Graphology: let's find out what the study of handwriting is
Graphology makes it possible to draw a fairly detailed psychological picture of the person based on the analysis of the handwriting that takes into account a series of parameters, from stroke to pressure, from size to inclination of the characters. Even body language can reveal unexpected sides of character and personality, watch the video we have selected for you to learn the secrets of the body and learn to decipher its language gesture by gesture!
An ancient "human science": graphology
That of graphology is an ancient story. The Chinese before the birth of Christ considered possible a close relationship between writing and the character of an individual. In the 4th century BC Aristotle believed the graphic sign capable of identifying the uniqueness of an individual and his character, as the writing is different from man to man. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote that a writing like that of Augustus, which did not break the words and then go to the head, was an indication that he was a man of heart.
In the Middle Ages, magicians, alchemists and many monks studied the link between spelling and personality. Also for Leibniz there is an evident link between personality and handwriting, as the latter manifests the nature of the writer. Almost every scholar of graphology has become the leader of a new method of handwriting analysis, but always without the validation typical of scientific subjects. Moretti, founder of the Italian school of graphology, defined it as an experimental science, as he believed that he had established the canons through practical-scientific experiments. In 1920 Albert L. Smith also distinguished himself in this field with Applied Graphology. Graphology therefore has ancient origins, but has never been regulated by a professional register, precisely due to the absence of scientific validation. There are many schools of Graphology, but the main courses are three: the French one of Jules Crépieux-Jamin, the Italian one of Giampaolo Moretti and Marco Marchesan and the German one of Ludwig Klages. The ancient French school, dating back to Abbot Michon, differs greatly from the Italian one.
Methodology of the French School of Graphology
The graphology of the French School investigates the shape and size, from which it believes that it is possible to deduce the social class and degree of culture of the subject from the characters of the handwriting; from the more or less marked pressure on the sheet also the psychic-affective, lively, passive or anguished condition. The dimension is linked to the individual's self-esteem and his expectations. Changes in size are indicative of intermittent feelings. The form can be spontaneously personal or emulated in a certain way by stereotyped models. The discontinuity in writing can indicate a rational, intuitive, independent, not always sociable attitude. If the direction of the handwriting turns upwards, it can mean enthusiasm and exaltation; if down, depression; if it is inclined to the left (left turns), the character tends to selfishness, if to the right (right turns) to generosity. Short lines, correct punctuation, strong pressure slow down writing, even if it is difficult to understand how fast you write. As regards the setting, a clear and decipherable handwriting indicates safety on the part of the writer; a difficult to read can be a sign of rebellion or indolence. From the movement it can be deduced whether there is a spirit of initiative or, on the contrary, a predisposition to keep habits. If the signature has a different spelling from that used in other writings by the writer it could indicate a conflicting personality.
The Italian School of Graphology and Giampaolo Moretti
Moretti considered the rules of the French school to be very far from his intuitions. His psychological interpretation of handwriting, to which he devoted himself intensely throughout his life in order to give it scientific validity, considers writing an outward expression of the basic personality of the subject, as well as the gestures, the gait, the tone of voice. Moretti attributed a psychological meaning to some graphic signs, as an expression of affective, intellectual, somatic characteristics, he quantified them and analyzed them in their interactions. The years of experimentation contributed to give a certain scientific value to his method. In addition to the psychological aspects of the personality, he also recognized the somatic ones in handwriting, especially those connected to gestures and postures that he speaks of in Somatic Graphology. In his opinion, the body and its attitudes could be traced back to the subject's psyche. He believed that the graphological signs also clarified individual orientations and predispositions for the type of school and for the choice of profession. Each of the 82 graphic signs indicated corresponded to certain psychological and somatic characteristics, whose interpretation is not given by the sum of the signs, but by their interaction. Moretti listed the individual signs (analytic moment) and then analyzed their reciprocal influence (synthetic moment). According to this method, the signs do not give information on the total personality of the subject. There are those of the intelligence, the psychic ones and those of the will: the distinction is however relative, because each type of sign also gives indications about the others. There are signs that have greater importance, for example the substantial ones, to which the psychological intellectual characteristics correspond, then there are the modifying ones, less fundamental, but still influencing the way in which the manifestations become concrete; the accidental ones, finally, are secondary aspects elaborated subsequently.
Graphology has no psychodiagnostic validity
Graphology was born as a sector of physiognomy from the Greek ϕυσιογνωμονία, interpretation of nature, from Aristotle onwards, that is a "science" that from the shape of the body and above all from the facial features drew indications on the character and personality of an individual. And, in fact, even Lombroso, founder of criminal anthropology, wrote a well-known book on graphology. The graphic gesture, that is, would not only give indications on the character of the subject, but also on his somatic conformation. Graphology has also been it has always been combined with the art of palmistry and astrology. Graphology, however, as we have said previously, has not been recognized as having a scientific validity, and has not been recognized as having psychodiagnostic validity. Despite this, it is still sometimes used today to select personnel in the world In fact, according to some it serves to know not only the character, but also the predispositions of an individual and his potential. Graphology, compared to other so-called "sciences" that investigate the inner personality, such as astrology or numerology, is not really occult, but it still remains a limited pseudoscientific field in the field of hypotheses and "could". truly reliable to select individuals according to a scientific criterion based on their writing, in private life as in the world of work and even less to trace the profile of a person accused of a crime.
Graphology and psychology: a complex relationship
The graphic gesture is an expressive gesture and is performed through mechanisms linked to the central nervous system. Each person has his own handwriting, different from that of the others, has his own personal trait, also the result of his encounter with the handwriting of others. The graphologist who gives a psychological interpretation to writing tries to guess the mood of the person who writes from the movement of his handwriting, or if the stroke is marked or light, if in a straight direction or not, if spontaneous or artificial, imitated or created by the writer to give a different image of himself. We reflect ourselves and our interiority in writing, according to this conception. The position of the writing on the sheet, the shape and size of the characters, the spaces left between the letters of the alphabet making up a word or between different words, can give, according to some experts, information on the intellectual level, memory, affectivity, sensitivity and on the sociability of the subject.
While graphology is concerned with the characteristics of the subject's personality, the graphic appraisal intends to ascertain the authenticity of a written text or a signature, comparing the signs with others of the same author. For this purpose he also uses tools such as the digital stereoscopic microscope, suitable for studying the pressure of the handwriting, the Wood lamp, which highlights possible erasures and computer techniques. Writing is an expression of the individual, but its analysis hardly allows a perfect and exact interpretation of the person's personality or a complete picture of his interiority. Even a regular writing according to all canons can hide unexpected character characteristics. Graphology, however, is always an expression of oneself and when one has an agitated or excited state of mind it can reveal itself in the handwriting, which is often more convoluted or uncertain. And it may happen that a good graphologist through the curves of the characters, their size and many other parameters is able to designate the personality of the subject, drawing a fairly corresponding profile, but without scientific certainty.
Graphology defined by great scholars
The first experts in the field, such as Michon, attached great importance to the intuition of the graphologist and considered graphology to be an art. Then we worked more and more to give it a scientific validity, up to Moretti for whom it was an experimental science. Some scholars have preferred to call it the psychology of writing or psychographology. According to Moretti, the spontaneous graphic gesture represents the materialization of the personality of the writer in his own handwriting. Certainly the innate, genetic, natural tendencies that influence the graphic uniqueness are very important, but the variations brought about by the temporary mood, moments of tension or pathologies also have a certain importance. Writing does not only involve the used limb, but the whole person who writes participates in it in a synthesis of energies, which include intelligence, will, nerves, muscles and the psyche. And at this point Spotti's definition appears very fitting, which considers graphology to be the study of the laws that regulate the mutual dependence between graphic phenomena and physiopsychic phenomena.
A true graphic gesture must be free of any form of conditioning, that of teachers, parents, the voluntary one of the writer to modify his handwriting in order to present a different image of himself to others, that of imitating fashion handwriting or used by someone you admire. Even the way of walking differs from person to person, in terms of rhythm, way of stretching the leg and foot and connected gestures of the torso and arms, which make it possible to recognize someone only by their way of walking. These are actions made automatic by repetition, by the exercise; they are voluntary, in the sense that they are decided by the will, but as regards the way to do them they become unconscious as they are repeated over time. Something similar is recorded in the act of writing, where there are equally subconscious methods of execution and also individualization, which manifests itself fully when the movement occurs automatically.
Graphology has interested many scholars who have defined it in various ways, depending on the final deductions drawn from their studies. Pulver believed that the individual with his writing made a true self-portrait and Klages that the handwriting was a permanent and objective sign of the writer's personal movement. Vels then considered it a natural encephalogram, capable of recording all measurable changes in the personality of a human being, based on shape, intensity, direction, frequency and other observable aspects in the handwriting.
