A Brief Introduction to Handwriting Analysis

by Joelle Steele

Handwriting is so unique that it can be analyzed. This is because all children learn to print or write cursive by copying the same models of letters, but each child copies just a little bit differently. Over time and with use, those differences become more pronounced. By the time we are teenagers, our ability to write is automatic. As adults, our handwriting is unique to each of us. As we age, our handwriting changes under stress, with different health issues, etc., and continues to evolve and change right up until the day we die.

Among the many handwriting traits that can be analyzed are slant, speed, size, spacing, pen pressure, and position of handwriting on the page, as well as the finer characteristics of each letter, including the cross bars on t’s, the dots on i’s, and the height and width — even the absence — of loops. No two handwriting samples by two different writers are ever exactly the same, no matter how similar they may appear to be on the surface.

Handwriting can be analyzed for use in forgery detection and in the identification of unknown writers. but it’s most widely accepted and used in the United States when applied to forgery detection. This is usually called document examination or graphoanalysis to distinguish it from graphology, which uses all the same handwriting traits but interprets them psychologically for the purpose of personality profiling.

FORGERY DETECTION

In forgery detection, handwriting analysts examine and compare handwriting that is known to be that of an individual, and compare that handwriting to the handwriting found on a suspected forged document. In document examination (as with personality profiling), the documents being analyzed should ideally be originals. Handwriting that has been reproduced by a photographic process, such as photocopies, microfiche, carbon copies, faxing, scanning, etc., is not generally as acceptable. These duplication processes have improved greatly over the years, but they still prevent an expert from analyzing certain traits such as pen pressure and type of pen used, and some processes may additionally enhance or obscure certain handwriting features. Since it is often the smallest and finest of handwriting features that distinguish one writer from another (or one personality trait from another), it is always recommended that original documents be analyzed.

With forgery detection, the techniques of analyzing and comparing handwriting samples can be applied to any language or alphabet system used anywhere in the world.

ANONYMOUS WRITERS

Hate mail, threatening letters, and ransom notes are usually written by someone who wants to remain anonymous. But, more often than not, the writer is known to the person who is receiving their mail. There are two approaches to identifying anonymous writers, and some or all can be used depending on how much handwriting is available to be analyzed. First, the hate mail can be analyzed and compared to samples of writing by known potential enemies of the recipient. Second, if there is enough handwriting to do so, the hate mail can be linguistically profiled, which involves analyzing the content language to uncover additional information about the writer, such as their geographic origin or educational level.

GRAPHOLOGY

Graphology is commonly used to look into an individual’s personality, to profile a person. Each handwriting trait is analyzed and a personality profile is created that describes how the person thinks and acts, the way they handle relationships, their strong points and weak ones, their best career choices, and a host of other characteristics. The handwriting samples of two or more people can be compared to see how they might get along as marital partners, co-workers, etc. The more handwriting samples or the bigger a particular handwriting sample, the more personality detail can be exacted from the handwriting.

SUMMARY

After studying both graphology and forgery detection, it is my opinion that graphology is not reliable and is merely a pseudo-science. Handwriting styles vary throughout the world. We don’t all write with the same alphabet, and even when we do, the handwriting styles within each country are very different. For example, within Europe, the letters and slant are different in the various countries, and they are all different than those handwriting styles taught in the United States. And what about China, India, Russia, etc.? The traits analyzed in the U.S., and other countries that use the same alphabet, cannot be psychologically interpreted in the same way when applied to Asian and Cyrillic alphabets. So while graphology is interesting, it can’t accurately profile people everywhere, so I don’t practice it or recommend its use.

This article last updated: 07/10/2017.