Graphology: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Pseudoscientific interpretationanalysis of handwriting}}

{{distinguishfor2|text=[[Graphanalysis]], the forensic examination of handwritten documents|Graphanalysis|the asstudy aof branchwriting systems|Graphemics|the study of questionedmathematical documentgraphs|Graph examinationtheory}}

'''Graphology''' is the analysis of [[handwriting]] in an attempt to determine the writer's [[personality trait]]s. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence,<ref name="DriverBuckleyFrink1996">{{cite journal |last1=Driver |first1=Russell W. |last2=Buckley |first2=M. Ronald |last3=Frink |first3=Dwight D. |title=Should We Write Off Graphology? |journal=International Journal of Selection and Assessment |date=April 1996 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=78–86 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2389.1996.tb00062.x }}</ref><ref name="NYT1">{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Roger |title=In France, It's How You Cross the t's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/19/business/in-france-it-s-how-you-cross-the-t-s.html |work=The New York Times |date=19 October 1993 }}</ref> and as such it is considered to be a [[pseudoscience]].<ref name=nevo1986/><ref name=Graph_Beyer_PBS/><ref name="ReferenceA">{{Scientific American Frontiers|8|2|BEYOND SCIENCE? Paper Personality}}</ref><ref name = Dunning>{{Skeptoid|id=4363|number=363|title=All About Graphology|access-date=2 September 2016}}</ref> However, graphological conclusions have been used as evidence in some historical court cases.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bishop|first=Paul|year=2017|title=Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life: A Vitalist Toolkit|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781138697157|page=5}}</ref> It is sometimes conflated with [[questioned document examination|forensic document examination]] techniques regarding handwriting, due to the fact the latter are occasionally referred to as ''[[graphanalysis]]''.

Historian Laurens Schlicht states that while graphology failed to become a scientific discipline, many experts in [[experimental psychology]] and [[psychiatry]] participated in the endeavour to study graphology within a broader, more recognized science of expression, and that "to qualify something as pseudoscience can thus easily result in an unsystematic examination of a historical constellation of knowledge production."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schlicht|first=Laurens|year=2020|title=Graphology in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s|journal=NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin|volume=28|issue=2|pages=149–179|doi=10.1007/s00048-020-00246-8|pmid=32333033|doi-access=free}}</ref> Graphology has been controversial for more than a century. Although supportersproponents point to thepositive testimonials as [[anecdotal evidence]] of positive testimonials as a reason to useits itutility for personality evaluation, empiricalthese studiesclaims failhave tonot showbeen the validity claimedsupported by itsscientific supportersstudies.<ref name="DriverBuckleyFrink1996"/><ref name="Furnham1987">{{cite journal |last1=Furnham |first1=Adrian |last2=Gunter |first2=Barrie |title=Graphology and personality: Another failure to validate graphological analysis |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=January 1987 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=433–435 |doi=10.1016/0191-8869(87)90045-6 }}</ref> It has also been rated byas mentalamong healththe professionalsmost asdiscredited onemethods of thepsychological topanalysis fiveby mosta discreditedsurvey psychologicalof testsmental health professionals.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Norcross|first1=John C.|last2=Koocher|first2=Gerald P.|last3=Garofalo|first3=Ariele|date=2006|title=Discredited psychological treatments and tests: A Delphi poll.|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515|journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice|volume=37|issue=5|pages=515–522|doi=10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515|issn=1939-1323|quote=Five tests rated by at least 25% of the experts in terms of being discredited for a specific purpose received mean scores of 4.0 or higher: Luscher Color Test, Szondi Test, handwriting analysis (graphology), Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (for assessment of neuropsychological impairment), eneagrams, and Lowenfeld Mosaic Test|via=}}</ref>

The word "graphology" isderives derived from ''grapho-'' (from the Greek {{lang|el|γραφή,}} "({{transl|el|grapho-}}; 'writing"'), and ''{{lang|el|[[logoswikt:λόγος|λόγος]]''}} (from the Greek {{transl|el|[[wikt:λόγος|λόγοςlogos]], which relates to discussion or}}; 'theory').<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.finedictionary.com/graphology.html|title = Fine Dictionary|access-date = 2014-09-22|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924013139/http://www.finedictionary.com/graphology.html|archive-date = 2015-09-24|url-status = live}}</ref>

In 1991, [[Jean-Charles Gille|Jean-Charles Gille-Maisani]] stated that [[Juan Huarte de San Juan]]'s 1575 ''{{lang|es|Examen de ingenios para las ciencias''}} was the first book on handwriting analysis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gille-Maisani |first= Jean-Charles |year=1991 |title=Psicología de la Escritura |trans-title=Psychology of Handwriting) |location=Barcelona |publisher=Herder|isbn=978-84-254-1705-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Huarte |first=Juan |title=Examen de ingenios para las ciencias |trans-title=Examination of inventions for the sciences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6v4rNcFzqUC |year=1846 |publisher=Imprenta R. Campuzano |location=Madrid |language=es |orig-year=1575}}</ref> In American graphology, [[Camillo Baldi]]'s ''{{lang|it|Trattato come da una lettera missiva si conoscano la natura e qualità dello scrittore''}} from 1622 is considered to be the first book.<ref name="ROMAN1952"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Baldi |first=Camillo |author-link=Camillo Baldi |title=Trattato come da una lettera missiva si conoscano la natura e qualità dello scrittore |trans-title=Treatise on from a missive letter knowing the nature and quality of the writer |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k8597375 |location=Carpi |publisher=Girolamo Vaschieri |year=1622 |language=it |access-date=2016-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121092829/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k8597375 |archive-date=2016-11-21 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{clarification needed|date=January 2024}}

French Psychiatristpsychiatrist Joseph Rogues De Fursac combined graphology and psychiatry in athe 1905 book, ''{{lang|fr|Les ecrits et les dessins dans les maladies mentales et nerveuses''}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fursac |first=Joseph Rogues de |url=https://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100605411 |title=Les écrits et les dessins dans les maladies nerveuses et mentales |date=1905 |publisher=Masson, Paris |edition=first publication}}</ref>

After [[World War&nbsp;I]], interest in graphology continued to spread in Europe and the United States. In Germany during the 1920s, [[Ludwig Klages]] founded and published his findings in ''{{lang|de|Zeitschrift für Menschenkunde''}} (''Journal for the Study of Mankind''). His major contribution to the field can be found in ''{{lang|de|Handschrift und Charakter''}}.<ref>{{Citation

== ProfessionalUse statusby employers ==

Graphology was also dismissed as a pseudo-sciencepseudoscience by the skeptic [[James Randi]] in 1991.<ref>{{youTube|NeYkOHQ683k|James Randi and a Graphologist}}</ref>

* Vagueness: Some important principles of graphology are vague enough to allow significant room for a graphologist to skew interpretations to suit a subject or preconceived conclusion. For example, one of the main concepts in the theory of [[Ludwig Klages]] is ''{{lang|fr|form-niveau''}} (or ''form-level''): the overall level of originality, beauty, harmony, style, ''etc.'' of a person's handwriting—a quality that, according to Klages, can be perceived but not measured. According to this theory, the same sign has a positive or negative meaning depending on the subject's overall character and personality as revealed by the ''form-niveau''. In practice, this can lead the graphologist to interpret signs positively or negatively depending on whether the subject has high or low social status.<ref>Ulfried Geuter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG9TDItv-QQC&pg=PA95 The Professionalization of Psychology in Nazi Germany]'', pp. 95–96. [[Cambridge University Press]], 1992.</ref>

== ApproachesSystems ==

Integrative graphology focuses on the strokes and their purported relation to personality.<ref name="Sciences 360">{{Cite web|url = http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/handwriting-analysis-and-the-secrets-of-graphology-3-22964/|title = Handwriting Analysis and the Secrets of Graphology|access-date = 2014-09-22|website = Sciences 360|publisher = Helium, Inc.|last = Carter|first = Molly|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140704202319/http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/handwriting-analysis-and-the-secrets-of-graphology-3-22964/|archive-date = 2014-07-04|url-status = live}}</ref> Graphoanalysis was the most influential system in the United States, between 1929 and 2000.{{cn|date=March 2022}}

[[Holism|Holistic]] graphology is based on form, movement, and use of space.<ref name="Sciences 360" /> ThereIt are several methods that use psychographs oruses [[psychogram]]s, specific diagrams, to analyze handwriting.<ref name="ROMAN1952">{{Citation| last = Roman| first = Klara G. | title = Handwriting: A Key to Personality| place= New York| publisher = Pantheon Books| year = 1952| edition = 1st}}</ref><ref>{{Citation| last = Anthony| first = Daniel S.| title = The Graphological Psychogram: Psychological meanings of its Sectors; Symbolic Interpretation of its Graphic Indicators| place= Fort Lauderdale, FL; New York NY| orig-year = 1964| year = 1983| edition = Revised}}</ref>

=== In Hungary ===

=== In the United States ===

A 1991 review of the then-current literature concluded that respondents were able to predict the gender of handwriting between 57 and 78% of the time.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/0141192910170204|title=Sex Differences in Handwriting: A comment on Spear|year=1991|last1=Hartley|first1=James|journal=British Educational Research Journal|volume=17|issue=2|pages=141–145}}</ref> However, most of these samples, as well as subsequent studies, are based on small sample sizes that are collected nonrandomlynon-randomly. A much larger and more recent survey of over 3,000 participants only found a classification accuracy of 54%.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blog.survata.com/identifying-gender-by-handwriting-youre-probably-not-as-good-at-it-as-you-think#:~:text=Gender%20equality&text=Men%20identified%20male%20handwriting%20successfully,of%2049%25%20to%2045%25 |title=Identifying gender by handwriting — you're probably not as good at it as you think |access-date=2020-09-17 |archive-date=2020-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810042715/https://blog.survata.com/identifying-gender-by-handwriting-youre-probably-not-as-good-at-it-as-you-think#:~:text=Gender%20equality&text=Men%20identified%20male%20handwriting%20successfully,of%2049%25%20to%2045%25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As statistical discrimination below 0.7 is generally considered unacceptable,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve in Diagnostic Test Assessment |journal=Journal of Thoracic Oncology |date=1 September 2010 |volume=5 |issue=9 |pages=1315–1316 |doi=10.1097/JTO.0b013e3181ec173d |last1=Mandrekar |first1=Jayawant N. |pmid=20736804 |doi-access=free }}</ref> this indicates that most results are rather inaccurate,<ref>{{Cite book|doi = 10.1007/978-3-030-01424-7_60|chapter = Handwriting-Based Gender Classification Using End-to-End Deep Neural Networks|title = Artificial Neural Networks and Machine Learning – ICANN 2018|series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science|year = 2018|last1 = Illouz|first1 = Evyatar|last2 = (Omid) David|first2 = Eli|last3 = Netanyahu|first3 = Nathan S.|volume = 11141|pages = 613–621|arxiv = 1912.01816|isbn = 978-3-030-01423-0|s2cid = 52909281}}</ref> and that variation in results observed is likely due to sampling technique and bias.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bradley |first1=Sean |title=Handwriting and Gender: A multi-use data set |journal=Journal of Statistics Education |date=March 2015 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1 |doi=10.1080/10691898.2015.11889721 |s2cid=123033133 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

''Graphotherapy'' is the pseudoscience of changing a person's handwriting with the goal of changing features of his or her personality, or "handwriting analysis in reverse."<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Shermer |editor-first=Michael |title=The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&pg=PA119|volume=1|year=2002|publisher=Skeptic's Society|isbn=978-1-57607-653-8|page=119}}</ref> It originated in France during the 1930s, spreading to the United States in the late 1950s.<ref name="destpaul">{{Citation |last= de Sainte Columbe |first= Paul |title= Grapho Therapeutics: Pen and Pencil Therapy |location= Hollywood, CA |publisher= Paul de St Columbe Center |year= 1972 |edition= 2nd}}</ref> The purported therapy consists of a series of exercises similar to those taught in basic [[calligraphy]] courses, sometimes in conjunction with music or positive self-talk.