Graphology — or — Finding Meaning Where There Is None
“the study of handwriting especially for the purpose of character analysis”
I see the appeal. It’s rather intuitive that our handwriting style should act as a tangible representation of our personalities. That the way we dot our i’s or loop our l’s really points to some deeper psychological process that is occurring. Or at least, I assume that’s what graphologists would like to think. Unfortunately, the evidence is stacked against them.
But, what is graphology exactly? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, graphology is the “the study of handwriting especially for the purpose of character analysis”. Meaning that it is a technique supposedly able to reveal personality traits through the analysis of writing style. Generally this involves the use of a 12-factor scale looking at the size, slant, width, zones, regularity, margin, pressure, stroke, lines, connection, form of connection, and word and line spacing of a person’s writing. The graphologist then uses the combination of these factors to paint a picture of the writer in question’s temperament. Sounds great, right? And in theory it is. Except for the one slightly awkward detail that it doesn’t work. In a slew of scientific reports, graphology has consistently been found to be neither reliable, nor valid.
Now, that’s not to say that there isn’t consistency in handwriting. I’m sure that we can all attest to the fact that although the general quality of our handwriting might change, the style in which we write remains fairly static from day to day. Where issues start to arise is when we attempt to derive deeper meaning from the consistency of one’s calligraphy. These issues would be non-issues if, similar to a BuzzFeed quiz, graphology was only used as a fun tool to gain ‘insight’ into one’s persona. Unfortunately this is not the case. Especially in Europe, graphology is a commonly used tool for workplace personnel selection. A result of using this invalid testing method is that potential employees lose out on job opportunities because their writing style purportedly points to some flaw in their character. This is quite problematic, yet it continues to be used as a recruitment method (although the frequency of its usage has started to decline).
So why do we continue to use a personality test that is neither reliable nor valid? Perhaps it has something to do with the human tendency to seek significance in patterns. Evolutionarily speaking, this tendency has helped us to thrive as a species, but it is not without flaw. Sometimes it can actually lead us to make harmful decisions without truthful evidence to support them, as is the case with using graphology as a recruitment method.
It can be hard to acknowledge that the black cat crossing your path might just be a coincidence and not a sign of bad luck, or that running into the same man at the grocery store for the past month is due to scheduling and not to him following you. However, when it comes to psychological testing methods used to demonstrate a person’s character, it is very important to verify that such a test is indeed testing what it claims to be.
References
Klimoski, R. J., & Rafaeli, A. (1983). Inferring personal qualities through handwriting analysis. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 56, 3, 191–202.
Robertson, I. T., & Smith, M. (2001). Personnel selection. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74, 4, 441–472.
