Graphology: The Study of Handwriting

Introduction
We all know that handwriting is how people write out their thoughts on paper. It is described as "the result of the production of strokes by the use of hands." We don’t think much when it comes to our handwriting. But have you wondered, why is a certain handwriting specific to each person? Or how signatures work? And why sometimes, handwriting is an extremely helpful tool in fraud detection? Read on to know more about how your handwriting is merely the entrance gate to your mind.

Graphology

Also known as “handwriting analysis,” graphology is a unique and specialized process used to explore the relations between underlying personality traits and its expression in handwriting. It is widely considered a pseudoscience. Its reliability and effectiveness as a method of judging personality and behavior is not established and is still a debatable issue. However, experts in the field stand by its logic and reason.

Why?
Research has proved that a person who has lost their working hand and has had to use the other one, gradually starts writing in their own previous handwriting. This  goes to show that what we write is not handwriting, but it is “brain-writing.” Not convinced? Imagine yourself writing while inebriated. You’re the same person, writing with the same hand. But there’s a different output on paper. The only thing that’s different is the function of the brain.

Study of Handwriting: How does it work?
Let’s take an example. Say Person A has a particular trait Q. A puts a certain kind of pressure on paper while writing. This feature is then searched for in the handwriting of other people with the same personality trait Q. If it is found that all those who have trait Q share this type of pressure in their writing, the feature is associated with the trait.

Signatures
When we form our own signature, we do so on the basis of two requirements. One – we want it to look unique. Our signature is something we are identified by by the outside world. The other requirement is our handwriting. A signature should be easy to produce in a flow in our everyday life.

This is how our regular handwriting reveals what we are on the inside. The analysis and study of this helps understand the deeper aspects of someone’s personality.

Graphology also comes in use in detecting fraud and forgeries. It is near-impossible to forge someone’s signature. For one cannot copy the way a person's brain works.

Practical Uses of Graphology

Example: 26/11 Mumbai Attack

The terrorists involved in the 26/11 Mumbai Blasts were all well-trained. They were skilled at decieving Indian agencies and their attempts at interrogation. One, Ajmal Kasab, was also trained to act insane pending his hanging; since the law forbids a physically or mentally unfit person to be hanged.
Graphology was used to identify the psychological situations that would break his act and make him behave like any sane person. And so, it helped the law consider him fully sane and allowed him to be hanged.

Summation
Graphology will never be considered a pure form of science because it depends on the statistics of human traits. However, it is used knowingly and unknowingly in many fields of life.