Graphology

Etymology

The word Graphology is derived from grapho- (from the Greek γραφή, "writing") and logos (from the Greek λόγος, which relates to discussion or theory).

History

Jean-Charles Gille-Maisani stated in 1991 that Juan Huarte de San Juan's 1575 Examen de ingenios para las ciencias was the first book on handwriting analysis. In American graphology, Camillo Baldi's Trattato come da una lettera missiva si conoscano la natura e qualita dello scrittore is considered to be the first book.

Around 1830 Jean-Hippolyte Michon became interested in handwriting analysis. He published his findings shortly after founding Société Graphologique in 1871. The most prominent of his disciples was Jules Crépieux-Jamin who rapidly published a series of books that were soon published in other languages. Starting from Michon's integrative approach, Crépieux-Jamin founded a holistic approach to graphology.

Alfred Binet was convinced to conduct research into graphology from 1893 to 1907. He called it "the science of the future" despite rejection of his results by graphologists.

After World War I, interest in graphology continued to spread in Europe as well as the United States. In Germany during the 1920s, Ludwig Klages founded and published his finding in Zeitschrift für Menschenkunde (Journal for the Study of Mankind). His major contribution to the field can be found in Handschrift und Charakter.

Thea Stein Lewinson and J. Zubin modified Klage's ideas, based upon their experience working for the U.S. government, publishing their method in 1942.

In 1929 Milton Bunker founded The American Grapho Analysis Society teaching graphoanalysis. This organization and its system split the American graphology world in two. Students had to choose between graphoanalysis or holistic graphology. While hard data is lacking, anecdotal evidence indicates that 10% of the members of International Graphoanalysis Society (IGAS) were expelled between 1970 and 1980.

Regarding a proposed correlation between gender and handwriting style, a paper by published by James Hartley in 1989 concluded that there was some evidence in support of this hypothesis.

Professional status

Although graphology had some support in the scientific community before the mid-twentieth century, more recent research rejects the validity of graphology as a tool to assess personality and job performance, and today it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology is primarily used as a recruiting tool to screen candidates during the evaluation process. Many studies have been conducted to assess its effectiveness to predict personality and job performance. Recent studies testing the validity of using handwriting for predicting personality traits and job performance have been consistently negative.

In a 1987 study, graphologists were unable to predict scores on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire using writing samples from the same people. In a 1988 study, graphologists were unable to predict scores on the Myers-Briggs test using writing samples from the same people. A 1982 meta-analysis drawn from over 200 studies concludes that graphologists were generally unable to predict any kind of personality trait on any personality test.

Measures of job performance appear similarly unrelated to the handwriting metrics of graphologists. Professional graphologists using handwriting analysis were just as ineffective as lay people at predicting performance in a 1989 study. A broad literature screen done by King and Koehler confirmed dozens of studies showing the geometric aspects of graphology (slant, slope, etc.) are essentially worthless predictors of job performance.

Rowan Bayne, a British psychologist who has written several studies on graphology, summarized his view of the appeal of graphology: "[i]t's very seductive because at a very crude level someone who is neat and well behaved tends to have neat handwriting", adding that the practice is "useless... absolutely hopeless". The British Psychological Society ranks graphology alongside astrology, giving them both "zero validity".

Graphology was also dismissed as a pseudo-science by the skeptic James Randi in 1991.

In his May 21, 2013 Skeptoid podcast episode titled "All About Graphology," scientific skeptic author Brian Dunning reports:

In his book The Write Stuff, Dr. Barry Beyerstein summarized the work of Dr. Geoffrey Dean, who performed probably the most extensive literature survey of graphology ever done. Dean did a meta-analysis on some 200 studies:

Dean showed that graphologists have failed unequivocally to demonstrate the validity or reliability of their art for predicting work performance, aptitudes, or personality. Graphology thus fails according to the standards a genuine psychological test must pass before it can ethically be released for use on an unsuspecting public.

Dean found that no particular school of graphology fared better than any other... In fact, no graphologist of any stripe was able to show reliably better performance than untrained amateurs making guesses from the same materials. In the vast majority of studies, neither group exceeded chance expectancy.

Dunning concludes:

Other divining techniques like iridology, phrenology, palmistry, and astrology also have differing schools of thought, require years of training, offer expensive certifications, and fail just as soundly when put to a scientific controlled test. Handwriting analysis does have its plausible-sounding separation from those other techniques though, and that's the whole "handwriting is brainwriting" idea — traits from the brain will be manifested in the way that it controls the muscles of the hand. Unfortunately, this is just as unscientific as the others. No amount of sciencey sounding language can make up for a technique failing when put to a scientifically controlled test.

Additional specific objections

Approaches

Max Pulver supports a system called symbolic analysis in which he looks for symbols in the handwriting.

Systems of handwriting analysis

Each approach to handwriting analysis has spawned several systems.

Integrative graphology focuses on strokes and their relation to personality. Graphoanalysis was the most influential system in the United States, between 1929 and 2000. The Sistema de Xandró is another method of integrative graphology. Holistic graphology is based on form, movement, and use of space. The psychogram is another method which uses specific diagrams to analyze handwriting. The Personal Worth Chart is one such method developed by the Handwriting Consultants of San Diego during the early 1980s. The psychograph is an additional psychogram method. was developed by Leslie King during the 1970s .The Wittlich Character Diagram, and the Muller-Enskat Protokol are other psychogram methods.

Psychologists Leopold Szondi, Augusto Vels, and Girolamo Moretti invented their personal schools of graphology.

Four academic institutions offer an accredited degree in handwriting analysis:

The majority of material in the field is oriented toward the Latin writing system. Courses offered in the subject reflect that bias.

Vocabulary

Every system of handwriting analysis has its own vocabulary. Even though two or more systems may share the same words, the meanings of those words may be different. The technical meaning of a word used by a handwriting analyst, and the common meaning is not congruent. Resentment, for example, in common usage, means to feel or exhibit annoyance. In Graphoanalysis, the term indicates a fear of imposition.

In Hungary

A report by the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information says that handwriting analysis without informed consent is a privacy violation.

Gender and handwriting

There have been a number of studies on gender and handwriting. Uniformly the research indicates that gender can be determined at a significant level. The published studies on ethnicity, race, age, nationality, gender orientation, weight, and their relationship to handwriting have had mixed results.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

One of the rules of thumb in human resources is that if an individual who has an ADA-defined disability cannot take a test, then nobody can. As a result, tests that cannot be adapted for use by those individuals will not be used by a company.

Handwriting clearly falls into the group of tests that cannot be adapted to be administered to individuals who fall within one or more ADA-defined disabilities. Blind people, for example, do not develop the required fluency in handwriting, for the writing to be correctly analyzed.

Questions that handwriting analysts ask before doing an analysis can be illegal under this act.

Employment profiling

A company takes a writing sample provided by an applicant, and proceeds to do a personality profile, matching the congruency of the applicant with the ideal psychological profile of employees in the position.

A graphological report is meant to be used in conjunction with other tools, such as comprehensive background checks, practical demonstration or record of work skills. Graphology supporters state that it can complement but not replace traditional hiring tools.

Research in employment suitability has ranged from complete failure to guarded success. The most substantial reason for not using handwriting analysis in the employment process is the absence of evidence of a direct link between handwriting analysis and various measures of job performance.

The use of graphology in the hiring process has been criticized on ethical grounds and on legal grounds in the United States.

Psychological analysis

Graphology has been used clinically by European counselors and psychotherapists. When it is used, it is generally used alongside other projective personality assessment tools, and not in isolation. It is often used within individual psychotherapy, marital counseling, or vocational counseling.

Marital compatibility

In its simplest form only sexual expression and sexual response are examined. At its most complex, every aspect of an individual is examined for how it affects the other individual(s) within the relationship. The theory is that after knowing and understanding how each individual in the relationship differs from every other individual in the relationship, the resulting marriage will be more enduring.

Medical diagnosis

Medical graphology is probably the most controversial branch of handwriting analysis. Strictly speaking, such research is not graphology as described throughout this article but an examination of factors pertaining to motor control. Research studies have been conducted in which a detailed examination of handwriting factors, particularly timing, fluidity, pressure, and consistency of size, form, speed, and pressure are considered in the process of evaluating patients and their response to pharmacological therapeutic agents. The study of these phenomena is a by-product of researchers investigating motor control processes and the interaction of nervous, anatomical, and biomechanical systems of the body.

The Vanguard Code of Ethical Practice, amongst others, prohibits medical diagnosis by those not licensed to do diagnosis in the state in which they practice.

Graphotherapy

This is the practice of changing a person's handwriting with the goal of changing features of his or her personality. It originated in France during the 1930s, spreading to the United States in the late 1950s. The purported therapy consists of a series of exercises which are similar to those taught in basic calligraphy courses, sometimes in conjunction with music or positive self-talk.