There is no correct way to write by hand.
Some of us write in a way that the writing looks as if it was penned by a child, while
others have a very intricate cursive style that looks impressive to most.
As you well know, others may write in a way that people will hardly be able to read it,
what we often call “illegible”.
Whether the letters are joined with fancy loops or just printed, how we write might
say a lot about us.
You have likely seen people called “Graphologists” in movies about criminals.
The job of these folks is to study handwriting and either surmise the state of mind of the
writer at time of writing or get an insight into the personality of the writer.
That’s what we’ll discuss today, in this episode of the Infographics Show, Handwriting
Analysis - What Does It Say About You?
We must go back to the 16th century to find the first book that was written about handwriting
styles and what that style was supposed to say about us.
But it wasn’t until the 19th century that this science – some now say pseudo-science
– really caught on and started to be taken seriously by scientists.
Indeed, graphology was seen as a breakthrough in understanding the human mind and all its
confounding nuances and characteristics.
In the late 19th century the French psychologist Alfred Binet called graphology “the science
of the future.”
We might remember that this is the man that is said to have been the person that created
the IQ Test.
The Americans of course wanted a piece of this future, and soon the U.S. government
was looking into the mysteries of handwriting and what it supposedly revealed about us.
The American Grapho Analysis Society was formed in 1929, but the science always had many critics.
It remained a big deal in the years to come, despite those who said it was patent pseudoscience.
We should say that such tests were not only said to be useful for tracking down crazy
killers, but as an evaluation of our personality.
Testing handwriting, for some people at least, could be as useful as other personality tests
such as the Myers-Briggs personality test.
If you don’t know that, it was based on Carl Jung’s belief that all humans have
certain personality characteristics, that there are archetypal personalities in the
world.
So, you might be an Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceptive (INFP) kind of person,
but your handwriting held even more secrets to the Pandora’s Box of your personality.
We will ask you what you think about graphology, but first we think you should keep listening
and then compare your own handwriting to what graphologists say and then tell us what you
think at the end of the show.
We should say that not all graphologists agree, but let’s have a look at what some say.
So, one of the most noticeable things regarding how we write is the fact that many of us slant
our letters.
Here we can invoke introversion and extroversion, because some graphologists tell us that if
your handwriting slopes to the right you are outgoing and open to new things, you are sociable.
If it slants to the left, though, it might mean the opposite, that you like to spend
a lot of time alone and are not so outgoing.
Maybe you have no slant and all your letters stand straight to attention.
Apparently, that means you are logical; a practical kind of person who is perhaps not
outwardly emotional.
Now you have the slants down, what about the size of your letters.
As you well know, some people’s handwriting is tiny and some other people’s handwriting
is huge.
Well, that is supposed to mean what you think it might mean, in that large means you have
a big personality and constantly seek attention.
Small means just the opposite, that you are shyer and not in need of the limelight.
As for medium, well, that just means you lie somewhere in the middle.
You are a well adjusted kind of person.
Now it gets a little more complicated.
We will talk about loops.
When we write in cursive style and write “Ls” we often join the Ls with a loop.
Except, some people have those big loops and some people don’t seem to have much of a
loop at all.
We are told that if you have those big loops when joining an L to another letter you are
relaxed and spontaneous and can easily express yourself.
If you have that tight loop-less L it means the opposite.
You are tense and holding something back.
It’s the same for “Es”.
Some people write an e with the eye of the e as a big loop, and apparently this connotes
openness.
If it’s closed, you are a skeptical person and not easily swayed by others.
Let’s move on.
What about spacing, because some of us have big spaces between letters and others small
spaces.
Well, if you have large spaces between letters you are probably the kind of person that doesn’t
like to be crowded, your letters are like you, meaning, don’t get too close to me
all the time, give me space!
If your letters are close it’s the opposite.
You get lonely easily, you don’t like to be by yourself much and enjoy constantly being
around people.
You might also have some negative traits, such as getting in people’s face too much
and not giving people space.
Ok, what about shapes?
You’ve all seen that some people write with a kind of bubble style, with very round letters.
Others write with very sharp angles, which can look much more serious, while others have
neither style, yet their letters join perfectly so as not to show too much of a rounded style
or pointed style.
We are told that rounded means you should go on a diet…just kidding…rounded actually
means you are artistic, creative, while pointy means aggressive, yet intelligent and always
curious; you’re kind of fiercely intense yet clever as well.
If you have that perfectly joined style, you’re just very logical, practical, and you employ
systems in your life.
You think a lot about your decisions and likely make a lot of good ones.
What about those “I’s”, how do you deal with them?
Do you always dot them?
What kind of dot?
We are told that if your dots are way above the stick of the i you have a very fecund
imagination.
If the dots are close to the stick, you are more organized and a stickler for details.
What about those cute bubble dots?
Well, they mean never mind how old you get you still have a childish curiosity about
the world.
Don’t mistake that for being childish, though, we are told it can also mean visionary.
If the dots fall to the side, you might procrastinate a lot.
If the dots are hardly even dots and more like a slash, well, this isn’t good.
We are told if you do that you are too impatient and have no time for people that make mistakes.
You can now imagine an i-slasher and i-bubble dotter not getting along very well.
As for those “Ts”, how do you cross them.
If you cross them almost right at the top of the t you have a very good opinion of yourself
and are optimistic most of the time.
If you cross them in the middle, you are confident and well-balanced.
If you cross them with long strikes you are supposed to be very determined and have lots
of enthusiasm, but you might also be a bit stubborn at times.
If you cross them at the bottom you really suck…don’t shoot the messenger!
We are told that bottom crosses are lazy by nature and have little determination to do
much at all.
Now let’s move on to some different matters.
What about those margins we use?
When you write on paper do you leave a space at one side of the page, what we call a margin?
It turns out that some people leave that space on the left, meaning they live in the past
and have a really hard time of letting go of things.
Others leave that space on the right, which we are told means they always dwell on the
future and are constantly worried about what will happen.
It doesn’t really help if you use the full page, as we are told that means you think
too much and can’t ever relax.
It looks like graphologists gave us no easy way out in terms of how we use space on paper.
Another thing we all do is either press on hard – you know who you are, how many papers
have you ripped and pencils have you broken – and some of us employ the lightest of
touches.
If you push hard you are said to be trustworthy, dependent, but also kinda serious and sometimes
uptight.
If you have a light touch, you are sensitive, empathetic, but you are also lacking in strength
and vitality at times.
A hard touch might also mean you have loads of energy and feel intense about many matters,
and a light touch means you have no energy and don’t want to tire yourself with strong
emotions.
As for speed, if you write fast, you are impatient and dislike people that don’t get things
done quickly.
If you are slow, you are organized and methodical.
What about that signature of yours, is it a scribble or strange-looking thing that hardly
anyone can understand, or does it just look like your name?
If it’s a scribble, then you guard your privacy and you are a difficult person to
understand.
You might not want people to understand you.
If anyone can read your signature it means you are confident and not hiding from anyone.
Then you have the capital ‘I” to refer to yourself.
If it’s bigger than the other I’s on the page you are arrogant and think you’re better
than others.
If it is smaller, you are good in your own skin and harbor no such arrogance.
But what about when graphologists are looking for people with very unstable minds, people
that might go out and cannibalize their neighbor because the devil told them to do it?
Well, we are told that people who have lost touch with reality don’t really follow a
form.
In one sentence, their letters might slope all over, their loops might be closed and
open, their t’s and I’s might take on different forms.
Their handwriting is all over the place.
But this might also mean you are unpredictable, have emotional instability and are often conflicted;
you might not necessarily end up on the FBI’s most wanted list.
And before you mock this, while some scientists disagree others still believe our handwriting
says a lot about us.
In 2018, a graphologist told the Independent newspaper, “Just from analyzing your handwriting,
experts can find over 5,000 personality traits.”
We read one graphologist speaking to Psychology Today that said she had helped catch many
criminals using her skills.
In one such case she knew someone was lying as you could see the writing didn’t flow,
the person had thought too much about what they were writing.
“Criminal investigations are often solved solely through graphology, and this case demonstrates
that it is a very useful tool for leading police in the right direction,” she said,
so we might not discount graphology just yet.
We might also stress one more time that many people in the scientific community have little
or no confidence in graphology, for many folks it’s only as scientific as astrology.
We’ll leave it up to you to decide how reliable graphology is.
Ok, so now with all that in mind, please get a pen or pencil and write the words.
“Today I watched an episode of the Infographics Show and it was all about what my handwriting
might mean about me.”
After you analyzed your handwriting what did you think?
What do you think even if you didn’t do the analysis?
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other show What Are the Signs That You Are a Psychopath?
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like share and subscribe.
See you next time.