True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Graphology: Handwriting Analysis

Graphology is the analysis ofhandwriting with attempt to determine someone's personalitytraits. No scientific evidence exists to support graphology, and itis generally considered a pseudoscience or scientificallyquestionable practice. However, it remains in widespread use inFrance and has historically been considered legitimate for use insome court cases. The term is sometimes incorrectly used to refer toforensic document examination, due to the fact that aspects of thelatter dealing with the examination of handwritten documents areoccasionally referred to as graph-analysis.

Schlicht, an academic historian, statesthat while graphology failed to become a scientific discipline, manyexperts in experimental psychology and psychiatry participated in theendeavor to study graphology within a broader, more recognizedscience of expression, and that "to qualify something aspseudoscience can thus easily result in an unsystematic examinationof a historical constellation of knowledge production."Graphology has been controversial for more than a century. Althoughsupporters point to the anecdotal evidence of positive testimonialsas a reason to use it for personality evaluation, empirical studiesfail to show the validity claimed by its supporters. It has also beenrated by mental health professionals as one of the top five mostdiscredited psychological tests.

Etymology

The word "graphology"is derived from grapho- (from the Greek γραφή, "writing")and logos (from the Greek λόγος, which relates to discussion ortheory).

History

Jean-Charles Gille-Maisani stated in1991 that Juan Huarte de San Juan's 1575 Examen de ingenios para lasciencias was the first book on handwriting analysis. In Americangraphology, Camillo Baldi's Trattato come da una lettera missiva siconoscano la natura e qualità dello scrittore from 1622 isconsidered to be the first book.

Around 1830 Jean-Hippolyte Michonbecame interested in handwriting analysis. He published his findingsshortly after founding Société Graphologique in 1871. The mostprominent of his disciples was Jules Crépieux-Jamin who rapidlypublished a series of books that were soon published in otherlanguages. Starting from Michon's integrative approach,Crépieux-Jamin founded a holistic approach to graphology.

Alfred Binet was convinced to conductresearch into graphology from 1893 to 1907. He called it "thescience of the future" despite rejection of his results bygraphologists.

French Psychiatrist Joseph Rogues DeFursac combined graphology and psychiatry in a 1905 book, Les ecritset les dessins dans les maladies mentales et nerveuses.

After World War I, interest ingraphology continued to spread in Europe as well as the UnitedStates. In Germany during the 1920s, Ludwig Klages founded andpublished his finding in Zeitschrift für Menschenkunde (Journal forthe Study of Mankind). His major contribution to the field can befound in Handschrift und Charakter.

Thea Stein Lewinson and J. Zubinmodified Klage's ideas, based upon their experience working for theU.S. government, publishing their method in 1942.

In 1929 Milton Bunker founded TheAmerican Grapho Analysis Society teaching grapho-analysis. Thisorganization and its system split the American graphology world intwo. Students had to choose between grapho-analysis or holisticgraphology. While hard data is lacking, anecdotal evidence indicatesthat 10% of the members of International Grapho-analysis Society(IGAS) were expelled between 1970 and 1980.