What is Graphology? Is Graphology Accurate?
Socrates once said, ‘You can know a man by his mark!’ Well, this might seem like a random saying, but you truly can know a lot about someone by analyzing their handwriting. This concept is recognized as graphology. However, there are a lot of controversies surrounding the existence of graphology- whether it is a part of science in its true sense or pseudoscience, what are the benefits from it, and whether learning graphology is really worth it? In this article, you will be exploring in detail about ‘what is Graphology’. So focus and get set go- Keep scrolling down to learn more!
Table Of Content
- WHAT IS GRAPHOLOGY?
- THE HISTORY OF GRAPHOLOGY
- HOW DOES GRAPHOLOGY WORK?
- WHAT IS GRAPHOLOGY USED FOR?
- WHAT CAN GRAPHOLOGY TELL YOU?
- THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAPHOLOGY
- BENEFITS OF GRAPHOLOGY
- IS GRAPHOLOGY USED IN PSYCHOLOGY?
- IS GRAPHOLOGY A PSEUDOSCIENCE?
- HOW CAN YOU LEARN GRAPHOLOGY?
- HOW DOES GRAPHOLOGY HELP AN INDIVIDUAL?
- EXAMPLES OF GRAPHOLOGY
WHAT IS GRAPHOLOGY?
Graphology is the art and science of assessing, understanding and identifying personality traits and characteristics of a person from the handwriting and signature. This technique is now gaining importance to assess personality traits and characteristics in different organizational processes like recruitment, general, personal and relationship counseling, team building, career planning, and others.
It is worth noting that while the concept of handwriting analysis received a good amount of scientific backing back in the 20th century, some studies conducted recently have opposed it and questioned its reliability. In the words of Elaine, graphology is rightly tagged as Brainwriting, i.e., a person’s handwriting comes directly in an individual and unique way irrespective of the pattern he or she has been taught writing. Also, this writing style is influenced partially by the country the person hails from as well as the native language he/she is used to. The content in question along with the time limit provided to complete it also has some influence in deciding the writing pattern.
Interesting to note, about 300 types of handwriting features are a part of the investigation approach of graphology.
THE HISTORY OF GRAPHOLOGY
The handwriting of an individual, its content, and the thoughts expressed are helpful to analyze the personality and unique traits of that individual. Logically, your brain prompts your muscles to write the thought it is controlling. By analyzing your handwriting sample, a graphologist can identify the appropriate features of your handwriting script alongside the pattern these features interact with. These features and the interaction taking place in between them will offer the information required for conducting the analysis. It is important to note in this respect that not a single handwriting sample is going to express all the 300 distinct features of graphology.
Anything specific cannot be acknowledged by adhering to a single handwriting feature. A single feature can just identify and express a trend. To get a clear and complete interpretation, a complete combination of the features, along with the interaction taking place between them, is essential.
Talking about the history of graphology, it is important to note that the origin of graphology dates to 3000 years from now and was developed by the Chinese initially. It is also used by the Romans and has been adopted and followed by various civilizations since then to analyze handwriting for understanding the traits of the person who wrote it.
A team of French Clerics that was guided by Abbe Michon came up with the modern technique of handwriting analysis, defining the major features of the science related to it as estimated during the 1870s. The result from this study formulated the base of modern-day graphology, while the actual relevance of science to it is still under research.
HOW DOES GRAPHOLOGY WORK?
It would be right to define graphology as a blend of science and art, science because of its ability to measure the movement and structure of the written forms i.e., angles, spacing, and slants which can be calculated accurately along with determining the pressure with precision.; and as art, because it is important for the graphologist to keep in concern the entire content of the writing throughout the process of conducting the analysis.
Writing features three things- form, spacing, and movement. The work of a Graphologist is to thoroughly study all the differences as they take place in each aspect of the writing, along with attaching them to psychological interpretation. You can expect to derive an accurate psychological interpretation of a writer only from an expert graphologist.
WHAT IS GRAPHOLOGY USED FOR?
If you want to judge a character, check their handwriting and not appearance. Appearances can be highly deceptive, but ideas generated about someone from handwriting analysis will never go wrong. Handwriting throws light on the thought process, behavior, and feelings of the person in question, and the results are almost 90% accurate. It reveals the motive behind their action and the likelihood of the writer behaving in the same way. Interestingly, graphology as defined by a graphologist is not only analyzing your behavior but also the subconscious mind to understand ‘the why’ behind each of your actions, making it a great tool and effective in numerous practical situations.
Graphology finds a place in the following sectors:
- Recruitment
- Corporate Training
- Management selection
- Career guidance
- Assessing compatibility
- Profiling personality
- Children and family guidance
- Forensic and documentation
- Historical profiling and many more.
WHAT CAN GRAPHOLOGY TELL YOU?
Discussing more what is graphology, it can be defined as a study based on the concept that every person has his or her own characteristics, and the same is as unique as the personality of the one in question. Even if the writer’s handwriting pattern slightly deviates from the textbook-initiated knowledge, an expert graphologist can easily assess it with utmost accuracy. He will be able to say about the writer’s capabilities and character without fail.
In a true sense, a graphologist is fortunate enough to read and get aware of a person’s psychology just by analyzing their handwriting. However, when it comes to psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, can analyze the characteristics of their clients based on the information that has been provided to them as per the question asked in a specific time span.
THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAPHOLOGY
BENEFITS OF GRAPHOLOGY
Graphology plays an important role in finding out the weaknesses and strengths of a person. It helps to see the person in a new light. Most to your surprise, graphology can help to find out different problems- psychological and physical that the person in question is encountering as well as know about the reasons behind such issues.
Adding on, besides finding out the problems and their root cause, graphology is also a solution to get back to a healthy life. With certain changes in your handwriting under the guidance of an expert graphologist, you can get rid of your fears and develop the strength to return to a healthy life, free from mental and physical stress and disorder, with growth and success to follow!
IS GRAPHOLOGY USED IN PSYCHOLOGY?
The main similarity between Graphology and Psychology is that they both study human characteristics. Graphology scrutinizes individual traits using handwriting, whereas psychology scrutinizes the same through therapies and many other approved scientific techniques. Both these fields involve studies that examine sadness, happiness, aggression, and health disorder- physical and psychological as well as an outlook toward society and life. They also analyze the intensity of all these characteristics. While there is no scientific evidence supporting graphology, it is believed that graphology is sometimes used in psychology to understand the psychological condition of the patient.
IS GRAPHOLOGY A PSEUDOSCIENCE?
Even though the history of graphology states that it had received support from the scientific community prior to the mid-20th century, the recent research works do not acknowledge the validity of this sector as a reliable tool to assess job performance and personality. Hence, today’s graphology is recognized as a pseudoscience. Some even refer to graphology like astrology and palm reading.
HOW CAN YOU LEARN GRAPHOLOGY?
The learning process of graphology begins with the following steps:
- Begin with a quality enriched sample
- Understand the pressure of the strokes in the writing
- Analyze the slants of the letters
- Analyze the baseline of the writing
- Evaluate the text size used
HOW DOES GRAPHOLOGY HELP AN INDIVIDUAL?
Graphology enjoys the ability to identify as many as 300+ personality traits by simply examining the letters, loops, slants, spacing, ending strokes, heights, and more. Every single symbol in particular handwriting is recognized as a specific personality trait. All the aspects in the sample are used in this analysis, from the layout of the text to the letters.
The science related to graphology helps business leaders analyze and identify the team that best fits their growth and success. Handwriting can assist one in analyzing and selecting a person who is realistic, growth-oriented, forward-thinking, creative, and planned.
EXAMPLES OF GRAPHOLOGY
Your behavioral traits can be evaluated taking your handwriting into consideration. Each letter you write can be easily examined one by one and in a group to examine and figure out your health and behavior. A good training approach has been categorized as below:
- Margins
- Plasticity
- Size
- Spacing of all kinds
- Baselines
- Pressure
- Slants
- Zones
- Connections
- Individual Letters
For instance, by analyzing the middle area circles and loops in handwriting, you get to know whether the person is broadminded or narrow-minded, communicative or non-communicative, sincere or not, and many more.
She is a certified Graphologist since 2002 and is an expert in designing customized remedies to help her clients overcome various life issues like finance troubles, career growth, education, relationship problems, anxiety, guilt, fear and health issues like back pains, digestion/stomach related issues etc. She has done her M.Tech in IEOR from IIT Bombay. Her one-on-one guidance and customized solutions ensure that all her clients succeed and develop at a fast pace who come from all walks of life including entrepreneurs, students, business professionals, housewives, retirees, white-collar and blue-collar workers.