The psychology of handwriting

Posted on 07/06/2018

Does writing have a psychology? To answer the question, we will first define the academic discipline of psychology. Recent research after many considerations, gave the latest definition that states,” Psychology is the study of human behavior and mental processes. From the definition, it is clear that psychology is a comprehensive approach that blends both the behavior of human beings as well as their mental processes. When we mention the term behavior, it is obvious that “behavior of a human being “is the product of mental processes. Handwriting also is an outcome given by human beings as a result of mental processes. Thus, it is feasible to analyze the features of handwriting in the same way psychologists analyze the behavior to study the cognitive processes of the human brain.

Graphology is the science of handwriting that deals with the study of mental processes from the features and traits shown by their respective handwriting. Graphology as a science is originated during the period between 1895 and 1920 when German graphologists began considering the psychological aspects of writing. One of the most famous psychologists of the last century, Dr. George Meyer and child psychologist William Preyer incorporated the concept of psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud to learn about handwriting and generated a new stream of studying handwriting and it later became popular with the name Graphology.

In his book, "Handwriting and Character” the famous philosopher Ludwig Klages designed the fundamental ideas about graphology. Klages’s book was the first attempt that viewed handwriting in a panoramic way to understand the human behavior and mental processes. In his book, Klages provided two methods of assessment, namely the general form level and the rhythm of writing. Both these methods do not depend on signs or letter formations. The third factor in the writing criteria, ‘the speed’ was added by Robert Saudek, to the assessment pair proposed by Klages.

Symbolism of space in writing, proposed by Max Pulver, the famous Swiss Graphologist is another significant aspect of handwriting that found its origin in the 20th century. Following his studies, many psychologists and graphologists studied about the importance of handwriting as a tool to understand and learn about the behavioral characteristics of human beings. All these studies indicate the significance of having a great handwriting. Usually, we the human beings have the tendency to polish and lighten our face in a very beautiful way because we do believe that facial expressions have the potential to convey our emotional conditions. Similarly, handwriting also has the same potential and it is always advisable to have a legible handwriting. So, improving handwriting is an effective way to show the world that we have a much valuable personality.