What Does Handwriting Tell About You?

Graphology is the analysis of handwriting. This name is given to various specializations within that category, including psychological analysis of handwriting as well as identification of individuals based on handwriting. What does your handwriting possibly say about you?

Personality

• According to the graphologists who believe in using it for psychological assessment, you may be able to learn about someone's personality from his or her handwriting.

Intelligence

• As well as learning about personality, you may be able to discern someone's level of intelligence simply from looking at a page of the person's handwriting.

Mental Health

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and similar mental conditions often cause illegible or difficult-to-read handwriting. In the case of ADHD, medication can often help this significantly.

Employability

• In France, as unemployment went up, a theory spread that perhaps there was a link between handwriting and whether or not someone was hired for a position. An article in the New York Times in the early 1990s, titled "In France, It's How You Cross the t's," said that employers were subjecting applications to handwriting analyses.

Nothing

• A study by Lynn McCutcheon showed that people were probably analyzing the author's personality by performing an analysis of the content, not the handwriting itself.