Graphology

[TMLee]

Handwriting analysis ....

Don't know much abt this subject matter.

Sounds interesting though.

Detectives analyse handwriting to better understand their subjects so there must be some science to it , right ?

Anyone had their handwriting analysed and their personality profiled from that analysis? How accurate is it?

Any Graphologists amongst us?

[Sparky]

As an Industrial Psychologist I know the literature about using graphology as a way to assess traits of candidates applying for positions, indicates there is no scientific evidence that graphology works. However, in many countries for job selection, managers wouldn't ever consider hiring a person without having a hand-writing analysis completed on that person. Often selection practices are very culturally based... and you see theory and practice often differ.

 

That being said, there are many schools for the study of graphology that reports to have its own research to support their activities.

 

Bottom line is that scientifically it doesn't support trait identification in the selection process for positions, but many people still feel it has value.

[rosey]

This isn't very technical, but I had my handwriting analyzed at a local fair once. It was pretty accurate in describing my personality, but that's all that was analyzed. I also find graphology interesting, but I doubt it's a very good way of hiring someone for a job.

[Michael Wright]

I would suspect that the reliability of graphology is somewhere between Freudian analysis and Tarot reading.

 

Face-to-face consultations would be different: the art there would be the skills of cold reading, which is quite a notable accomplishment, without the mumbo-jumbo that normally disguises it.

 

Not meaning to start a war, but it is very disturbing that employers put credence in something that has no validity -- it would be better if they just said that they won't employ anyone with green eyes.

 

Best

 

Michael

[drifting]

I think it's interesting, but find it hard to put too much credence in something that can so easily be manipulated with the application of a bit of time and effort. There may be something to interpreting the traits revealed in someone's unconscious hand, but the act of writing is so easily shifted into the conscious realm that surely someone who is paying attention to how they write can change what might be read there. Sure, most people don't think about how they write past the fifth grade, but many FPNers do.

 

I guess I see it in the same light as saying you can learn a lot about someone's personality by observing how they dress or what they eat. True in many instances, but way too easily changed. Put a farm boy in a stock broker's suit and give him an expensive hair cut and a couple of weeks to get used to the suit and then try to 'read' him. Give FPNers an italic nib and a couple of months practice, and lots of things can change in their hand, no matter what writing instrument they use. Does this mean elements of their personalities have changed?

 

I file graphology under 'interesting but unreliable'.

 

Ryan (who had a side line in middle school forging authentic looking 'original' parental excuse notes from previous samples )

[sonia_simone]

I have a book on hold at the library that claims you can change your personality by changing your handwriting (basically reverse-engineering the thing, I suppose). It sounds daft but I will check anything out of the library--it did spark my curiosity. (Plus I wanted to see what the "recommended" handwriting looked like!)

[saintsimon]

There were times, when left-handedness was not tolerated and lefties were forced to learn to write with their right hand.

 

And now analyze the results of that with this pseudo-science ...

 

But still there remains a question: why tend male and female handwritings to be different? Some neuro-motorical answers are needed

Edited May 31, 2006 by saintsimon

[georgem]

I have a book on hold at the library that claims you can change your personality by changing your handwriting (basically reverse-engineering the thing, I suppose).  It sounds daft but I will check anything out of the library--it did spark my curiosity.  (Plus I wanted to see what the "recommended" handwriting looked like!)

This sounds interesting. Who is the author and what is the title of the book?

[sonia_simone]

The title is something like _Change Your Handwriting; Change Your Life_. I don't have the author's name right at hand, but once I get the book I'll post a review.

[Phthalo]

I think Graphology is quite fanciful. I write normally with a 3-fingered grip, which produces good handwriting - my handwriting. However, I can switch to a 4-fingered grip and make an enormous amount of consistent handwriting variations - and I did so for more than a decade before I understood that a 4-fingered grip was not natural or comfortable for me. But I could, and still can, draw and imitate many handwriting styles very easily. (On no, maybe I have multiple personalities!)

 

I could write out a beautiful sample of some over-the-top loopy, girly, feminine script, and get an analysis result of, "You are sensual, free, and extravagant, but can tend to become arrogant and self-pitying."

 

I could then write out a different sample; smaller, cramped, angular, masculine - and get an analysis of, "You are and prone to outbursts caused by repressing your emotions, you are highly driven, yet are sensitive but deny pain."

 

Or some other drivel - and all of it meaningless!

 

To me, pre-employment psychological testing is far more interesting and accurate. But a lot of people know how to beat a PT system, so while it's often used, most corporations don't weight the results too heavily. Because once you have been exposed to one testing method, you can know enough to manipulate the results for any parallel system, and usually assure yourself a place in the most desired psychological profile areas.

 

The truest psych analysis profile result I received was from my very first psych test over six years ago. Every test since, is tainted because of prior knowledge - you instinctively know what the right or preferred answer should be.

 

Even more interesting is long-duration pre-employment psychological testing. I used to contract to a smaller company which would have 3-7 days interviews for the job applicants who were short listed for their positions. It was incredible - no one hour interview and call to say whether you had or had not gotten the job. Oh no. If you were a short-list candidate, they flew you in, from wherever you might be from, and there you remained with the other applicants and a panel of analysts for days on end.

 

As someone who, for more than a year, worked daily in an environment where this kind of testing is used, I can only say that it worked extremely well. I have never been in such a workplace, and the only word which keeps coming to mind when I try to describe it is 'harmonious' – conflict, inter-office politics and personal agendas were at a minimum. Basically, the whole place felt friendly, safe, logical and peaceful. Quite amazing.

[Chris]

IMHO it's as scientific as phrenology.

 

BUT (sorry to shout!) asking someone to provide a handwriting sample on the spot has huge real benefits in answering the following essential questions about recruitment:

 

- Can they actually write (one tick in the "hire" column )

- Is it legible (another tick )

- Did they use a real pen of their own (ask if they can start Monday )

- Or did they use a cracked ballpoint with a chewed end (call the interview to a close )

- Or a waxed crayon (call security )

 

:roflmho:

 

Chris

[FlexiCat]

RE: Handwriting Analysis

I have read a few books on the subject and have tried it on myself and using others' handwriting samples. It is something like the daily horoscope in the newspaper...so general that it can fit almost any situation.

 

One item that stands out in my mind right now: according to graphologists, wide spaces between the words indicates the writer is a liar or is currently lying. Well, I found that, when I am writing a first draft, I tend to leave wide spaces between the words. Reflecting on this, I realized that, as I am writing, I am thinking hard about what I want to say, hence, wider spaces than when the ideas are more fully realized. I would suggest then, that widely spaced words indicates thinking or thoughtfullness, not specifically lying. Whether the statemenst being written are lies or truths requires furhter investigation.

 

Tiny signatures are considered to indicate a low self image, which I found true in the few people I have known who demonstrated this attitutde and large intial letters in signatures are considered to indicate a desire to control. I have noticed large initial letters in signatures of people in positions of authority.

 

Also, narrow margins or no margins indicate thriftiness. Guess what! I know a person or two with real reputations for penny pinching and they jam as many words onto a piece of paper as the paper can hold!

 

So, you will need to sort out for yourself whether or not graphology is on a level with phrenology, which, by the way, is from where it developed. Whether or not graphology has any basis in reality, I can't say. It is fun, though...Get a copy of HISTORY OF HANDWRITING IN AMERICA by Tamara Palkins Thornton. It has some intresting stuff on graphology and the history of handwriting in America, as the title indicates. Very interesting reading.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Also, narrow margins or no margins indicate thriftiness. Guess what! I know a person or two with real reputations for penny pinching and they jam as many words onto a piece of paper as the paper can hold!

 

I wonder what that says about crossed writing - where the writer writes in one direction, and then writes additional lines over top of the first set, but in lines of writing perpendicular to the first. It was common in the 19th century and before for writers to fit more on a peice of paper - particularly folks in the colonies sending letters back to family in Europe.

 

John

[FlexiCat]

RE: Writing in two directions on one peice of paper.

 

People did that because, in the ninteenth century, they paid postage by the page, the fewer the pages, the cheaper the postage.

 

It is an interesting asside to this discussion, that because the adressee paid the postage, not the sender, after the advent of envelopes people put codes into the addresses so the addressee could learn the message content and then refuse the letter. Loss of postage revenue forced the change to the sender paying the postage.

[GregPQ]

Regarding graphology, the following link to

Anomalies of French life: the importance of graphology (handwriting analysis)

 

http://www.ruerude.com/france/index.html

 

has this quote: France seems to be the only country in the world that takes it so seriously.

 

In my work, I find very few people in any age group who can write legibly. Practically no one can write with any beauty or style. In other words, it's painful to try to decipher their cursive.

 

In my experience, classic French cursive is so stylized and abstract that is often hard to read. Beautiful, though.

 

Greg

[BillTheEditor]

When I was much younger and much more gullible, I spent a lot of time studying graphoanalysis (per M. N. Bunker).

 

As I got out in the world more, I noticed something about graphoanalysis: It's garbage science.

 

I'd go so far as to say that about graphology in general, not to pick on the late Mr. Bunker in particular.

 

For a long article on the subject, including the use of handwriting analysis in court, see this article (which I did not write, but wish I had): Graphology Fact Sheet

[andyc]

IMHO it's as scientific as phrenology.

 

BUT (sorry to shout!) asking someone to provide a handwriting sample on the spot has huge real benefits in answering the following essential questions about recruitment: ...

I picked up a couple of books on Graphology many years ago. There are some aspects to it that seem intuitively right: more angular writing is a sign (one of many) pointing to an agressive personality; quicker writing indicates quicker thinking and so on.

 

But I'm not trying to defend it, and certainly not as part of a hiring process. It's good for a laugh, but that's about all (IMHO).

 

But, the first "professional" job I got included writing an essay as part of the (day long) selection process. And as you point out, it does tell an awful lot about the person - they figured that they didn't mind teaching you how to the the job, but they did object to teaching basic communication skills!

 

I'd go as far as to suggest that a lot of us practice a level of graphology that's as intuitive (and inaccurate!) as other first impressions. My own handwriting (I'll post a sample when I'm at home with the scanner) was once described by a teacher as the untidiest she'd ever seen, but still somehow legible.

 

These days, nearly everything I write is for my own viewing, so I don't worry too much about the appearance, as along as I can read it. Actually, even that isn't true. A large chunk of the notes I take will be thrown in the bin at the end of the meeting; their only purpose is to keep me focussed on the subject rather than my mind wandering or falling asleep.