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CHAPTER 1

Writes of Passage

AN INTRODUCTION TO GRAPHOLOGY

This chapter discusses the global use of graphology as an accurate diagnostic tool in assessing personality and human potential. A brief history of graphology is presented, along with its various “schools” in Europe. The chapter concludes with a look at how graphology is used in the business world, and what the future holds, especially now that people write less and use computers more.

THE CLUES TO CHARACTER are everywhere: on a shopping list taped to the refrigerator … in the birthday cards you receive … on the note your boss left on your desk or a friend passed to you in class … even on your paycheck. Every day, everywhere, handwritten notes, letters, and signatures cross your path, and you’ve probably been unaware of the fascinating insights they hold. Until now.

Handwriting is a remarkable reflection of a person’s true, but often “hidden,” character, revealing things about personality, aptitudes, emotions, and state of mind beyond what can be observed in superficial actions or words. Learning to “read” the hidden character in handwriting not only helps you understand others but also is a valuable tool for self-discovery.

The use and application of handwriting analysis is called graphology. Graph comes from the Greek word graphe, which means “writing,” and ology means “the study of.”

Graphology has been seriously practiced for centuries throughout Europe. In America, businesses, universities, and government bureaus often retain the services of qualified graphologists to learn more about employees and students, as well as to uncover vital details in criminal investigations.

In everyday life, graphology can be used for personal and professional benefits—for yourself and in relationship to others. When you learn more about the secret language of handwriting and what it reveals, you’ll gain insight into:

• uncovering your hidden talents and skills

• recognizing inner strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears

• discovering how compatible you are with others

• recognizing signs of conflict, anger, anxiety, and melancholy

• identifying romantic possibilities … or people to avoid

• seeing who’s being honest with you … and who’s not

• hiring the right person for the job and other useful applications

Best of all, this is knowledge that can be derived in a subtle and discreet manner.

The ABC’s of Individuality

Think back to your childhood—say the first grade, or whenever you learned to write. Remember how you had to copy each letter of the alphabet—capital letters and small ones—using the standard copybook format that all school-age children are given? Once you learned your A’s, B’s, and C’s, and began connecting the letters to create words and sentences, you probably noticed that even though you and your classmates were learning the same techniques in the same manner at the same time, your handwritings were not alike at all! You may have thought your penmanship was beautiful and perfect—just like the template you copied from. But Jonathan’s writing was different—his letters seemed to be crammed together. Danny wrote so hard you could see indentations through the back of his page. Sarah’s handwriting was large with big loops, while Carmen’s was smaller and rounded and didn’t have much of a slant. You wondered: How can that be? How can we learn to write the same letters the same way but have our writing turn out to be so different?

Since handwriting—and the skills of creating letters on the page—comes from our deeper self, it contains a great deal of information about our character. Whenever we write, our immediate emotions, moods, or state of mind influence our expression on paper. Our brain transmits this information to the motor reflexes in our hand. Therefore, our handwriting is a unique combination of our conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings. Our handwriting reflects our personality in a way that is similar to our facial expressions, speech, and body language. It is, in essence, body language on paper.

The slants, strokes, size, pressure, and speed with which our pen glides on a page create this window to the soul. As we change and mature, so does our writing. Haven’t you noticed the changes in your handwriting over the years, or even from day to day, depending on your mood or health?

The qualities in handwriting and its relationship to the writer have been studied for centuries, and they continue to hold fascination for psychologists, writers, philosophers, legal professionals, historians, and anyone else seeking deeper knowledge of the human character and condition.

The History of Graphology in a Nutshell

Beware of the man whose writing is always like a reed in the wind.

— CONFUCIUS

From prehistoric times, when early man began painting on cave walls through Egyptian hieroglyphics and to the early alphabets of the Greeks and Romans, there has always been interest in the relationship between the art of writing and the character of the writer.

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, observed that writing styles were as unique to each individual as his or her speaking voice. He even studied the link between the writer and his handwriting.

The Roman historian, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus noted that Emperor Augustus Caesar did not separate his words well on paper, which implied that he was unwilling to let go of money, material things, and his own feelings.

Camillo Baldi (1550-1637), a physician and educator, and dean of the College of Philosophy at the University of Bologna, published a treatise in 1625 called Trattato come de una lettera missiva si conoscano la natura, e qualitá dello scrittore (How from a Missive Letter One May Know the Nature and Qualities of Its Writer), which explored the relationship between handwriting and personality.

Two hundred years later in Paris, the priest and scholar Abbé Flandrin (1804-1864) and his student Abbé Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806-1881) devoted much of their lives to the study of handwriting. Michon subsequently published papers on his system of handwriting analysis, which detailed how specific elements or “signs” (such as strokes and individual letterforms) correspond to particular personality traits. He coined the name graphology to describe this study. This term and his method became widely known and accepted. Michon is also credited with stimulating widespread interest in graphology in both public and academic circles, and he was the founder of the Societé Français de Graphologie, a leading institute that still exists.

Another Frenchman and student of Michon’s, Jules Crepieux-Jamin (1858-1940), took his theories one step further. Instead of individual “signs” corresponding to specific personality traits, he believed that handwriting should be examined as a whole and that its interpretation should be dependent on other features. He divided the basic elements of handwriting into seven categories: dimension, form, pressure, speed, direction, layout, and continuity. Crepieux-Jamin’s approach became the basis of the French school of graphology. It also became influential in the field of psychology and laid the groundwork for the Gestalt approach to handwriting analysis.

Toward the end of the ninteenth century, the Germans jumped on the graphology bandwagon and began making their own contributions to the field. Wilhelm Preyer (1841-1897), a professor of physiology, compared the handwriting of individuals when, the hand, the foot, and even the mouth held the pen. Preyer noted marked similarities in the form and structure of each sample and concluded that “hand” writing is really “brain” writing, because it is centrally organized in the brain. The process of mentally or physically visualizing letters and then transmitting that information to the sensory and motor areas in the brain that control our motor skills is what creates our writing form on paper. This insight has been confirmed by our knowledge that people who have had a stroke see their handwriting as seriously impaired, whereas those who have a hand prosthesis can eventually recover their handwriting skills. Another German psychiatrist, George Meyer, discovered that moods and emotions account for subtle changes in handwriting. These revelations of Preyer and Meyer inspired other psychologists and scientists to become interested in graphology.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Ludwig Klages (1872-1956), a philosopher and graphologist, and author of Die Handschrift als Gehernschrift, applied Gestalt theory (Gestalt meaning “complete” or “whole”) to his studies, broadening the scope of graphology. He is thus responsible for founding the German school of graphology, which looks at the whole of a handwriting sample rather than equating an individual stroke with a particular trait. Klages also introduced students of graphology to the concept of rhythm in writing (i.e., the ease with which the writer expresses the contraction and release in the writing pattern and stroke on the page—whether it is stilted or spontaneous, and shows fluidity in the implementation of the letters). Klages coined the phrase “form level,” which refers to the overall pattern of the writing by its style, symmetry, simplicity, legibility, creativity, good movement, and rhythm. He also concluded that handwriting is a balance between the conscious and unconscious aspects of our nature. This view could be compared to music in terms of rhythm, harmony, and psychic balance.

In Switzerland, Max Pulver (1890-1953), a professor at the University of Zurich, studied Klages’s work and applied the psychological methods of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud to handwriting analysis. He classified handwriting into three “zones”—upper, middle, and lower—each corresponding with a distinct area of personality (similar to Freud’s discovery of the superego, ego, and id). Pulver also introduced the symbolism of the space on the page—the meaning of the left and right sides of the page, as well as what the width or narrowness of the top, bottom, and side margins means.

DID YOU KNOW?

Famous people who were fascinated by the hidden language of handwriting include Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Carl Jung, and Albert Einstein. They made accurate observations about people in relation to their handwriting.

Other contributions in graphology were made by Robert Saudek (1880-1935), a Czechoslovakian who conducted experiments on the speed of handwriting, and Rudolph Pophal (1893-1966), a professor of neurology in Hamburg, Germany, who studied how the brain affects written strokes on a page and introduced the concept of tension and release in handwriting. As a neurologist, Pophal studied brain functions and conducted research on the physiological side of handwriting and behavior, confirming once again that writing comes not from our hand but from impulses in our brain.

Edgar Beerillon (1859-1948), a French psychologist and an authority on mental illness, found that written exercises could alter behavior in patients, thereby noting the relationship between the mind and writing. He called his study “psychothérapie graphique,” which eventually led to the study and practice of graphotherapy. Pierre Janet (1859-1947), a highly respected French psychologist who conducted many studies on the unconscious mind, became interested in and subsequently validated Berillon’s findings. This work led to further studies and testing at the Sorbonne. In the 1950s, hundreds of mentally disturbed children were treated through graphotherapy. And in 1966 Paul de Sainte Colombe (1891-1972) published Grapho-Therapeutics.

Klara Roman (1881-1962), a brilliant practitioner from Hungary, studied the conscious and unconscious energy of personality as depicted in handwriting, as well as the relationship between speech and handwriting. Roman devised the Psychogram, a measurement tool that compares writing with the character of the writer. She also brought graphology to the United States through classes at the New School in New York City.

Roda Wieser, a German graphologist, studied the handwriting of criminals and discovered basic rhythms that can show criminal tendencies, in particular, the slackness and the rigidity of the stroke.

Graphology didn’t make its way across the Atlantic until the early twentieth century. Many noted European graphologists, particularly those native to Germany, Austria, and Eastern Europe, immigrated to the United States and Israel during World War II, when the Nazis were in power. Their knowledge and contributions fueled interest in graphology on both continents.

In 1929 Milton Bunker (1892-1961), a former shorthand teacher from Kansas, founded the International Graphoanalysis Society (IGAS). He developed and standardized a system of handwriting analysis known as Graphoanalysis, which identifies basic handwriting strokes and relates them to particular personality traits (similar to the method developed by Michon a century earlier).

In New York, Felix Klein (1911-1994) founded the National Society for Graphology in 1972. His methods model the German Gestalt, or holistic approach to analysis, emphasizing the psychological interpretation of handwriting. Gestalt graphology requires years of rigorous training and is distinguished from other types of graphology because it takes a global view of handwriting rather than a letter-by-letter analysis. As an internationally respected leader of the Gestalt school, Felix Klein became interested in graphology at the age of thirteen. When later he and his siblings were interned in a concentration camp, Klein became fascinated by the similarities in the pen strokes he noticed among his fellow prisoners. The camp experience formed the basis of the work on the effects of trauma in handwriting, which he referred to as “directional pressure.” This indicates the bending of the spine (or downstroke) in certain letters, which would usually be straight, and reveals the writer’s anxiety over the present or the future. (When these prisoners were released and integrated successfully into the community, the spines of their letters subsequently returned to their previous form.)

Alfred Binet (1857-1911), the psychologist who developed the IQ (intelligence quotient) test, supported the findings of graphology and confirmed that certain character traits are reflected in handwriting.

Thea Stein Lewinson (1907-2000) in collaboration with Joseph Zubin (1900-1990) took a decisive step toward a more objective method of graphology in 1942. Zubin, a statistician and medical doctor at Bellevue Hospital in New York, tested the hypothesis of “finding a common denominator for evaluating the qualitative and quantitative aspects of handwriting.” Although it was based on the work of Ludwig Klages, this method goes on to investigate the vertical and horizontal movement in writing. The balanced handwriting movement lies between contraction and release.

Lewinson and Zubin then developed a system of scales, which they applied clinically to the handwriting of normal and abnormal individuals. Their painstaking efforts resulted in the establishment of ratings and measurements. After participating in the Lewinson-Zubin experiment, Rose Wolfson published her study of the handwriting of delinquents and nondelinquents. By analyzing twenty-two factors reflected in four lines of writing samples, she found significant differences between the two groups. Lewinson, Zubin, and Wolfson developed a scale determining a writer’s emotional control by means of geometric measurements and qualitative ratings.

DID YOU KNOW?

Albert Einstein wrote to Thea Stein Lewinson expressing his regard and fascination for the discipline of graphology, saying her analysis of the character of Adolf Hitler was far more revealing and insightful than his own perceptions.

Now in the twenty-first century, more and more businesses and individuals in the United States and other countries are realizing the benefits of using handwriting analysis, and the field continues to grow.

Art, Science, or New Age?

Many consider graphology both an art and a science. Interpreting the variables—separately and in totality—that constitute a handwriting’s style is an art. The skill and knowledge of the range of styles factor into that art as well. As a science, graphology measures numerous aspects of handwriting, then notes the similarities between the personalities of writers who share these traits. Over the last two hundred years, graphologists have diligently collected samples to back up their conclusions.

Eighty-nine percent of Swiss companies¹ (compared to 67 percent that use psychological testing) and about 85 percent of French firms² use graphology in making personnel decisions.

Graphology is an old, well-studied, and well-applied projective psychological approach to the study of personality. It was used before psychoanalysis, Gestalt therapy, and other methods were developed and honed. But somehow, in the United States, graphology is still often categorized as an occult or New Age subject.

While astrology, numerology, and other New Age practices are used to assess the nature and personality of the individual, and are often billed as tools for predicting the future, graphology is not a divination tool. It is grounded in psychology, and in fact has been taught in departments of psychology at universities in Germany, France, Spain, Israel, and Italy. The purpose of graphology is to examine and evaluate personality and character. Its use is comparable to assessment models such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (which is widely employed in business), or other psychological testing models. And while handwriting can provide insight into the writer’s past and current state of mind, abilities, and compatibility with others, it cannot predict when he or she will meet a soul mate, accumulate wealth, or find peace and happiness.

As a method of personality assessment, handwriting analysis has been validated by centuries of research from major universities and independent studies worldwide. Though graphology is sure to meet its share of skeptics, its use has been taken seriously years by many scientists and psychologists, and, most important, by some of the largest and most renowned corporations and government agencies in the world, such as the Warburg Bank in London, General Motors, Renault, the FBI, the CIA, the Israeli Secret Service (Mossad), and Scotland Yard. In 1980 the Library of Congress changed the classification for graphology books from the “occult” section to the “psychology” section, officially moving graphology out of the New Age.

Graphology Today: Its Uses and Applications

In the early part of the twentieth century, graphology was seriously studied, applied, and practiced throughout Europe. Graphology declined in use in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries during World War II (which is why many of the most renowned graphologists of the time fled to other parts of Europe, Israel, or the United States), but graphology has since steadily grown in popularity and use. Graphological societies and organizations exist in the United States, England, France, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Italy, Israel, Singapore, Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand, and since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, they are returning to Eastern Europe. Classes in graphology are taught in universities.

Graphology is used today in numerous areas, including education, guidance or vocational counseling, profiling job applicants, career assessment, business motivation, analysis of business and personal relationship compatibility, and screening of prospective jurors.

DID YOU KNOW?

Ruth Holmes, a noted graphologist, was hired by Dr. Jack Kervorkian’s counsel to aid in jury selection during his assisted suicide trials. Her work proved quite successful.

An in-depth analysis of handwriting can shed new light on a person’s values, beliefs, character traits, talents, and abilities. It can provide an accurate picture of the personality in general. It cannot, however, reveal the writer’s age, gender, race, religion, handedness, or ethnicity. Since it is nondiscriminatory, graphology is one of many excellent human resources tools. In fact, graphologists working for personnel departments rarely meet the employment candidates—they make their observations on handwriting alone.

The Signature: Power and Identity

The pen is mightier than the sword.

— EDWARD GEORGE BULWER-LYTTON

Handwriting is a very individual trademark. Since no two people have the same handwriting, signatures have been legally binding on documents of all types: contracts, wills, checks, and the Declaration of Independence, to name a few (the signature is often referred to as a “John Hancock,” since his handwriting was so prominent on this historic document!). Your signature is your personal seal. And if someone tries to reproduce it, that’s forgery, which is considered a crime. Sir William Herschel, who developed the system of fingerprint identification, confirmed the uniqueness of one’s signature; he believed that handwriting reveals character in the same way that a fingerprint reveals identity.

Handwriting is special and sometimes even coveted. Think of how valuable autographs are. Collecting autographs is a serious hobby to many people, whether for long-term profit or simply for the fun and excitement of having the signature of someone you admire or respect.

Can a signature alone give a glimpse into someone’s character? To a degree. Of course, it is always preferable to have a page of writing to analyze—a signature might be different from the text of a handwriting, and the longer or more varied a sample you have, the better and more accurate your view of that person and his or her character. However, interesting character revelations can often be derived from how one’s name is signed. We’ll look at some famous—and infamous—signatures later in this book, with the proviso that a signature represents a very limited sample of writing. Still, because it is the most practiced writing we create, our signature is considered our psychological calling card.

DID YOU KNOW?

January 12 is National Handwriting Day and January 6 through 12 is National Handwriting Analysis Week (sponsored by the American Association of Handwriting Analysts and the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation). Celebrate it write!

Handwriting in the Computer Age

In our current information age, more and more people are using computers, cell phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to communicate. Instead of writing in longhand, we’re typing out our term papers, business reports, or novels using word-processing programs on computers. Instead of drafting handwritten letters to friends in other cities and countries, we now text message or e-mail. While all this makes communication faster and life a lot easier, it means there’s a lot less old-fashioned writing going on. And e-mail is not a living expression of the writer, nor does it become a keepsake of the author.

Some computer programs will create a font that replicates your handwriting or signature. You’ve probably even noticed that your paycheck now has a computer-generated signature rather than the real thing. If you’ve ever used a personal digital assistant (like the Palm), you’ve probably seen the software called Graffiti, which turns your handwritten strokes into letters (albeit not always as accurately as you’d like). And the Tablet PC is a developing technology in which a digital pen can be used on a tablet or screen to turn your written words into printed language on the computer. Microsoft’s CEO, Bill Gates, believes that the Tablet PC “will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.”

There are also computer programs that claim to analyze your handwriting in moments. Though some programs can help the professional graphologist expedite the input and output of information, the student of graphology or layperson wanting to understand how to read handwriting would best do it the old-fashioned way—by reading books written by serious professionals, taking classes, and collecting and studying actual handwriting samples. The more you study and interpret, the better at it you will become.

Without real handwriting and a knowledgeable professional doing the analysis, there is no accounting for accuracy.

It is widely believed that no computer program existing today can consistently pick up all the nuances in a handwriting sample, or provide the personal insights and reliable instincts of a trained professional. Would you want your doctor to make a diagnosis about an illness based purely on your filling out a questionnaire, without the benefit of an in-person examination?

Nothing will ever take the place of the intimacy that a personal, handwritten note or signature delivers. Imagine getting a romantic love letter printed in Times Roman. Or not signing your five-year-old’s birthday card, “Love, Mom” or “Love, Dad.” There will always be times when writing by hand will be appropriate or simpler. As we forge into the future, our identities might become as impersonal as keypunches in a giant data bank, but our signatures will still be uniquely our own.

1. International Graphology Conference, University of Zuirich, October 1998.

2. The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 1988.