“Beware of a man whose writing sways like a reed in the wind”
- Confucius (500 BC)
Graphology is the study of handwriting to understand a person’s character. It has been around for hundreds of years, but the Italians are credited as being the founders of modern graphology in the 17th century – Italy is home to the oldest university where graphology is still studied today. Graphology has been used for several purposes, from understanding another person better, to aiding in investigation, evaluating compatibility for marriage, and more.
In the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011), Sherlock (Robert Downey Jr.) meets Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) for the first time, and when Sherlock assesses Moriarty’s handwriting, he launches into an incredibly detailed assessment of the man’s personality –
“The upward strokes on the p, the j and the m indicate a genius level intellect, while the flourishes on the lower zone denote a highly creative yet meticulous nature; but if one observes the overall slant and the pressure of the writing there’s a suggestion of acute narcissism, a complete lack of empathy and a pronounced inclination towards moral insanity”
Is it truly possible to conduct such a detailed assessment of an individual from simply looking at their handwriting? And how scientifically accurate is this process?
To begin with, graphology does take into account everything Sherlock mentions – the nature of the strokes, pressure, and slant of the writing. It also factors in the size of the letters, spacing between lines and letters, and speed of writing. If you’re curious to know what your handwriting says about you, write down this sentence on a piece of paper:
“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
Now take a look at what you just wrote as I guide you through the assessment (in very broad terms):
- If your handwriting is large, it could indicate a desire for attention and affection. You want to appear confident to those around you, but this might not be an accurate reflection of how you really feel on the inside.
- If your handwriting is small, you possess strong focus and concentration, but you are also socially shy and withdrawn.
- If your writing slants to the left, you are introspective and reserved, more oriented towards yourself
- If your writing slants to the right, you are friendly, sentimental and impulsive, and highly value friends and family
- If there is no slant to your writing, you are ruled by logic, not emotion, and are very pragmatic by nature.
If you want more insights into what your handwriting reveals about your personality, you can click here for a more detailed guide.
In 1920, Henry Grunfeld, co-founder of S.G. Warburg & Co found that someone was stealing petty cash from the family firm in Germany. He hired a handwriting expert to help with the investigation, who very quickly helped him find the culprit. Since then, Grunfeld remained firmly convinced on the merits of graphology.
But how accurate is this practice, really? What about its application in other areas, such as in the assessment of a couple’s compatibility for marriage? In the marriage example, one factor that determines compatibility is the slant of the writing – if the couple’s writing slants in the same direction, it is a sign of high compatibility, but if one slants to the left and the other to the right, the left-slant will be more reserved and less communicative than the right-slant, leaving the right-slant to periodically doubt the strength of the relationship.
I did a little digging into the scientific soundness of graphology, and while it has been around for a long time and is still recognised worldwide, it is unfortunately not strong enough to be termed scientifically valid.
For starters, a lot of the conclusions drawn from the assessment of handwriting are based on empirical evidence. In one pointed example, a study found that a vast majority of chronic liars wrote the letter ‘o’ with a line through it (imagine the cursive version of the letter, but with the line through the ‘o’ clearly visible), and therefore concluded that people who write their o’s in such a way are more likely to be liars. However, this is purely based on empirical correlation and cannot scientifically be proven.
Secondly, graphology isn’t a quantitative science, with its guidelines of assessment being very open to interpretation. Let’s look at Sherlock’s dialogue, for example. Sherlock claims that Moriarty’s handwriting reveals that he is a narcissist; in none of my research could I find ‘narcissism’ explicitly stated or connected to a particular handwriting style. My best guess is that Moriarty’s writing slants to the left – the guidelines I have researched indicate that a left-slant relates to an introspective and reserved personality, which Sherlock took a level further, perhaps? I might also guess that Moriarty applies heavy pressure while writing, which my research says indicates a readiness to act – which Sherlock then rephrases as ‘a pronounced inclination towards moral insanity’.
Starting to sound a bit like a tarot reading, isn’t it?
Graphology’s scientific vagueness and vast margin for interpretation was proved in the real world when multiple graphologists were asked to analyse the same handwriting sample and each of them provided a completely different assessment.
At the end of the day, graphology has popularly been categorised as a pseudo-science at best, having similar levels of credibility as phrenology and eugenics. Still, it is undeniably amusing to play psychologist and amaze others with one’s seemingly clairvoyant ability to read their minds from their handwriting – and now you have the tools to do it as well.
Works Cited
“The History of Graphology” The British Institute of Graphologists. Web. < https://www.britishgraphology.org/about-british-institute-of-graphologists/the-history-of-graphology/ > as seen on May 16th, 2022.
Mishra, Amarnath. “Forensic Graphology: Assessment of Personality” MedCrave. January 17th, 2017. Web. < https://medcraveonline.com/FRCIJ/forensic-graphology-assessment-of-personality.html#:~:text=Introduction-,The%20analysis%20of%20handwriting%20has%20been%20studied%20for%20almost%20four,of%20handwriting%20was%20Camillo%20Baldi. > as seen on May 16th, 2022.
Avila, Isabella. “Handwriting personality test” Onlyjayus. January 13th, 2022. Web. < https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eRSsPf3wBqU > as seen on May 16th, 2022.
Gal, Shayanne. “What your handwriting says about your personality” Insider. May 27th, 2018. Web. < https://www.insider.com/what-your-handwriting-says-about-you-2014-7 > as seen on May 16th, 2022.
Ravi, Mythili. “Are You Two Made For Each Other? Take A Handwriting Test” Write Choice. Web. < https://www.writechoice.co.in/writechoice/compatibility-in-handwriting/ > as seen on May 16th, 2022.
Editors. “Sorry, Graphology Isn’t a Real Science” JSTOR Daily. Web. < https://daily.jstor.org/graphology-isnt-real-science/ > as seen on May 16th, 2022.
Warren, Kathleen. “Graphology” The Ohio State University. March 8th, 2018. Web. < https://u.osu.edu/vanzandt/2018/03/08/graphology/ > as seen on May 16th, 2022.