Graphology is based on the principle that every individual’s handwriting has a character of its own and this is entirely due to the uniqueness of the writer’s personality.
Graphology not only examines behaviour, but also the subconscious. It can reveal why people behave in a certain way. This makes graphology a very powerful tool. Let’s see how.
Remember that as children, all of us were taught to write in a certain manner? There was no discrimination at all.
But as we grow, we see that nobody writes exactly the way they were taught; they all write differently. S
bring about changes in the size and shape of the letters, while many others prefer cursive to print or vice-versa.
If you are wondering why it is so, here is the answer.
Graphology: A study of handwriting patterns
Graphology is a combination of the Greek word grapheirt, which means “to write,” and the suffix “ology,” a branch of scientific study.
Graphology, then, is the study of writing based on a growing body of knowledge which is constantly being tested in practical use.
According to graphology, our unique personalities influence the way our handwriting develops. Each individual acquires a singular handwriting style that mirrors his unique personality.
In other words, handwriting is the pattern of our psychology expressed in graphic symbols on the page.
For example, if you grow up in an environment that teaches you to be nice and friendly with others, you will automatically start reflecting that attitude in your handwriting by adopting soft and rounded connectivity between letters.
On the other hand, if your childhood friend was raised by parents who were abusive, he will start developing resentment strokes in the handwriting to reflect the underlying pain and anger.
So, what is that a handwriting analyst or graphologist looks for in a handwriting sample to assess the personality of the writer?
It is the writer’s departure from the copybook style that enables a graphologist to understand the personality of the writer.
A graphologist looks at the slant, angle, spacing and pressure of the handwriting in order to assess the writer’s personality with precision.
Generally, in the first meeting, chances are you get swayed or influenced by appearances. Have you always been right? Or have you sometimes found that your first impressions have been wrong?
The truth is that appearances can be deceptive. But handwriting never lies. Handwriting reveals how the writer thinks, feels and behaves, and it does so quickly and immediately.
People study handwriting for various reasons. For example, the science of criminology offers courses of study which entitle one to be licensed as a handwriting expert.
Testimony of the handwriting expert is admissible in a court of law for purposes of establishing identification or validity of a particular document.
The professional title for one qualified in this field is “examiner of questioned documents.”
These experts work in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, attorneys or anyone interested in determining officially who wrote what, where and under what conditions.
In fact, famous trial cases have involved the services of a handwriting expert to help determine guilt or innocence of the defendant, just as such trials have involved psychologists and psychiatrists.
There is another, larger group of people who study handwriting as a means to discover themselves and others. These people are called graphologists.
They know that exaggerations in writing formations suggest similar exaggerations in the personality of the writer. Character traits that deviate from the norm will show up in the handwriting. The graphologist learns to analyze the difference between normal and abnormal traits in the writing.
At Write Choice, we strive to unravel handwriting analysis secrets through scores of articles, and also provide an online course in handwriting analysis for people who want to go deeper into graphology.
Disclaimer: One element of handwriting may be analysed at a time, but always look at the entire handwriting sample before arriving at any conclusion.
