History of Graphology
Not much is known about the history of graphology before he seventeenth century, except that for hundreds of years, Chinese scholars already knew that the way a person wrote revealed much about that person's character. In 1622, the first known published book on graphology emerged. The book was written by Camillo Baldi, an Italian doctor of medicine and philosophy (and professor at the University of Bologna).
It wasn't until much later though, that the word "graphology" appeared. It was coined by Jean Michon, a Frenchman, in the 1870s. His many years of research on handwriting analysis were first published n 1872 and are still required reading for serious students of graphology. From that time forward, an interest in graphology spread throughout Europe. As a result of the strong European interest, leading universities began to offer a Ph.D. or Master's degree in graphology through their psychology departments.
Perhaps the greatest advancement for graphology, however, was near the turn of the century when psychology emerged as a profession. Since 1895, over 2,200 researchers have been published on this subject in medical, educational and psychological journals. Interestingly, much of the recent research, as well as the utilization of graphology, still lies in Europe.
However, the most significant single breakthrough in graphology has been made here in the United States. HRC has successfully transformed this mass research into a methodology which enables even greater reliability and accuracy than that possible by an individual graphologist. With the assistance of Convergent Technologies 68020 Mighty Frame II (see CHAPS), HRC's research team has modernized an age-old "practice" into one of the most powerful personality assessment tools available today.
There are a variety of techniques used by graphologists. Even so, the techniques of these experts seem to be reducible to impressions from such things as the pressure exerted on the page, spacing of words and letters, crossed t's, dotted i's, size, slant, speed and consistency of writing. Though graphologists deny it, the content of the writing is one of the more important factors in graphological character assessment. The content of a message, of course, is independent of the handwriting and should be irrelevant to the assessment.
According to graphologists:
- Very small size writing specifies the inherent artistic quality of the writer. Individuals with very small size handwriting consider going far beyond the details of the tasks they are accomplishing. They are blessed with a specializing ability. They have specific aim in their lives and do not prefer to waste the positive energies into any unproductive tasks.
- Small size writing is an indicative of an intellectual or scholarly mind of individual who has an in-depth understanding of observation. These individuals have a strong focus of mind and