Personality Traits

Handwriting

Graphology is the science of exploring handwriting of individuals.

Over the years this science has been attributed to being able to classify personalities based on the average handwriting.

With the removal of handwriting in public schools around the country it is likely that this kind of analysis will become rare over the next 40 years as handwriting takes years to perfect and people have to continue to develop their writing over time. 

Currently there are over 100 traits stylized traits of handwriting that can be observed in a person’s script that can give insight to the mental and physical health of the writer.

Shaky handwriting for example is often seen in people under intense stress that have suffered a stroke, that are slipping into dementia, or that are suffering from Alzheimers.

It is impossible to take one aspect of handwriting and identify it to one trait. Rather, to understand how to analyze handwriting you want to look for consistent traits that repeat throughout a person’s handwriting or signature. 

Here are some general traits that you can look for through handwriting. You can also follow the links on this page to find out more in depth information regarding personality types, concerning mental illnesses, and examples of celebrity analysis. 

Mental prowess: Slanting in handwriting can show what side of the brain is more powerful in a person. Pay close attention to whether or not the script slants one way, is uniform, or if there is an exaggerated slant. 

Connectivity: People who are very open-minded tend to have words that do not always connect in a cursive type way. They will have letters that are apart from other words and non-standard cursive types. 

Goals: To identify if a person is goal oriented and if they follow through then note how there “I”s are dotted and “T”s are crossed. Also focus on the T-bars and see whether they are heavy or light. Heavier bars show intense focus. 

Self-image: While overall neatness can be an attribute of self-aware people who care about their self-image, a more reliable tool is to watch the d-stems and p-stems to see if they are short, long, or complete. 

In the zone: Level headed and responsible people will have medium sized writing that remains in the mid zone. People who are filled with self-importance tend to write larger script and be inconsistent with their end lines. Introverts will have smaller writing. 

Graphology can be can used to weed out people that you would not want as employees, can give you a heads up on emotional mood swings of those around you, and can be a tool to help understand students, co-workers, and even friends. 

Remember to view the overall writing for habits within the words. People who are deceptive will likely be aware of their writing and it is common for introverts to unintentionally try to hide themselves in their writing. It can be confusing, but the art of Graphology has around for over 4000 years and in this time it has grown increasingly reliable.

It is certainly not an exact science but clues about people are definitely in their writing. As you become more familiar with what to look for you then you will be able to anticipate people’s traits and behaviors with increased accuracy. 

By Flo Saul
Dec 3, 2012