Big Law Dictionary What is Graphology, what does it mean and how to spell it correctly. Graphology and practice
SHORT
Graphology is a science that studies the relationship of handwriting with a person's character, his abilities and emotional state. By examining the individual elements of handwriting, graphologists can create a detailed psychological portrait of a person.
Despite the fact that the history of graphology in Europe dates back centuries, in Russia this science began to develop actively only at the beginning of the 21st century. However, graphology is already being used in our country in recruiting, career guidance, psychology, medicine and other related fields. Graphological analysis has a number of undeniable advantages (speed of execution, impartiality, remoteness) over many psychological tests and studies, which opens up great prospects for the development and growth of the popularity of graphology in Russia.
NOT SHORT
Understanding a person can be difficult, but sometimes it is necessary.
What drives him in certain matters, how to establish contact, how to make interaction as productive as possible? Earlier, when people lived more closed, such issues were not so acute. The accelerated rhythm of life, constant work and personal meetings make us increasingly turn to personality psychology. And sometimes – when faced with life’s difficulties or facing an important choice – we may need to understand ourselves. Numerous psychological practices, an abundance of popular books on psychology and training schools are a characteristic indicator of the demands of modern society.
One of the sciences that helps to reveal the secret of human nature is graphology.
Graphology is a science that studies handwriting, its connection with the psychological characteristics, character, emotional state and abilities of a person. Graphology is widely used both in psychology itself and in related fields.
“Every idea that arises in the psyche, any tendency associated with this idea, ends and is reflected in movement,” said Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov, a well-known Russian thinker, physiologist, and psychologist.
Now it's not a secret for anyone that there is a connection between a person's brain activity, his nervous system, mental processes and fine motor skills. According to many psychologists, in any motor activity of a person, his essence is manifested, including in handwriting. The nature of the movements depends on the involuntary tension of certain muscles, which in turn is directly related to the characteristics of the mental state of a person. Muscle tone is also reflected in handwriting, making it sharper or rounder, large or small, even or jerky.
In 1895, the German physiologist Thierry William Preyer conducted a series of studies on the handwriting of people who had received various hand injuries, as a result of which they had to learn to write with their mouths or feet. The handwriting before and after the disability matched. Based on this, the scientist concluded that a person's handwriting is more connected with his brain and consciousness than with purely physiological characteristics.
People began to pay attention to handwriting for a very long time. Confucius, for example, instructed: "Beware of a person whose handwriting resembles the movement of a reed swayed by the wind." Aristotle, Theophrastus, the ancient Roman historian Suetonius paid attention to the handwriting of a person. Emperor Nero wrote: "I am afraid of this man, because his handwriting shows that he has a treacherous nature."
The first known history book devoted exclusively to the analysis of handwriting was written by an Italian physician, professor at the University of Bologna Camillo Baldo in 1622. The word "graphology" itself appeared two centuries later thanks to the French abbot Jean Hyppolite Michon, who in 1871 wrote the work "The System of Graphology". In his book, the abbot tried to systematize the features of handwriting and connect them with the psychological characteristics of a person, Michon's method singled out and compared individual elements of handwriting - strokes, letters, words and lines - each graphological feature suggested the presence of a certain character trait, its absence - the presence of the opposite trait. And although at present this statement is considered to be only partly true, it is Michon who is considered to be the father of modern graphology.
Many prominent cultural figures of the past showed interest in the study of handwriting. Thus, the German poet, thinker, naturalist and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: “there is not a shadow of a doubt that handwriting is related to the character and mind of a person and that it can at least give an idea of his feelings and actions.” And George Sand thought: “It is possible that I am mistaken in everything, since I do not have a system; but I receive many letters, and the instinct of the observer allows me, on the basis of the general impression, to judge the writer by the handwriting.
Graphology was highly appreciated by culturologists, physiologists, and psychologists. Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung tried to penetrate into the unconscious of a person with the help of graphology, the famous Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler also recognized the importance of graphology and himself analyzed the handwriting of his patients.
Currently, graphology is an officially recognized science in many European countries and the USA. In France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries, graphology is studied in universities along with other disciplines. Graphologists are in-demand specialists in such areas as recruiting, career guidance, psychology, and medicine. Handwriting analysis is actively used in space medicine - experts analyze the records made by astronauts in orbit to assess the state of their nervous system.
In Russia, graphology is just beginning to develop actively. Despite the fact that as early as the beginning of the 20th century, our scientists made attempts to present science to the general public (a number of works were written on forensic and graphological areas in the analysis of handwriting), stagnation in this area followed in Soviet times. Graphology was rejected by the Soviet authorities as "bourgeois pseudoscience" and Soviet scientists not only did not have the opportunity to study it officially, but also to read the works of European colleagues.
In the 21st century, the situation began to change - a high interest in psychology and related sciences, the availability of foreign sources of information, the possibility of a freer choice of scientific interest play an important role in the development of Russian graphology. A fairly large number of books and articles on this topic have appeared in Russian.
There are two main directions in the analysis of handwriting: forensic and proper graphological.
The forensic direction - it is also handwriting - is engaged in the study of handwriting in order to solve the problems of forensic handwriting examination and helps to establish the authorship of the text, the authenticity of the signature, etc.
The graphological direction in the study of handwriting is graphology, i.e. the science of the relationship between a person's handwriting and his character. Graphology is widely used in business, medicine, education and other areas. HR specialists consult with graphologists when selecting employees - by handwriting, a graphologist will help determine whether the applicant matches the required position, tell about his strengths and weaknesses. In an interview, it can be difficult to understand how an employee will behave in the long term, graphological analysis is the fastest and most convenient way to find out the character and inclinations of a person.
Graphology can be of great help in career guidance. An analysis of the handwriting of a child or an employee allows you to understand in which area of activity he will best show his qualities and be able to fully reveal himself. Graphologists are also involved in family consultations, helping to identify the cause of difficulties and disagreements within couples, find a suitable solution and determine the degree of compatibility of partners.
Graphology has a number of indisputable advantages over psychological tests and consultations.
Firstly, graphology allows you to evaluate strangers without knowing anything about them, except for their handwriting. It takes a psychologist quite a lot of time to give an accurate and extensive conclusion, a graphologist just needs to look at a handwriting sample, the full result of the study can be issued in a couple of days.
Graphological analysis does not require the personal presence of the graphologist diagnosed during the work. This eliminates the possibility of a number of subjective factors affecting the diagnostic process: the appearance of the person being tested, its conscious or unconscious influence on the test results, it is impossible to lie or give pre-prepared and socially expected answers.
In addition, a graphologist can characterize a person regardless of the language in which the person speaks and writes. The graphologist does not care what language the document is written in, because he pays attention to the signs of writing, and not to its essence. (This does not apply to hieroglyphic writing, which is more drawing than actual writing.)
Aristotle noted: “Just as there are no people who speak the same way, so there are no people who write the same way,” and this cannot be argued with. However, graphology became possible precisely due to the presence of similar elements in the writing of different people. There are many of these elements and their endless combinations just create that dissimilarity of handwriting, which Aristotle spoke about.
In their work, graphologists use auxiliary tables compiled on the basis of numerous scientific works and studies. There are graphological tables of signs of various psychotypes, there are those that help you navigate the graphological signs themselves, some are devoted to the interpretation of various symptoms and emotional states. An important factor is the professional flair of a graphologist, which is developed by extensive practice during training.
Despite the fact that graphology in Russia is just beginning its journey, the advantages of this type of testing have already been appreciated by many.
What is graphology, what is it based on and how does it work
Graphological analysis is based on the understanding that handwriting is formed by the brain and, to a greater extent than motor skills, is determined by subconscious processes. In the process of writing, the hand is only an instrument of the brain, the personality of the writer.
Scientific graphology is based on physiological, psychological, psychopathological and other knowledge, as well as scientific research in these areas and rich statistical material.
Note: interesting experiments that confirmed the connection between the brain and handwriting were carried out using hypnosis, also by measuring the percentage of alcohol in the writer's blood.
Graphology - science or art?
Perhaps, if we try to give the most accurate definition of graphological analysis, it would be most correct to say that it contains elements of both.
Graphology is systematic, based on research, observation and study of patterns, as well as on special experiments. The theoretical basis of the graphological method are numerous scientific works.
Graphology is also scientific in the sense that it allows us to confirm theoretical assumptions in practice. This distinguishes it favorably from some other areas of psychodiagnostics, where it is very difficult to prove theoretical statements and proposed personality classifications.
In terms of the concepts used, graphology uses the terminology of a number of psychological disciplines - from personality theory to psychopathology. This is possible because it perfectly correlates with the main teachings of classical psychology, partly relying on them.
Of course, it is important to understand that graphology (like some other psychological and medical disciplines) is not an exact science in the mathematical sense of the word. Despite the theoretical basis, consistency, validity, tables, etc., a full-fledged graphological analysis of handwriting is impossible without the participation of a living specialist, whose experience and psychological instinct are indispensable for the most accurate understanding of various combinations and nuances of features in handwriting. One logical approach is not enough; it requires the ability to see and put together from numerous signs a holistic picture of the personality under study.
Therefore, the process of learning a graphologist requires long-term practice in order, firstly, to acquire a “trained eye” in recognizing the nuances of handwriting, and secondly, to learn how to effectively compare these features with each other.
Thus, graphology also contains an element of art!
In particular, a considerable share of professional flair and intuition is needed. Since each of the numerous phenomena in handwriting does not have one meaning, since it depends on combinations, the severity of phenomena, etc., a holistic approach is needed.
"Pure mathematics" will be mistaken, since in this case the totality of features can be equal to something other than just their sum!
Human intuition, based on experience and knowledge, is necessary here to the same extent as it is necessary for a doctor when making diagnoses. Medicine is also an inexact science, and often a medical reference book of symptoms cannot replace a living specialist, but it can fail. By analogy with determining the state of human health, when it makes no sense to draw conclusions only on the presence of temperature or nausea, and it is unacceptable for a specialist, so in graphology it is impossible to draw conclusions on one or another phenomenon (“symptom”) in handwriting, which, as a rule, has several different positive and negative meanings.
In connection with these features, there is still no error-free program for handwriting analysis. Like many areas that require not only knowledge, but also personal skills in their application (for example, medicine, psychology, some applied disciplines), handwriting analysis is practically not amenable to computerization.
Despite the great temptation to invent a computer program for automatic handwriting analysis, a high-quality program is just as unrealistic as using a polygraph without a polygraph examiner, or using data from analyzes, examinations and treatment without a living doctor.
It is absurd to rely on the "experience and intuition" of a machine that evaluates such subtle matters as interrelated or contradictory personality traits only from arbitrarily entered simple separate data. Not to mention compiling a truly adequate and consistent analysis “at the end”, and not a meaningless set of numbers or contradictory qualities, it will simply be incomprehensible what to do with all this.
The temptation to just "write a program" is great, but too much, if not all, depends on the level of skill, insight, understanding of the person processing the data - there is no guarantee that the program will not come to partially or even completely unreliable conclusions.
Serious work is underway to create such a computer system, but it will be just an auxiliary program for experienced graphologists. It will be able to greatly optimize the analysis process for a specialist, however, in no case will it give an “easy solution” that replaces an expert.
A Few Names Significant in Graph Analysis
It is not the purpose of this book to study and analyze in detail the development of graphology in a historical perspective. However, since many of the discoveries, terms and approaches discussed in this and my other books owe their appearance to specific scientists, pioneers and researchers in world graphology, I consider it my duty to mention the names of at least some of the most significant researchers in our science.
Jean Hippolyte Michon: invented "signology", then - the concept of "graphology". I collected all the information that was then (XIX century) on this subject. Michon was the first to put graphology on the rails of scientific and systematized research. Michon assumed that each feature in handwriting has a single meaning, and the absence of a feature means the absence of a character trait. The understanding that the found signs should be substantiated by the general combination of signs, that is, by the general picture, and not by individual elements in the handwriting, appeared later.
Note: today we know that the overall picture of handwriting allows us to identify several meanings for each of its features. So, kindness can stem from a person’s sincere attitude towards others, or be due to personal egocentric interests, or mask weakness of spirit and defenselessness: if a person is unrequited, unable to refuse others, it’s not about the ability to give (which is an indicator of true kindness), but about “giving away”, that is, about concession (an indicator of weakness)!
Crepier Jamin: is rightfully considered the founding father of the French graphological school. The main contribution to science is the discovery of the “law of result”: since there are personality traits that are not revealed through individual graphic features, you can come to them through a combination of several personality traits.
For example:
"rest" + "understanding" + "calmness" = "patience";
"weak will" + "effeminacy" + "stupidity" + "fantasies" = "laziness of personality".
In addition, Jamin discovered that the very fact of the absence of a certain graphic feature in the handwriting does not indicate the absence of some trait (characteristic) in the personality of the author of this handwriting.
Jamin's point of view on handwriting as a whole (Gestalt approach) led him to the conclusion: a certain graphic feature does not have a strictly constant characteristic meaning; a graphic feature can get slightly different values depending on the specifics of each particular handwriting. In other words, a constant value can only be given to a feature if it is repeated. in a certain handwriting constantly, systematically and in the same form.
Jamin conducted many graphological experiments and studies, including statistical ones, and, using the example of hundreds of schoolchildren's handwriting, he proved that even children who are not yet graphically mature (have not reached full automatism of writing skills) find significant differences in the writing (structure) of the simplest letters. individual differences. After that, he proved that the "form of handwriting" is directly related to the characteristics of the level of development of a person's personality, and also that no training and exercises at school can neutralize personal characteristics in a person's handwriting.
Ludwig Klages(philosopher) along with Wilhelm Preyer(psychologist) and Georg Meyer(psychiatrist) came to the idea of the mutual influence of graphological features in handwriting. Klages introduced the concept of "dualism of graphic features", the essence of which is as follows: the meaning of each feature is dual and determined by the level of handwriting: at a high level of handwriting, the interpretation is positive, at a low level - negative. Klages introduces the concepts of “level of form”, “level of handwriting”, “basic idea in handwriting”, however, he uses the interpretations of “negative” and “positive”. It would be wrong to consider Klages (as some people think) the father of German graphology, because, despite his fame and contribution to the emergence of graphological thought, his methods and research were not truly scientific, they were based on unprovable, still quite speculative foundations (he preferred intuition as a graphological tool).
Robert Sodek, unlike Klages, he is as realistic as possible in the direction of his research and adheres to a systematic approach. The main achievement of Sodek is the discovery of the speed of handwriting. According to Sodek, only at high speed can natural writing be created. He identified graphic features that allow objectively (based on the handwriting itself) to determine its speed. He discovered that in order to determine the general level of any handwriting, it is necessary to assess how a person copes with the problem of written space. Sodek showed that the knowledge of the standards of prescriptions of different countries is of decisive importance for graphic analysis and that differences in national prescriptions cannot be ignored when analyzing. Contributed to the definition of graphic signs of unreliability.
Max Pulver: discovered the principles of symbolism of spatial perception. He showed the significance of the division into left-right, top-bottom. In addition, Pulver was one of the first to apply the principles of psychoanalysis in graphology. Contributed to the definition of graphic signs of unreliability.
Karl Gross and Robert Hayes: each of the scientists, independently of one another, came to the discovery of three groups of components: movement (motion), form (form) and organization of space (space), representing different aspects in the personality. In addition, Hayes discovered the nuances of uniformity in handwriting and showed the importance of this feature.
Rudolf Pofal: neurologist, conducted research on the motor aspect (movement in handwriting) from the point of view of physiology. Opened "single" and "complex" movement. The second is earlier in terms of development, performed in a free, flexible and spontaneous way. The first is later, more conscious, fluency interrupted by a series of stops. Based on these types of movement, Pofal deduced five main “degrees of rigidity” that determine the psychophysical tension of a person: from the degree of relaxation and freedom to the degree of high control and tightness. Each of the five degrees of tension corresponds to its own specific part of the brain. The first degree, "lack of hardness", is characterized by a lack of control, lack of "inner core", lack of vitality and infantilism. The final, fifth, degree, "extreme rigidity," is a stiff, distorted, spasmodic handwriting, indicating great emotionality, insecurity, inability to make decisions and irresponsibility. Between the extremes are the middle degrees: the third degree indicates internal stability, self-control, balance, good adaptive abilities, etc. Each of the five degrees of tension has its own personality traits.
Wilhelm Heger: was engaged in the study of the quality of the line (stroke). The line is the fundamental component of handwriting, which is directly connected with the instincts of its author, with the primary forces that drive it - uncontrollably, without any conscious intervention of the person himself - forces. The process of creating a line with its specific properties is not subject to the writer, since it does not occur consciously. The conscious, representative aspect of handwriting is determined by the shape, size, distribution (width and on the sheet), and, of course, the content of the text itself is conscious.
The Heger system is based on four characteristics related to line quality:
1. Pressure: aspect of perception of the surrounding reality, approach to solving problems.
2. Stroke quality: clearness-fuzziness of the line. The quality of the stroke is controlled by the mental mechanism of activity-passivity, from the function of sensations to the clarity and independence of thinking.
3. Stroke movement: dominance of direct or circular movements; indicates the extent to which a person is able to manage his life. It may indicate independence, ease in making decisions, or a lack of practicality, fantasies - for such a person, a sheet of paper is an obstacle and rather a disturbing factor than an incentive.
4. Stroke speed: associated with intelligence, abstract thinking, motivation and energy reserves, a spontaneous and direct approach to one's activities (exceptions: artistic styles, printed, decorated fonts, etc. - they are analyzed using other graphic characteristics).
Thea Stein-Levinson: brought an objective basis for the well-known graphological phenomena. Created the CNT-RLS diagnostic model. I came to determine the place of “rhythm” (point of balance) in the graphological system: it is located at the central point between the degrees of contraction and degrees of relaxation. She divided the chain between contraction and relaxation into seven categories - three steps on each side and a point in the center, meaning balance. Contributed to the development of psychograms in graphology.
Note: Klages also talked about "rhythm", but he could not define it, and also indicate its location among graphic phenomena. According to Klages, this variable would have to be determined only intuitively, not objectively.
Israel Odem: is rightfully recognized as the founding father of modern Israeli graphology. Odem's doctrine of potencies was an exclusive know-how, giving a powerful impetus to the development of scientific graph analysis. This is the only typology built on graphology itself, while other typologies were based primarily on the psychological profile of each type and only then assumed the identification of graphic phenomena and syndromes necessary to study one or another psychotype within each specific typology.
Ursula Ave-Lellamant: revealed the concepts of "macrostructure" and "microstructure" in handwriting. She made a huge contribution to the graphology of children and adolescents, pointing out the dynamic aspect of development.
Bernard Witlich: created psychograms in graphology, generalized known approaches in a single integrated system.
Yard of Arel: adapted graphological features to Jung's typology.
Clara Roman: was engaged in the development of psychograms in graphology.
Application of graphology
Graph analysis is used in the field of personnel management- first of all, it is the selection of personnel, head positions in the organization, the management team, the assessment of the most appropriate candidates in specific professions, as well as the assessment of the compatibility of business partners in the business.
The next most common direction in graph analysis is the appeal to it by individuals:
personal consultation in order to understand yourself, in your career;
couples consultation(diagnosing problems in relationships, checking compatibility in a couple, etc.);
trustworthiness and personal qualities of a third party(for example, babysitting for your child, etc.);
diagnostics of adolescents and children(use including drawings, projective graphic tests).
Graphological analysis in Israel is also used in special services, police, army, courts (forensic graphology).
Why graphology is special: advantages over other methods
Any reliable and high-quality type of psychodiagnostics or psychological testing must meet the following requirements:
Testing should be protected from the possibility of preparation for it by the test-taker.
Should not lose its effectiveness with subsequent applications to the same person.
It should reveal the personality characteristics that lie at the level of the subconscious and determine the actions of a person.
Graphological examination of handwriting answers all of the above requirements including the advantages of projective methods. For clarity, I give a comparative assessment with other methods. (Table 1).
Table 1. Features of handwriting examination
A brief summary of the above comparative assessment can be summarized as follows:
Graphology is a “laboratory analysis of personality”, as it allows you to look into the subconscious of a person.
Maximum objectivity - protection from involuntary subjectivity or the influence of both parties.
High certainty - you can't prepare.
Psychomotor basis of the method. Development of handwriting skills and deviations from the educational standard
Rules, laws and norms in graphology, its starting point is the standard of school copybooks of a particular language. But the main subject of study in graphology is not standards and prescriptions (otherwise it would already be the art of calligraphy), namely deviations from them. Graphology deals with non-standard, purely individual manifestations of a person in handwriting, that is, deviations - whether they are due to exclusivity or degradation, abilities or complexes, features of thinking or the world of feelings, etc.
Any deviation, difference, improvisation, distortion or strangeness, by its definition, always implies the presence of a basis, a standard that would allow you to pay attention and point out these features. These deviations are not developed immediately, only over time, with age, our writing becomes completely individual.
The formation of handwriting and the acquisition of personal personality traits include the following steps:
Stage 1 conscious learning to write in elementary school.
2. Acquisition automatism, inertia - in high school.
3. Graphic maturity of motor skills - after about 14 years of age.
At this stage, an individual handwriting is formed, deviations from the standard handwriting no longer reflects the consciousness, but the subconscious - a subconscious content appears. It can be analyzed from the standpoint of modern graphology.
Handwriting Analysis - Prerequisites
The maximum information content and reliability depends not only on the professionalism of the graphologist, but also on the quality and quantity of the studied material. Of course, in special situations, for example, if there is only a tiny piece of paper and it is impossible to get a handwriting sample that meets all the rules, the specialist works with what is. However, in such cases, even for a very experienced specialist, the percentage of error will increase significantly.
Our goal is to minimize this error. For a professional graphologist, it is realistic to achieve an error of 5-10%. But for this, the handwriting accepted for analysis must meet certain requirements as much as possible.
The best way to get acceptable material for analysis is to ask you to write a sample in front of you: you can comfortably seat the person at the table, provide the “correct” pen and paper, put a few sheets, personally verify that the person is not copying from a book or writing poetry.
So, below are the basic rules for obtaining a quality handwriting sample.
Rules for preparing high-quality material for handwriting analysis
1. Writing utensils, table.
Only a clean white sheet (without cells and stripes) of A4 size is suitable for the sample, under which several sheets of paper should be placed (too hard or soft surface distorts the handwriting). The surface of the desk is free of cracks and irregularities. Write only with a ballpoint pen (preferably blue), which does not leak and works well.
2. Condition, posture.
Posture - comfortable, sitting at the table; mood is relatively calm.
3. What and how to write.
Text: volume - arbitrary; the content is arbitrary, it doesn't matter. Any free topic that comes to mind will do: offer to write about yourself, vacation, children, etc. Explain to the writer that there is no need to worry about choosing a topic, since it does not affect the definition of intelligence, abilities or shortcomings. The most important requirement is to write at the usual pace, spontaneously, without copying, not from dictation, and not poetry in a column. Then - sign.
4. Language.
Write in your native language, for bilinguals write in both languages. Languages can be any (except hieroglyphs).
Age;
writing hand;
Does he wear glasses?
Health status (including: whether he is taking strong medications, whether there is a disability, with what or with which organ exactly the problems are associated, dyslexia, etc.).
Note. At first glance, you may be surprised that you need to indicate gender and age, because it seems that these are some elementary things for graphology! This is so and not so. The fact is that handwriting has “its own” gender and age, which can easily not correspond to biological ones. And if such a discrepancy is found, important conclusions can be drawn.
Graphology- a field of knowledge about handwriting and methods of its study in terms of the mental states reflected in it and the characteristics of the personality of the writer. Various characteristics of handwriting together give valuable information about a person's temperament, his character, state at the time of writing, attitude to the subject and content of what was written.
Psychological analysis of handwriting involves taking into account all known information about a given individual and the circumstances of writing the analyzed text. Thus, the peculiarities of the psychology of men and women are already manifested in various types of handwriting, which, as one might assume, can also be found in labor activity.
For example, male handwriting, according to graphology, is characterized by the following: carefree, non-timid; hasty, wrong (uneven); letters remain open; handwriting is ugly, looks bad; sweeping; wide lines and wide letters; firm, strong pressure; sharp corners; errors; individual - original; tilt forward; one-piece; free.
female handwriting: thorough; clean; uniform; accurate; definite; correct, letters without missing characters; Beautiful; small lines without pressure; rounded off; standard; tilt back; compact; with closely spaced letters
The results of modern research confirm the existing relationship of handwriting with some mental characteristics of a person. According to many psychologists, in handwriting more than in any other physical activity of a person, his mental essence is manifested. The fact is that the unconscious tension of certain muscle groups accompanies all our mental movements. So, if a person is in some kind of persistent emotional state or there is a persistent tendency in behavior, then this will manifest itself in the persistent tension of individual muscle groups. Differences in the tone of different muscle groups will also be a source of differences in the arrangement of lines on paper, which will manifest itself in the originality of handwriting. In addition, over the long history of mankind, some geometric concepts have turned into a symbol for us, to which we can relate differently, accepting or rejecting it. For example, "sharp corners", as a rule, are associated with persistence, sharpness, intransigence, which is often reflected in the writing of letters: but if persistence and sharpness are unpleasant for us, we will avoid sharp corners in writing, because we know about this associations.
Handwriting also depends on the type of nervous system, which is confirmed by modern research on the professional selection of people. After all, for writing, as for any other work, a certain amount of energy is needed, and it can be spent on this work more or less. The same thing can be written in large or small letters and at the same time press on the paper with more or less force. And it will depend on the "energy block" of the brain, with which affects and the general activity of the cortex are associated, which is manifested in the corresponding type of higher nervous activity of a person.
Graphological expertise widely used in modern practice of personnel selection. For example, in the evaluation centers of the United States, when selecting new employees, a graphological examination of the applicant's questionnaires is used according to 238 criteria, which can be used to describe: the location of the text, the direction and inclination of the letters, their size and shape, the rhythm of writing, etc.
The main features of handwriting that are analyzed by graphological examination:
- Letter size:(very small, small, medium, large).
- Letter slope:(left tilt, slight left tilt, right tilt, sharp right tilt).
- Handwriting direction:(lines creep up, lines are straight, lines creep down).
- Sweep and pressure:(light, medium, strong, very strong).
- The way words are written:(the tendency to connect letters and words, the tendency to distance letters from each other, mixed style).
- Overall rating:(the handwriting is diligent, the letters are drawn neatly; the handwriting is uneven, some words are difficult to read; the handwriting is sloppy, illegible, the letters are written somehow).
In the United States, special graphological bureaus are widespread, specializing in the analysis of the professional and personal qualities of applicants for various managerial positions according to their handwriting. Handwriting examination is a simpler, cheaper, and most importantly, reliable way of selection for companies and government agencies than traditional psychological tests.
As the studies of many foreign and domestic graphologists have shown, there is a high correlation coefficient between the graphological and morphological assessments of an individual, especially in assessing the relationship of the individual with the social environment, which are extremely important components of the overall human behavior. Handwriting is highly correlated with a person's overall body type. This makes graphology and handwriting expertise significant for the selection of personnel. You can say the following:
- picnic handwriting characterized by the absence of separately derived letters, and the word is one continuous, smooth whole, consisting of one or two complex curved lines, the letters are uniform in size, shape and slope, rounded. The general impression of lightness, ease, smooth writing, lack of micrography. There is a similarity between the handwriting of picnics;
- asthenic's handwriting characterized by one or more of the following properties:
1) the division of the word into several parts, into letters or parts of letters that are not connected to each other;
2) if the letters are connected, then it is bizarre, uneven;
3) individual letters are uneven, irregular in size, shape, slope, not rounded, pointed;
Through the different realities of his daily life, he has always been, from the very moment people had a need for close communication with each other. Graphology is a science that focuses on the relationship between a person's handwriting and his character traits. For all its specificity, the use of the basics of graphology is becoming more and more common. Interest in graphology also affected us. Let's figure out what kind of science it is, which can tell the secrets of a person just by his handwriting or a short painting.
From ancient times
Mentions of the first attempts to find out the personality traits of a person by handwriting are attributed to the times of Nero and Confucius. The latter, in one of the written monuments of that era, stated that he could tell exactly which person is “generous” and which is “vulgar” by looking at their handwriting.
The ancient Roman writer Suetonius contributed to the history of the origin of graphology by characterizing the handwriting of the emperor Augustus, his contemporary.
The emergence of modern graphology
At the beginning of the 17th century, the first book on graphology was published in Italy. Its author was Professor Camillo Balde. Unfortunately, that work did not become popular.
In the 18th century, the study of issues considered by the current graphology (handwriting and character) was carried out in Zurich, but only as an addition to the issues of physiognomy. At that time, Pastor Lavater, the author of physiognomic studies, gave the name "graphic portraits" to the signs of writing, by which one or another side of the character is determined.
1872 is a significant year for modern graphology: then the book "The System of Graphology" by Abbé Jean-Hippolyte Michon appeared. He is considered the founder of graphology as a science. He was the first to use the term "graphology", the meaning of which indicates that it has Greek roots ("I write" + "science").
Abbé Michon did for graphology at that time more than all other researchers: he systematized knowledge, popularized a new science.
It was easy to put into practice the principles formulated by Michon, since the object of study were separate fairly simple details: slopes, strokes, lines, etc. Today, such principles would seem too simplistic and inaccurate, but some of them are still considered correct to this day.
The connection between handwriting and character
Graphology is closely related to psychological research. And naturally, there have been attempts through psychology and psychiatry to test the reliability of the data that can be learned from a person's handwriting.
Studies have shown that handwriting recognition can indeed partially characterize a person's inclinations, health status, and behavior. This was confirmed in the last century by the data of the then developing psychiatry and psychology. This brought a special status Since then, in the US, for example, graphology is a legitimate method of selecting people for work.
What can be learned with graphology
It will help to find out the mental abilities of a person, his self-esteem, willpower and many other aspects of personality. In fact, the use of graphological analysis is very close to a complete psychodiagnostics of personality.
From handwriting, you can extract the information that is only in the subconscious of a person. Thus, graphology is a powerful tool for self-knowledge.
To summarize, with the help of handwriting, you can find out both congenital and acquired, the difficulties present in his life at the time of writing the sample, the state of health. The latter is very closely related to handwriting: it has been proven that the slightest change in well-being and health is reflected in writing.
However, the study of handwriting will not provide exhaustive information about a person's life. So, in many cases it is impossible to say what he works for, whether he has love affairs, children, whether he likes cats or dogs.
Handwriting study
In the study of handwriting, attention is paid to the various characteristics of the records. So, the main criteria by which a handwriting sample is characterized are the size of letters, pressure, line thickness, ligaments between letters, the presence or absence of margins, the distance between words, the roundness or angularity of letters, the direction of the lines.
In addition, special attention is paid to writing individual letters. First of all, it is the letter "r", giving information about the aggressiveness of the person who wrote it. The nature of the outline of the line in the letter is evaluated (its length, slope).
When receiving a sample for analysis, it is important that the person writes on an unlined piece of paper. This is necessary in order to show all the features of his handwriting, in particular the direction of the lines.
Examining signatures
In addition to samples of written texts, in the field of study of such a science as graphology - character by signature. It turns out that such a short inscription may contain important information.
When evaluating signatures in graphology, the following criteria are taken into account: the direction of the signature (up, down or straight), length, the nature of the letters, the features of the beginning and end of the signature, links between characters, pressure, sharpness or roundness of letters, the presence or absence of decorating elements, dots, numbers . Specialists evaluate the signature according to many other criteria, if the information already received is not enough.
Application of graphology today
In our time, specialists from various industries, including working with people, have discovered that graphology is a great tool, an assistant in selecting people with the necessary qualities for work. Therefore, many companies select employees using graphological analysis. This method is also used to select reliable people for human rights bodies.
Germany has distinguished itself by the fact that the visits of the bride and groom to the graphologist are becoming popular there so that he can help determine whether they are suitable for living together.
Space medicine has also adopted graphology. Specialists analyze the notes of astronauts in order to learn about the state of the central nervous system of people in space conditions by changes in handwriting.
Medicine uses graphological analysis to identify certain diseases whose symptoms are manifested in handwriting.
The fact of using handwriting examination in forensics is widely known.
Not so long ago, a branch of graphology appeared that studies handwriting samples obtained from a person under hypnosis. Interesting information was obtained that if you suggest to the subject that he is 6 years old, his handwriting becomes the same as it was at that age.
conclusions
In the article, we have provided some data on what kind of interesting modern science it is - graphology, examples of which are amazing in various fields of knowledge. We found that it can be used to learn about human qualities that otherwise might never be discovered.
The basics of graphology will most likely help you find out if a person is left-handed or right-handed, whether he is emotional or reserved, callous or kind. However, it is impossible to determine by handwriting whether a person was married, whether he has pets, and similar facts.
The meaning of a signature in graphology is an important aspect that constitutes a separate branch of science, no less interesting than the rest.
We also indicated that it is not necessary to rely on graphological analysis data as an unquestioning truth, because they never give a 100% correct result. Rather, graphology in communicating with people should be used in order to verify something or clarify some character traits.
Graphology
(from the Greek grapho - I write, lugos - teaching) - the doctrine of handwriting as a variety expressive movements reflecting the psychological properties of the writer. The idea of the connection of handwriting with the spiritual qualities of a person goes back to antiquity (, Theophrastus, etc.). The term "G." introduced into literature in the second half of the 19th century. Abbé Michaud (France). The assumption about the possibility of diagnosing by handwriting complex in origin and structure of personality traits has not received convincing scientific confirmation; attempts to find direct unambiguous connections between the graphic features of the letter and the alleged character traits corresponding to them, the features of the biography, did not lead to success. The dependence of handwriting on the emotional state and some typological properties of the higher nervous activity of the performer of the text has been most reliably established. Separate methods of graphological analysis in combination with other methods are sometimes used in research on differential psychology And psychophysiology. There is evidence that in some mental illnesses, the handwriting of patients acquires specific features. For example, the handwriting of patients with schizophrenia is often distinguished by pretentiousness, deliberate stylization, due to which the study of handwriting can be of diagnostic value in the clinic. In forensic science, handwriting is studied in order to identify features that allow solving identification problems, i.e., by comparing with handwriting samples, to decide whether the text belongs to a particular performer (forensic handwriting).
Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: PHOENIX. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .
Graphology
The doctrine of handwriting as a variety of expressive movements, reflecting the psychological properties and mental states of the subject. The idea of the connection between handwriting and the spiritual qualities of a person goes back to antiquity (, Theophrastus, etc.). The assumption of the possibility of diagnosing by handwriting complex origin and structure of personality traits has not received convincing scientific confirmation; attempts to find unambiguous links between the graphic features of the letter and the character traits and features of the biography attributed to them did not lead to success either. The dependence of handwriting on the emotional state and certain typological properties of higher nervous activity has been especially reliably established. Separate methods of graphological analysis in combination with other methods are sometimes used in research on differential psychology and psychophysiology. There is evidence that handwriting acquires specific features in certain mental illnesses. For example, the handwriting of schizophrenics is often pretentious, deliberately stylized, which is why the study of handwriting can be of diagnostic value. In forensic science, handwriting is studied to identify signs that allow, by comparison with handwriting samples, to decide whether the text belongs to a specific person (forensic handwriting).
Dictionary of practical psychologist. - M.: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998 .
Graphology
GRAPHOLOGY (With. 165) - the science of the manifestation of individual psychological qualities of a person in the features of his handwriting.
Everyone understands the expression "familiar handwriting." If we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the handwriting of a person, then, having received a note from him, we can establish its authorship at a glance. Or vice versa, even despite the signature, we will doubt the authorship if the shape of the letters or lines differs from what we have seen before. That is, handwriting is a kind of individual characteristic that distinguishes one person from another.
But if this is so, then is there a connection between this individual characteristic and other characteristics of a person, his psychological qualities? Attempts to answer this question were made as early as the 15th century. Previously, this problem was simply not raised due to almost universal illiteracy. However, with the spread of literacy, the features of individual handwriting began to attract more and more attention. So, Goethe wrote in his letter to Lavater dated April 3, 1820: “Handwriting is directly connected with the whole being of a person, with the conditions of his life, work, with his nervous system, therefore our manner of writing bears the same undoubted material stamp of individuality, like everything else you come into contact with."
In the middle of the XX century. French abbot Michon developed a special science - graphology, designed to reveal the relationship between handwriting and personality. Many books were written on this topic, special graphological journals were published, and a graphological society was founded. Thanks to the efforts of a follower of the Abbé Michon, graphological ideas spread far beyond the borders of France. The problem of handwriting occupied such prominent psychologists as Cesare Lombroso (Italy), Wilhelm Preyer (Germany) and others. already in our days, what about the unflagging interest in this long-standing problem.
What are the views of graphologists based on? A well-known specialist in this field, Professor G. Schneidemil, speaking about the scientific foundations of graphology, indicates that since the processes of a person's higher nervous activity are manifested externally, this happens through well-known volitional acts, concentrating through movements.
“We cannot observe mental processes directly and we know them only through organic movements. If, on the other hand, the expressions of desire are to be regarded as the result of a reflex effect of constantly occurring processes of thinking or feeling, then it is also possible to judge the characteristic features of a person through them. Therefore, walking movements, facial expressions when speaking, and finally also writing exercises can be used to study the internal processes of the body..
Here are some examples of regularities identified by graphologists. It is noteworthy that all of them are built through direct association. For example, it is believed that small, compact handwriting with a small distance between letters betrays a thrifty, even stingy person, not inclined in the broadest sense to scope and extravagance. A similar feature attracted the attention of Suetonius, the compiler of the biographies of the Roman emperors. He, characterizing the stinginess of Emperor Augustus, says that the latter "wrote words, placing the letters closely one to the other, and attributed more under the lines."
Large and sweeping handwriting, on the contrary, testifies to the breadth of nature, a tendency to scale (in the broadest sense), some demonstrative behavior. The desire to take up as much space as possible on paper is directly interpreted as a similar tendency in all human behavior. Particular attention is drawn to large capital letters as the most obvious indicator of the desire for self-assertion.
In a similar way, various features of handwriting are evaluated - slope, pressure, height and width of letters, word configuration, form of connections, etc.
How justified are graphological conclusions? A well-known expert in the field of criminology and forensic medicine, S. Ottolenghi, wrote: “No one is more convinced than we are of the scientific justification of graphology, which was indisputably confirmed by the well-known experiments of Richet and Guerincourt and subsequent Binet.”
Let's focus on the last example. Alfred Binet, a famous French psychologist, was not a graphologist, but became famous mainly for his work in the field of creating psychological tests. The method of quantitative assessment of mental abilities developed by him in 1905 together with T. Simon (the well-known Binet-Simon scale) in its improved version (the Stanford-Binet scale - a modification of Stanford University professor L. Terman) is one of the most common methods to this day. intelligence diagnostics. But Binet really made an attempt at one time to compare the results of his own test with the data of graphologists. Since the reliability of the Binet test was not in doubt, the coincidence of the results should have served as a weighty argument in favor of the graphological theory. And such a coincidence was established.
First, a group of subjects were presented with the tasks of the Binet test, and based on the results of the solution, a conclusion was made about the level of their mental abilities. Then another task was given. The subjects were asked to compose and write by hand any text, which was then analyzed by graphologists. The conclusion based on the results of the handwriting examination practically coincided with the results of the psychological test.
After many years, already today, the idea arose to objectively verify this impressive result. This time, the evaluators were not experts at all, but ordinary people who were asked to make a conclusion about the level of abilities of the author of a particular text. However, this time the texts obtained in Binet's long-standing experiment were presented not in handwritten, but in printed form. To the surprise of the researchers, the scores turned out to be quite accurate, almost matching the scores on psychological tests. But the "judges" made their conclusions based on the only possible criterion - the content of the text. In all likelihood, even graphologists, without even realizing it, took into account this criterion and relied not so much on the peculiarities of writing letters, but on the intellectual significance of what was written. Thus, faith in the possibility of a purely graphological examination was shaken.
So is there really no psychological content hidden behind the individual characteristics of handwriting?
It is absolutely fair to observe that handwriting noticeably changes under the influence of changes in the state of mind. Therefore, experts can quite accurately determine the state in which a particular manuscript was completed. However, it would be unjustified to conclude that such a state is dominant in the mental life of a given person.
Undoubtedly, each person is characterized by an individual originality of the inscription of letters and words. According to a number of signs, specialists (in particular, in the field of criminological examination) can determine whether some unauthorized text was written by the person whose handwriting pattern they know.
The task of graphology is to determine how certain mental characteristics are reflected in handwriting. In the preface to the already mentioned book by Zuev-Insarov, Professor N. Ivantsov pointed out: “This can be done only by critical processing of very large specific material, and very little has been done so far in this regard. Meanwhile, it is only on this basis that reverse conclusions can be drawn as to what character traits these features of handwriting indicate; the task is all the more difficult because the same feature of handwriting can be the result of various features of character, just as the high temperature of a piece of wire can be the result of heating it in a fire or in the sun, passing electric currents, repeated blows, etc.
Independent studies allow us to conclude that graphological personality assessments cannot be recognized as unconditionally reliable and objectively scientific. Although today graphology is widely practiced in some countries (for example, in France and Israel), science still does not have convincing evidence of a clear relationship between handwriting and personality.
Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo. S.S. Stepanov. 2005 .
Synonyms:See what "graphology" is in other dictionaries:
graphology- Graphology... Spelling Dictionary
GRAPHOLOGY- [Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
GRAPHOLOGY- (from the Greek graphe - handwriting and logos - teaching) - handwriting, the science of handwriting as an expression of character, personality. Designed at first for purely practical needs, judicial purposes, (the so-called written examination), graphology was developed in ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
GRAPHOLOGY- (from the Greek grapho I write and logos teaching), the scientific study of handwriting in healthy and disabled people. G., or “chirogrammato mantle” (which in Greek means “prediction from a manuscript”) arose as the art of determining character and ... ... Big Medical Encyclopedia
