History of Hand Writing Analysis

The interest in handwriting as an indicator of personality has its origins far back in history. Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle noticed the correlation between handwriting and personality while the Chinese independently also made the observation that there was a connection between character and writing. It was however, only in 1622 that an Italian physician and professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna, published a book describing the analysis of character through the study of handwriting.   In the late 1800's, Abbe Michon who was the headmaster of a school in Paris and a respected intellectual, wrote several books on the subject and coined the name of "graphology". Later, his successor, Crepieux Jamin, classified the many features of graphology into a comprehensive system. Meanwhile, during the 1890's in Germany, Dr Ludwig Klages, a philosopher and graphologist, applied gestalt theory to graphology, advanced his theories of rhythm and "form level" and significantly broadened the scope of graphology. Max Pulver, a Swiss professor who lectured in Graphology at the University of Zurich used psychoanalysis for the first time in the interpretation of graphology. This line of investigation was also followed by Ania Teillard, who worked closely with C.G. Jung for 20 years and applied his typological theories (extrovert and introvert etc.) to the theory of graphology. Alfred Binet, the renowned psychologist who founded the present method of I.Q. Testing for intelligence was a firm supporter of handwriting analysis. He confirmed that certain character traits are reflected in handwriting. As a method of personality assessment, handwriting analysis has been validated by research using both empirical and clinical procedures. http://graphicinsight.co.za/background.htm