Wednesday, February 8, 2012

What Your Handwriting Says About You

Graphology is a pseudoscience with a few avid followers and a few avid rejecters, in which handwriting is analysed to determine personality.  Thus far, it is not considered to be a valid source of personality profiling.  Though I’m not sure of its validity, graphology looked interesting, so I looked up the basics.

Hemingway's handwriting.  Source


Pressure
The amount of pressure applied while writing apparently indicates the emotional energy of the writer.  The more pressure is applied, the more vitality and mental endurance they have.  Ergo, they can put a lot of energy into tasks without completely draining themselves and are mostly successful.  On the other side of the range, someone who applies little pressure doesn’t have so much energy and tends to avoid emotionally draining events.

Slant
The slant of the writer’s letters indicates the response to emotion.  If the letters slant right (/), the writer reacts strongly to emotion, i.e. heart rules mind.  If the letters are vertical (|), the writer does not react to emotion easily, i.e. mind rules heart.  If the letters slant left (\) the writer shows no emotions.

Base Line
If sentences slant upwards as they proceed (this only works on unlined paper), it could mean a generally upbeat or optimistic nature of the writer, while a downwards slant could mean a generally down or pessimistic outlook.  Very straight lines could mean that the writer is overly disciplined or tense.

Apparently, these things can differ depending on the mood of the person as well, so for an accurate analysis, a series of writings over a period of time is required.

There are other things like spacing and size, but for now, this is it.  What does your handwriting say about you?  (And is it even remotely accurate?)

For more info on this, go here.  It is also the source for my post. 

2 comments:

  1. My handwriting seems to shift from time to time--but generally it tends to slant toward the right (though if I write with my left the letters really angle in that direction) and the baseline moves upwards.

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  2. They said that mood can affect the handwriting. Also, most people apparently have a slight right slant because that's the same direction they're writing. Interesting that it mirrors when you write with your left hand.

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