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The Write Stuff: Evaluations of Graphology-The Study of Handwriting Analysis

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Graphology is the study of handwriting. It is the practice of finding people's psychological, social, occupational, and medical characteristics from the way they make their letters, lines, and paragraphs on a page. The Write Stuff: Evaluations of Graphology--The Study of Handwriting is a compilation of articles and research papers on graphology put together by Barry and Dale Beyerstein. This work of non-fiction describes in detail the history of graphology and studies that show how graphology is not very accurate in predicting people's character based on their handwriting.

The first section of the book describes the history of graphology and is written by Joe Nickell, a Questioned Document Examiner (QDE). He goes into detail explaining the similarities and differences between a graphologist and a QDE. A graphologist tries to find out a person's personality from his/her handwriting, while a QDE comments on the origin and validity of documents. For example, a QDE showed that some letters received by a newspaper company from different people were actually written by an individual who had changed her handwriting. People confuse graphologists and QDE's because both fields analyze handwriting.

Barry Beyerstein and Dale Beyerstein mention that most graphologists are introduced to this field through non-credit night courses, community colleges, etc. Some have taken a home study course, while many have admitted they have read one book before going into this business. Should we trust the analysis of these people who have had very limited education in their field? The editors polled university colleagues who specialize in "psychological measurement" and the "psychology of individual differences" on their belief in graphology. The results showed that in North American psychology departments, almost no believers of graphology exist. However, some believers can be found in places like France and Israel.

The Beyersteins wanted to include new studies conducted on graphology instead of discussing studies that have already been carried out. However, they could not conduct many new studies since graphologists were not very interested in participating in a study to test their claim. The Beyersteins describe one incident in which a Toronto graphologist agreed to be tested. The skeptics created a protocol with the assistance of James Randi. The graphologist initiated the procedure, but later backed off. The graphologist was more interested in the publicity she got from agreeing to be part of the experiment, than actually participating in the study. On the other hand, some examples of studies in which graphologists agree to participate are also mentioned. But, once the results are declared against them, they assert that the test was not conducted in a fair manner.

The book also describes a conference held by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), where two leading graphologists were invited to provide strong evidence to skeptics that graphology works. Rose Matousek, President of the American Association of Handwriting Analysis and Feliz Klein, Vice President of the Council of Graphological Societies presented their points in this session. Surprisingly, both of them did not talk about actual studies done that show the accuracy of this field. Instead, the two leading people in their field just gave a description of their methodology and showed that graphology worked through testimonials from satisfied customers. It is quite clear that testimonials do not count as scientific evidence. Research shows that graphologists fail to provide "scientifically acceptable data from research" in support of their field (18).

Furthermore, the graphoanalysis procedure is described in detail and gives the reader an idea of how graphologists interpret a person's handwriting. First, an analysis of the first hundred upstrokes that appear in the sample writing is constructed. Second, a special worksheet that lists 100 primary personality traits and 50 evaluated traits is formed. A primary trait can be determined by single stroke formation, while an evaluated trait must be inferred from two or more traits. After the worksheet is completed, the graphologist puts all the data together and interprets the personality of the writer. The procedure is very complicated, thus a thorough reading of the chapter is necessary to understand the process. It also makes me wonder if graphologists utilize this complicated procedure every time they are analyzing someone's handwriting.

Barry Beyerstein writes a chapter in this book on how graphology uses sympathetic magic, an idea that "like causes like." He argues that graphology is very similar to astrology as both utilize sympathetic magic. For example, an astrologist says that a stellar configuration reminds him of a ram. Rams tend to be impulsive and lack discipline, thus those born with this stellar configuration will have ram-like qualities. Similarly, graphologists interpret a lower case letter which has an open top as the person cannot keep secrets and is very talkative. This is because the open top is like an open mouth, thus the writer has one too. In this chapter, the author provides numerous examples of graphologists using sympathetic magic and symbolism to interpret a person's handwriting. I really enjoyed reading this chapter since it described the kinds of interpretations graphologists came up with by looking at someone's handwriting.

Graphology is used in support of a variety of personnel matters, but is most often used in screening applicants. It is interesting that personnel managers use graphology based on testimonials of other managers and what graphologists say they can do. Managers do not look at the scientific literature against graphology. They fail to realize that graphologists use many non-graphological clues to recognize candidates that are fit for employment, such as reviewing the candidate's application and meeting the candidate. Furthermore, graphologists usually chat with the managers beforehand to figure out what candidates the managers are particularly leaning towards. Graphologists usually just reinforce the managers' intuition. A manager likes being reassured that he is making the right decision. It is obvious that graphologists utilize other cues besides the candidates' handwriting to give their opinion to the managers.

Studies mentioned in the book show that professional graphologists are no better than amateurs in interpreting a person's handwriting. The authors also describe about 23 biases in judging descriptions of people, some of which include, the Aunt Fanny effect, the Barnum effect, face validity, the halo effect, regression towards the mean, etc. This chapter, "Graphology and Human Judgment," explains that people are predisposed in favor of graphology because they do not note all the biases used in coming up with a description that "seems" accurate.

The book gives the reader an immense amount of information about graphology. Some topics covered are history of graphology, handwriting analysis in different countries, why people believe in graphology, sympathetic magic, handwriting as brainwriting, studies of validity and reliability of graphology tests, and legal implications of graphology. By reading this book I have understood the pseudoscience of graphology. However, the studies and experiments described in the book are very detailed. To understand the studies, a person needs to understand statistics. Thus, I did not grasp all the methodologies used and interpretations from the experiments conducted, but I did grasp the overall scheme of the studies. Furthermore, since the book uses so many statistical and scientific terminologies, it gets a little tedious to read, nevertheless, it is very informative. The Write Stuff is good read for someone who wants to know why graphology has no scientific basis and cannot really predict a person's characteristics based on his handwriting.

Finally an academic team (husband & wife) that tackles this long-persisting parlor science with the rigor that generations of "graphologists" have never been able to muster. Clearly debunking the outrageous claims of practicing graphologists elicits from them the most strenuous and pained denials. But, when asked for proof that their art is any more accurate than astrology (or lie detectors) they reply in bellows of outrage that their professionalism should be questioned by people not practiced in the art.

Now we can see how scientists were attacked in the middle ages when they dared to question the "known fact" that the Earth is at the center of the Universe. A fair-minded and thorough attack on this dubious practice that scuttles it with a finality that will make any further claims seem quaint--or self-serving.

Don't be fooled into thinking that this book is about graphology; it's not. It's a loooong, dry look at the scientific method and only secondarily how it applies to handwriting analysts and their claims. It's interesting in places (the discussion about why people believe what they do) but I don't have a scientific background and couldn't follow the logic of some of the articles. This book put me to sleep many nights for several weeks...worked better than melatonin!

If you're interested in the connection between handwriting and personality, The Write Stuff won't teach you much about that subject (I think a lot of the editor's assumptions are incorrect) but it might make you more critical of the popular graphology books that are on the market--not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly is NOT a balanced view of graphology; the editors have a strong bias against the subject, and don't try to hide it. I guess I'm hooked cause I finished the book wishing that they had included samples of their own handwriting!

Finally an academic team (brother & sister) that tackles this long-persisting parlor science with the rigor that generations of "graphologists" have never been able to muster. Clearly debunking the outrageous claims of practicing graphologists elicits from them the most strenuous and pained denials. But, when asked for proof that their art is any more accurate than astrology (or lie detectors) they reply in bellows of outrage that their professionalism should not be questioned by people not practiced in the art.

Now we can see how scientists were attacked in the middle ages when they dared to question the "known fact" that the Earth is at the center of the Universe. A fair-minded and thorough attack on this dubious practice that scuttles it with a finality that will make any further claims seem quaint--or self-serving.

Actually, Tom--Barry and Dale are brothers, not husband and wife.

The whole book makes a rather queer impression on the reader. The authors consider graphology as lacking scientific or scholarly endorsement and in the United States not far removed from the time when wandering conjurers desseminated the "art". On the other hand they publish a volume comprising 512 pages. So what? On page 194 Barry L.Beyerstein asks graphologists to produce a plausible, scientifically testable physical (!) mechanism that could mediate the connection between symbol and behavior. This shows that he limits himself to behaviorist psychology only, whereas the graphologist's view is much wider. This statement reminds the reader of the behaviorists' approach at the end of the 19th century, when they tried to locate the human soul in the body! A European graphologist works in a phenomenological way following the psychodynamic(Freud) and humanistic (Maslow) thinking schools, especially when he studies several handwriting specimens from different ages of a person.

The change in handwriting during or after a psychotherapy can be extremely elucidating and very convincing, when in a positive case, the potential of a human being has been set free and personal growth has taken place. In these cases the change in personality and handwriting is so obvious, impressive and overwhelming that any demand for measuring would seem futile.

H.Ploog Chairman of the Association of Professional Graphologists/Psychologists Germany

Anyone who believes that this book tells the "truth" about graphology needs to read the rebuttal by Marcel Matley. The author's bias is so obvious that to call this book a scientific review, or anything close to it, is ludicrous. There are plenty of published studies in support of graphology. The Beyerstein brothers apparently prefer to overlook these.