology, it remains questioned and controversial because of the lack of empirical evidence that it has to offer. Although it is sometimes used, people and professionals always prefer reliable and valid methods over it.