TH E PSYC HOT.f.)GICAL RATIONALE
OF
Gr. APHOLOGY
hy
Lee R. He s s
A Thesis submitted t o the Facul t v of t he Graauate School Ma rq uet te U n iver ~ity. i n Partial Fulfi l lment of the Requiremen ts for the Degree of Ha s ter of Arts
~ilwa u kee , Wisconsi n May , 1969
i PREFAC E
Gr a phology has l ong been conside r ed the step-sist e r t o psychology
in t he Uni ted St ates . Even with the recent r esearch in grapho logy , the s itua tion has not s ign ificant ly i mp roved in the pas t twe\n t y years . One
of t he reasons f or t his s ituation is the oversta t ement of t he cause for
gr aphology by ce rtain non-sci entif ic sensationalistic graphologis ts.
The other i s, pA ychol ogis ts as a whole, are not doi ng research wi t h
graphology , and hence the pr.of essional literature reflects a lack of
depth and new developments. It is t he author 's intention t o a lleviat--e
these problems by demo nstrat ing t he sound rati.onale of graphology in
three psychological systems. Hopefully, this will cause some comme nt by
bo th grapho logists and ps ychologists and eventuall y lead t o research t o
f urther advance the emp irical knowledge. Throughout the paper, there
a r e ma nv suggestions f or future res earch.
The wr1te r is indebted to the following authors who have led by
example and demonstrated how one should sci entifically consider
gra phology . These aut hors have devot ed their l i feti mes to the study
of graphology and left us fledgling graphol ogi sts with a wealth of
knowledge and many suggestions for f utur e research . They are
a l phabetically Thea St ein Lewinson , PhD . , Klara G. Roman , PhD . , werne Wolff , PhD and Ro s e Wolfson , Ph D. J
Lee R. Hess
:~,
. ~ .:
it ,. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAG E . • ...... •.•... i
PREFACE ...... •...... , ...... •. it
LIST OF 1 LLUSTRAT I ONS .• . • . ••.... ••••• • • • •••. . •••• •.•• • •• . • .• . • •• i v CHArTER ,.- I. INTRODUCT ION • . •...... • •• •. .•• .•••.• ..•••. • . •.•. • • •. • •••. 1
Graphology as Expressi ve Movement Handwri ting Actually Br ainwriting
n. PSYCHOANA LYTICAL PSyCHOLOGy ...... 6
Graphology as Projective Technique Personality Organi za tion Dy nami r s of Persona lity
I I I . GESTALT PSyCHO LOGy •••••. • • . • • . ••••• •••••••• . •• .• ••••••• • 18
Ge stal t Principles Principle of Conf i guration
IV . ANA LYTICAL PSyCHOLOGy . • •.•.•••..•• •. . • ••••••••• • •• • " • •• 25
:--la in Points of Analv cical Theory Personality Typ es our Functions of the Psyche Graphological Implicat i ons ':.'1 '. ,.'
V. SUM11ARY AND CONCLUSIONS ...... 33
BI BLIOGRAPHY • •. • •. •. •.•...• • • • •.• • • .• , • •.••. •• • . • •••.• •• • ..• . • • . J<)
iii LIST OF ILLU STRATIONS
FIGURE Page
1 . Thr ee zones in handwriti ng...... •. • ...... 8
2. Upper zone emphasi zed...... 9
3 . Mid dle zone emphasize d...... 9
4. Lower zone emphas i ze d ...... 9
5. Topologi c a l r e pr e s enta tio ~ of t he structur e of pe rsonal i t y ...... , ...... 19
6. Geome tric f orm :! U ust r a ting the p r i nciple of c onfi gur a tion ...... • ...... • ...... 22
iv 1
" CHAPT ER I
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of t hi~ paper is not to prove tha t there is a psychological r ationale for grapho l ogy, as t here are ample emp i r i cal studies in the litera t ure wh i ch have done this very well . 1 Rather it is the author ' s desire to demons trate the manner in which gr aphol ogy has its ps ychol ogica l r ational bas i s in three psychologica l schools of thought: the Freudian psychoanalytic , gestal t and Jung ' s Analytical school. These were chosen be caus e nearly all professional graphologists have t heir basic orientation i n one or more of thes e psychologies and ma ke their graphoanalyses in terms of thei r psychological reference point s. This is especially true of t he non-sens a tionalistic gra phogists who are psychologists as well.
Fo r example, ,one gr aphologis t mi ght i nterpret well developed and l arge p, g ,y .q. or f stems in t erms of the writer's l ibido, whereas another will r ender the let t ers meaningfu l in terms of t he ges talt of the whole wri ting.
A t hjr d grapho logist might offer his explanation in terms of the letters 2 actua lly be i.. ng l eilmotifs . The impor tant factor i s that a ll three would
) Ther e are two excellent s ou rces to consul t f or an overview of t he empirical research i n grapholog.y. Tle fir st i s Studi es in Expressive " ovf?'!len t bv A] lpore and Ve r non (1). The s econd i s "A -Re v:i. '~f- -- E xper-1rr. e nt~ 1 Re~ e arch tn Graphoiogy , 1933-1960 , It bv Fluckiger, Weinberg and Tripp (8). Wolff (4) and Wol fson (J ~) also r eview the l itera t ure in t heir works.
2 Leitmotif to the graphologist refe rs t o a symbolic or pictorial let t er form of f lour ish which i s unlea ~ n e"c!, but reflects one's personality. This presentation is a dominant r~6 ccu r ing theme that may always be s een i n the writing or the signature. ~b~an ill us t r a tes l eitmo t1. fs by t elling of a boy \"ho worlec "lS a "candv Dutcher" on rai l r oad trains. As his boyhood ph ant a s'~s cente ed O ~ railr oads , his wri ting i s patte ~ ned with parallel i nes rnnning 1 i«(> ' rai , uad tra r.~ s (31) . Holff shows l eitmotifs i n t he signatur
. It wo uld be possihle t o demonstrate t he pgychological rationale of graphology jn many of the ot he r psychol ogica l systems, but it is doub t f ul
this could be done in all cases. Som e psychologists have as their s t arti ng points metaphysical positions which deny i ntrospection, per~on a]ity . and ~ onsclous thought . Obviously one can' t ma ke statements about graphology i n terms of personality if t here is no ' such thing. E gr aphology is primarily conce rned with t he manner in ~... hich personality is proj ect ed or r e fle cted on t he writi ng s urfaj , this paper wi ll be lLmited to the consi~erat ion of the psychological rationale of graphology i n ter~ s of pe r sonality . Although such f actors as lear ning, conditioning, national origin , handednes s , cultural and environmental f actors a re i mportant psycho logically as well as graphological ly, t hey are beyond t he s cope of this pape r .
~Th er e are two bas i c ass umptions concerning graphology which shoul d be m~1 one d . The f i r st i s tha t graphology is expressive movem en ~ , ~port made extensive studies of exp r essive movement and referred to expressive behavior in terms of l earning about man 's personality not only i n t erms of what he exPresses in volitional ma nner, but also what is express ed i n an involuntar y and involutional mann~ . Allport demonstrated
the latter by the followi ng examp l es :
A fastidious house painter ~ho feel s t hat his oc cupation i s f ~ r beneath him, betrays his conf lict through scrupulous care of his f inger na l1~ which during work he polishes and i nspects a t f r equent i ntervals. 3
Ano ther young man has a peculiar habit of j erki ng his arms whenever he t hinks of embarrassi ng things. This habit has been traced back to a t i me when he had unpleasant compulsive thoughts of striking people on t he street. At such times he would jerk his arms to throw off the impulse (2, p. 473) .
In his we ll known book, Studies in P0P. ressive Movement, Allport with
Vernon summarizes the research which demonstrates unequivocally that hand- writing i s expressive movement. Summarizing their entire study of man's gestur es and his hand,,,riting as expressive behavior, Allport and Vernon s t ate t he fo l lowing :
rom our results it appears that man's gesture and handwriting boch ref l ect an essentially stable and constant individual style.) His expressive activities seem not to be dissociated and urlrelaten t o one a nother, but rather to be organized and well-patterned. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that there is a congruence betl.een expressive movements and the attitudes. traits, va l ues ; and the dispositions of the "inne r" personality (2).
We rner Wolff in a more recent study summarizes the experimental data and reaches the same conclusion:
Al l t hese experiments indicate that favorable experimental condit.ions allow us to demonstrate that a person's expressive moveme nts a re interrelated under the same common denominator; or, from our present po.int of view, that a person's patterns o f mo vement are configurated by the scheme of his personality. ( 40, p. 100 ).
~I U S when one rites , he makes a volitional communication by the wo rds and punctua tion he use;) Hm.ever, if the writing is done in l ong hand, the i nvoluntary autistic ges tures are cont ained i ·n the manner in which the wri ter has phys ica lly transported hIs thoughts onto the wri t ing sur face . ~ analyzing the handwri ting. the graphologis t can gl een information about one's personalit y, hi s conflicts and repressions, and hi s tendenc i e R. t o do c. ertain thing;> This should not s e em unreasonabl e
t o the r eader , for: how often have you heard the express i on, "He didn 't r eally say t;hat per ,;e , hut I read between the l i nes?" 4
This leads us to t he s econd important basic assumption: handwri ting to a grapho logist is somel4h at of a mi snomer, for as expressive movement, i t s hould be cons i de r e d as "brainwriting" . Hearns expresses this as f ollows:
The exp r ess i.on "handwriting" : is actually mi s l eading inasmuch as its forms are not basically dependent upon the hand, but on t he cer tain pa r ts of the brain which t ransmit motor impulses causing the mov ement of t he writing instrument.
Handwriting is . therefore, really braim.'!"iting., .After s ufficient exer c i se which helps to overcome the lack of coordina tion , wr i ting with the mou th or foot produces a ll the pertinent graph ic charact eristics of a person as the mouth wr iting of i'I woman with paralvzed arms and legs s hows,
Hearns t hen s howed an examp l e of mouthwr1.ting of t he paralyzed woman to t~ lust ra t e his poi nt (12),
The l-e i s an abundance of e.x per i mental information which i ndicates
hat t his i s illso true of people 1.'110 I.'r i te in an amb idextrous manner _
Saudek, the most empircally ori ented of t he early graphologists , showed i r r e fut ably t ha t wh atever t he muscle gr oup was used, an i ndividual's scripts are vi rtually identical. Preyer trained right- handed adults t o wr ite with t he opposite hand , and he reached the same conc lusi ons (40 ).
Bo t h Wol f f and Olyanova illus t rated this point in a somewhat diff e rent manner, Ana l vzing the handwrit i ng of Admira l Ho rati o Ne lson
~ e fo r e and a Ft er he hRd l os t his right ar m i n a famous batt l e, Wolff demo ns t r ated that Ne lson showe d a consi stency i n graphic patterns of t he ambidextrous s amples taken t en years ap art . Ne]son's writing ma inr. ained t he same s vmmetrlca l pa tterns rega rd l ess of which hand he had used (40 ).
Olya nova pe rform~ d the t r aditional gr aphoana1ysis and discovered ther e N'ere identical l e tter fo rmations i n both s amples _ owever , t he slant and some of t he other fea tures of the writ i ng had changed _
/' 5
Olyanova a ttri,buted this to Ne lson's becoming more realistic and r ef lective af t er his i njury . His talents took an i ntellectual turn which was pr obably caused by his phys ical i mp airment (28). 6
CHA PTER II
THE RATIONAL E OF GRAPHOLOGY IN TERMS OF' PSYCHOAI-l'ALYTICAL PSYC HOLOGY
The first and Ii verv important psychological s ystem to be examined
in t erms of graphology is t hat of the pioneering genius, Freud. Freud
i n his .creation of a dynam ic psychol ogy devoted considerable study and
emphas is to personali t y . Besides postulating that personality is
organized i n t hree ma i. n s ys tems : t he id , ego , and superego, Freud made
dv na lu ics of personali t y . The rationale of graphology i n t erms of Freudian psychology \~ i l1 be conside red first in ter ms of graphology as a projective technique, s econdl y. in terms of Freud's organization of personal ity : and tnen in ter ms of t he dynamics of persona lity and how his is reflected i n one ' s wri ting . (;RAPH0 LOGY AS A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE Proj ec t i on t o Freud originally r efer r ed to the ego defense mechanism again'3 t anxi.ety . Af. Hall poi nts out ( 1) , "Projection does more t han he lp LO alleviate anxiety . I t a l so off ers a per.son an excuse f or xpres'l ing his r ea t fee lings." Ho',]ev e r mo de rn psychologi sts use the ",'ord proJ ec t1 on in psvc k~ logica 1 tee; t in~ more in terms of the theory for mulated by L. K. Frank (10) . The f undamental theoreln is that when confronted with uns t r ucted s t im uli the person tdll i.mpose s tructur e on t hem in such a wa y as reflect hjs own needs and impulses ; the sub ject ' .:; responses therefor e are exp ected tC' serve as guides to his priVa te \,lO rld of fantasy , his a ttitudes, fears aBpirations , and the l i ke. The graphologis t uses orojection and projectlve techni que more in terms of Frank ' s t heory than P:-e u-l' s ortp1na1 i nterpretati on . Us ing this me aning, handwr iting is no t j ust an external repres e ntation of the wr i ter's 7 message, but a rendition of his personality projected unconsciousl y on to the writing sur f ace . As H.G. Gough indicat es (10 ): Freedom for the subject to r espond as he wishes would seem to be an essential element of t he proj ective me thod if crucial features of the subject's inner life are t o have full 'opp or tunity t o manifest thems e lves. Thus Gough would accept t ests such as the Roschach and TAT as t rue proj e ctive techniques, but not somp. of the tests \vhich use multiple choice items or In some o ther way limit the nature of t he responses . { raPholo", " a pcojective techni que h .. both of the maJoc pain" which J-l.all and Gough bring out . First, it serves to a lleviate anxiet y in ter ms of offering the writer a me ans of expressing his real fee lings 1n manne r a cceptable t o society . Second , the writer has complete f reedom as t o how he does this. The only limitation 15 the wri ter's desire t o produce l egihle scri pt. I t takes but a modi cum of thought to real ize th~ t illegibLe writing has i mp ortant psychological meaning. Fo r exarnpl <:-', one sometimes ftnds a sienature on an important do cument t '1i'lt ls virtually imnossib l e to make out. The graphologis t interprets Lhis t o signify the wr iter's proj ecting his i nner desire not t o be held \ ~~ .. - r ,~.:> ponsible for ' ' e document he is signtngJ (This wou l~ make an inLeresti ng hypotheqis to test in further resear ch). An interesting e:"'lpi r ical demonstration of graphology as a projec'tive t e chnique was done bv Wolff on one of the students i n hi s class. This student started every task in a very t imid manner, but during he r action s he displayed an increased aggressive decisiveness in her actions as s he became more confident. ~ ·lhen th ask was accomplished , the student was exhausted to thp po ht .)f oreakdown. Holff a .... so noticed this trait i n t he student 's pa it . I n the heginning she walkerl hesitantly, but her 8 mf)vements increased :1.n tenseness and t empo unt i l she almost r an to the goal . Wolff hyp othesized that this trait wou ld also be projected to he r handwriti ng . To test t his, he had t he student sit down and write a sentence i n German. Once again the gi rl began hesitently and incr eased tempo as s he progressed . By the t ime she had f ini shed the sentence, the size of the writing had grea tly increased and the pressure had changed consi derably ( 40, p. 186). PF. RSOAALITY ORGAN I Z.ATION Personality t o Freud wa s composed of t hree major parts. Hall expresses thi s as follO'. .J S (11): The tot al personality i s conceived by Freud consis ts of three ma j or sys tems. These are called the ld , the ego, and the superego. In the men t a lly healthy pe rson these three systems form a unified and harmonious organization. By working t o get her cooperatively they enable the individual t o carryon the efficient and satisfying transactions with his environment . . • when the t hree s ys t ems of personality are a t odds with one ~other t~e person is said to be maladj usted. ~ll graphologists, \.;hether the v realize i t or not , a nalyze handw riting in t er ms of a threefold divisJon. This is done by considering t he th r ee zones in handwrtting : the upp er, l ower, and middle FIgur e one gr'aohicallv . J lustrates zoning in hand,v riti ng . Figures 2 - 4 prov'ide examplps of handwri ti:lg samp les whi.ch emphas i ze the t hree zones . uppe r middle _ooboJrrJ31 l.ower -- t':n 1. ~: ones in \..,anGwr t t i ng 9 ~ ,., 1M- ~ ;el J ,twM:~J j."L ~ .....e.. j.J :t- ~ .J. I..-<- xr-I- A t",'_ J~ ~~ Figure 2. Upper zone emphas ized ~ . WI!\..-<) adrJrL.A..a::br. t3u.z: ~;~/~ IIcp~ -!AL 4<..~~C-L CAJJL. (J f'oVid.L... -Me.. I'e ~ t.A}O..,(J ~-f'cu:A-o¥(y Figure 3 . Midd l e zone emphas ized ~6 ,,< -t: Q Jr- .AL .12 ~~ /~~:.<--- ...... ' ''IIIIIf ip-ure 4. Lower zone emphasIzed 10 Roman makes a very interesting observation about the use of a three- f old divisi on (31): The scheme of the t hree zones parall els the common idea of the uni verse as divided into three spheres---heaven above, earth in the midd le, and t he nether region below. The same threefold division is applied to the body image when the human form is ·regarded as composed of the head above, t he thorax in the middle, and t he abdomen below. Metaphysica l thinking emp loys the three divisi ons of mind, soul, and body .. . Freud, for example was l ed to distinguish three aspects of the psyche---superego. ego, and id. ( TO the graphologist who fee l s comfortable using Freudian terminology, t he upper zone represents the superego, the lower, the id and the mi ddle t he ego. Other ?,raphologists describe the zones in terms of t he upper reveal ing one's dream I jfe, ideals and fan tasies : the middle gives clues to how he copes with realitv; the lower his physical dri ves and his striVin~ S}12 ' 2.5 , 28 , 31, 32,40). t e .""ho108is< ." ee, with F, eud that the three 'Y5 tem. or ",nes should form a unified a nd harmoni ous organizat ion. Therefore one of t he f irst things a graphologist considers in mak ing an analysis is t he ha rn,ony and or ganLza t lon of the wr iti ng. Is a particular zone . ()O ~ J-o '-(jCIIA yvu/fl ? emp hasized " If s o , i~ Often t he graph() logist gets a n j ntui t i v e f eeling about t he person ,..r ho did t he wr i t ing bef ore going any urther in t he ana1\ <::i s , and this is ,-,hat Amer ican ps ychologists obj ec t ' () in their mos t vociferous manner. Thls i s especially true of the empirically ,)r iented psycho logists , f or graphological resul ts at bes t are di f ficult t o quantify , but ~n the graphologist t alks of intuit i on, quantificati on bf' comes .i mpoSSib le) But yet is this intu itive feeling \!ili ned from ,..rhat Kl a ges ca l l ed the ,..rr iting's "for mniveau" uns ound in t erms o f Fr ell(il.an p <; ycho logy? \or- Iat part does i ntui.tion play uhen a skillfu l tes ~~ r IntFrplct9 a test such 8 9 t,w RorRchach? ' I I .' ~ e l ower zone seems to be t he most i mportan t as f ar as discerni ng abnormalities in personality . Several German graphologists have s tudied the lower zone and di s covered t hat persons ,who s uffer mental breakdowns L"" ~ (' 1/ 6 '1~ YV\..uv) /I t)I-- (!Y'Y) -".. 't tJl w LV p/J O'V wn show abnorma li~ ~ i n t h~ lower zone. Al $o i ndivtauals wi th sexual aberr a ti----ons usually show ~((s ' in the lower zone. Adolescents ' writing usually exhibits a emph asis of s igns of i nterference wi th th~ s trokes in t he lowe r zone (40). However , it is important to r emember t ha t empha,s i s on t he l ower zone is just one of the f actors that is considered i n graphoa na lysis lewinson, in her study of the hand- writing of psychotics, point ed out that rhythm ' is also an important factor to consider when trying t o determine if the writer i s in fact mentall y i ll (21 ) . FRElfD ' S DYNAMICS OF PERSONAL ITY ~e f i r.t consi derat i on in Freud's concepts about t he dyna.i cs of personali t y is that of psychic ener gy . Th i s i s the f orm of energy tha t operates the t hree systems of t he personality. The gr ap ho logi s t determines psvchic energy primarily from s t udying t he pressure wi th which t he wr itin i s do n e ~ Displacement o f normal press ure patterns i s usually inte rp r eted in terms of a transferance of sexua l libido . Displ acement as us ed her e refers to exerting pr essur e in the horizontal in~ t ead of the vert ical direction . Roman states t hat i f the displacement occurs wi t hout t he l oss of for ce and rhyt hm, the script i ndicates the writer has ma de a s uccessful redistribution of psychosexual energy. This i s usually f ound in t he handwriting of an ac t ive professional woman (Jl). There i s a paucity of esearch i n the United States to corroborate this interpretation, but both Wolff and Roman cite s e ve r al European s ources to lend credence t o 12 this interpretation. Another important dynamic consideration in terms of Freudian psvcholog is t hat of cathexis a nd anti-ca t hexis . To Freud psvchoanal ysis coul d be characterized as a dynamic conception which reduces mental l ife t o a syst of r~ci proca l urging and checking forces . The urgi ng f or ces a re referred to as cathexis and the fo r ces wh i ch keeps one i n check , anti-cathexis (9, 11 ) . The id contains only cat hexis . TIle graphol ogi s t theref ore makes stat ements about a person's physica l a nd sexual drives as emp has i zed i n the Im·;er zone which r.ep r e sents t he id. Athletes of tern emp hasize t he 10'. .Jcr zone especially i n "p" sterns . Th e Anti-ca thexis is reprec;en ted in t he ego and t he supe rego . These serve t o check ' the actions of t he id . Ther e are also driving f orces repres ented in the ego Rn d sup e ~ego . Ha l l suggests that one can l ook a t a nti - cathe xi~ in terms of f rustration. He states t he concept o f ca t hexis should be viewed 35 internal f rustration (11, p. 49 ). One of the fac tor s the ~ rdphol ogi st uses t n i nt e rpret anti- cathexis is s lan t . If the w r i tln~ sla nts to the r ignt, the writer is emot iorial and impulsive and one mi ght generalize and say t hRt t he urging f orces hav~ control. Th e degree a nd consistency of the s lant is very imP9rtant. Vertical wr i tinp indicates self control and probablv balance between the f or ces. The interpreta tion of a backward slant vari es hom graphologis t to gr aphologist. If the writer is na tu ral ly J efthanded, s ome g raphologists b~ lie ve that the b ackw ard s lanL is meanI ng less . Th ere a re others who consider the left plant in t e r ms of indicating intr o'lesion . Stafford considers left-s lanted" leeters to 0':: r n (')d' ihood e xp eriences that have caused the wr i t e to feel r ej ~cted . lonc l v, and/or i nsecure ( 32). Alt hough not verified by 13 experime ntal dat a, t he author is i nclined to interpret a left-ward slant in terms of anti-cathexis being in such control that repression has occurred. Th e person who writes wi th a bach-lard slant is usually quite reserved and in very t ight control. However, we will not generalize further until there is adequa te research per f ormed to justify this position. Ludwig Kla ges, the famous German graphologist l-Tho in many ways is t o raphology what Freud is to psychology , saw t he urging and checking ~ __ orces as the antagonism of mind and soul . Lewinson reports that soul ( to Klages repres ents life 1tself--the rhythmic course of the Cosmos. 3 The soul was f ound in plants , water, wind, etc . However in animals, soul was not f ree as it is in nature f or it is imprisoned in the living body. To us e Klages' words. liThe living body i s the phenomenon of the soul, the soul i s the meaning of the living body. "_ The original characteristics of soul are: passivity , un consciousness, night, dreaming, boundlessness , distance and rhythm (2 ) . Mi nd is the antithesis of soul . Where soul has contemplation, t he mind logical thinking. The soul has physical sensation, the mind will. Klag ~ q also be lieved t he onlv place in the universe where soul and mind merge i s tn personality. Klages like Preud believed personality t o be composed as a sys tem of dvnamic r elationships . Accordi ng to Kla ges, these t wo forces , always dynamicall y a t variance, influence all of ma-n's behavior and are most crystall ized in his expressive mo vements--walk, ges t ures, oos ture , writing , and so on . r·~ in han,' T.Jr i ting par cicularly, ,,,here the movemen ts hettVeen t 'IEo _,.; !) f('lce" are permanently caught , that they are most access ible f or studv and interpretati on (39, pp. 428-9). 3 Klages' many works we r e never translated into English. The refore, Amer ican graphologiets 'who ar e not fluent in German', must consult s econd hand s ource's such as those produced bv Lewinson. 14 Klage ~" graphol ogical i nterpretation of this dynami c system i s i n tenns of releases and bonds. Each graphological indica t ion shows f actors such as speed, spaciousness, i r r egula rity, (rel ease), or f a ctors s uch as slowness , smallness, regular ity, etc. (bond ). This theoretical framework has been very imp ortant to the science of graphology for graphologists are now able t o make dynamic inte rpretations vJ.ce the sta tic trait- fac tor approach. Lewinson with Zubin constructed elaborate tables for analyzing hand- writ i ng in terms o f release and bond . The important theoretical difference Lrom Klages' original concept is the pr emise that rhy thm is the midpoint be tween contraction (bond) and rel ease (22). Several studies have been conducted during the past 25 years to establish a scient i fic and s tatistical validity for the Levinson-Zubin scales. The first s igni ficant studv \.8S done by \.Jolfson (38). She applied the Lewinson-Zubin scales to t he handwriting of delinquent and non-delinquent boys. Finding s even highly i sct'iminative and eight secondary Eac.tors . l.i olf;;on wond ered i f it wou ld be possibl e to construct a "deUnqllent constellati on" (38). Bi rge (4) uRed t he Levinson-Zubin scal es to determine if handwriting \0I8S i ndi cati ve of pe rsonality factors as determined by peer ratings on a nigh and l ow continuum. 'sing t - tests Bir ge found t en tIs significant at t he 5 ~~ level. Hcwever t he wh ole study shovled a lack of s tatistical s i gnif i cance . Th ere was a trend indi ca ting t hat intelligence might be ~ i s cer ned from handwriting. Plucki ger ~t iil:!:,a have ma de t l-Je fo1101A1 ing observat ion : Al though the Lewlnllon-Zubin scales have not shawn their usefulnes s with r ega r d to individual signs , the global or comp lex score yielded by the si gns do seem t o have meaning. Perhaps, as t he designe rs of the s eal e have sopculated the score is an identif ication along the l e n s i on- r eteR ~ e continuum (8 ). 15 There s eems t o be a similarity between bond-rel ease and t he Freudian concept of cathexis-anti-cat hexis . Both ar e att empt s to exp lain t he dynami cs of personalit y and the a nagonisms descri be d are very simi l ar. Freud doe sn ' t me ntion t he balance be tt.een ca thexis and anti-cathexis i n terms of r hythm a s does Le,.ins on. Fr eud realized there was a very f i ne l i ne be tween t he two and he f el t that one coul d not pr edict wh a t the indi vidual might do . He even went so f ar a s t o say tha t he didn ' t think pRycho logy coul d be a pr edictive science because of the fine l ine be t we en cathexis and anti-ca t hexis. C ra p h olo~is t s do ma ke predictions bas e d on graphoanalysis . How ever t he aut hor has no t s e en predictions based on bond and r elease a l one . The next concept to be co.nsidered in terms of Freud I s dynamic sys t ern of pe rsonal i ty is anxi~~. Th i s is one of the most important concepts in f reud 's psychoana l yt ic t heory. Anxi ety is a painful emo tional experienc.e whi ch i s produced by excitations in the i nternal or gans of the body . Th es e excita tions r esult from interna l and exter na l stimul ation and are gover ned by the autonom i c nervous sYstem. For examp le, wh e n a person encounters a dangerous s i t uat i on, he br eat hes more r api d lv, his mouth be comes dr y, and the palms of hand sweat (11 ). Freud sat. t hr ee basic lt inds of anxit>ty: reaU.ty anxietv , neuro tic, and moral anxiety . The mos t important type of anxiety in t erms of graphoanalysi.c; is neurotic anxi ety. ~eurotic anxiety is aroused by a perception of dange r f rom t he i nstincts . It is a fear of wha t mi gh t happ en shoul d the ant i cathexis of t he ego fail to pr event the insti nctua l obj e ct cathexis from discharging themse lves i n some i mp uls i ve a ction (11) . Freud indicated that neurotic anxiety can b~ much mor e of a burden upon the ego than the other evpes of anxi.e t v because of its internal s purces . As ea~h individual matures, hi' 1s able to avoid mos t of t he anxiety producing situations or he Cilr ao: least afford some degree of control over them. Rut 16 one cannot escape himself, hence neurotic anxiety i s imp ossible t o flee and harde r to deal with . J t is i mportant to r ememb er that neurotic anxiety is often present in so- called no r mal people, but it does not control their lives to the extent that it does the neurotic. :here have been many studies done to show how neurotic anxiety is shown in han~~ riting . Wa llach has published a number of recent studies (1Jallach a nd Gahm, 1960; Wallach, Green, Lipsitt, and Mi nehart , 1962; T·!alla ch anel Th clma1'l, 19h 3; Wallach and Brantley, 1968) t,;hich have studied gr aphic expansiveness as a function of the l evel of psychological disturbance characterizLng t he individual . Wallach summarizing his own work s t ated ( 35): ~rhe n t he distur hance l evel is low, graphic expansiveness seems to mirror social ly extraverted behavior; expansiveness tends t o be gp:.ater \Jhen extraversion i s greater. Whe n disturbance level is 1igh , on the other hand, graphic expansiveness seems , if anythjng , to compensa te f or the absence of socially extr a verted behavior rather than to reflect its presence : expansivenes s ten~s to be greater when introversion, no t extraversion, is greater. P~l\ ' cho l ogic?,l <' (''let rhanu ] .= " e 1 refers to neurotic di s t urbance which fmp. l les a ptate of conflict or t. ens i on between motor ic exp r.lt~ion and inhibition . One CAn easily see the simi l ari t y here to Fr eud's explanation of neurotic an, Taft i~ a nother r~ce nt study ( 33) aoplied Wallach's mode r a t or effect to hand'vri ting ana l ~'sis i n terms of ext r aversion, neuroticism, and expressive behavior . Ta ft , f ol1ovling the lead from 'Wallach and Gahm, used neuroticism as B mo derat or in t he relations hi p between extraversion and t he handw riting variahles . I'e, found t hat the interactions bet,,,een self- r eported extraversion an d neu(otjci sm are r elated to handwri t ing ., charac teristics !t,'h'l- 21.6, p. ( J l) (3 3) . 17 Lewins on i n an older study examined t he handwri ting of psychotics . She f ound that in all psychotic handwr i t i ngs , the rhythm is comp l etel. disturbed i n all three dimens ions (height , hreadth and depth). As she s t a t ed (21): There is no natura l flow and swing t o the writing impulses and there is no ba lance bet"een bond and rel ease. One characteristic or the other is noticeablv predominant, or there may he an . i.r regular e xch a n~ e between the t,<,o. The cause for both these abnormalities ii'l "~ ~ t, ) .,.:~ 18 CHAPTER III f; RAPHOLOGICAL RATIONA LE IN TERMS OF GESTALT PSYCHO LOGY Although the German word gestal~ has no exact English equival ent, i t s generally thought of in terms of a s t ructure of configuration so integrffted as to const itute a funct iona l unit with pr op e rties not derivable from its parts in summation (Webster ' s Third Int ernati onal Dictionary). 1n ter ms of pe r sonalit y t he key term is ~~.nf1 guration . Along with the gestalt principle . t he law of configura tion will f orm the foundation of t !\e psychological ra tiona le of graphology i n terms of gestalt ps ychology . Before cons1deringthes e a reas, two important questions need answering. The first is "Is pers ona lity a g e~talt ? " The second , "Is handwrit ing as a pro jection of Pf:t'<;, . '! I i d gestalt?" Allport reports that whe n questioned abou t whether pe rsonality i s a gestalt, Lewin answered in t he affirmative and j ustifi e d his position by a large number of experi mental Eindl ngs (2) . However, Lewin also s aw pprsonali t y as a .ft t racified system having a definite structur e with distingu ishal)le separa te rp.gions. He represent ed his theory of personal i t y ~4th one of his famous t opologi cal diagrams (Fig . 5). ~erf ka al&o considered persona lity I n terms of being a ges tal t and his Rtatement i s more of an assp-rtion than an aff.irma tive answer . The i mpli- cation i 9 t hat it \Jo u ld be f oolish to consider persc:nali t y in some other manne r (18). \Vhat wo uld it mean if per sonality were not a gestalt? That its dif ferent behavior units or traits we r e independent from each other and could be Jn i te ~ in any combination . If, on the other hand, pe rsoralitv i s a gestalt , then there would be interdependence hetween !t~ various Ma nifestat ions , and a great number of LD~hinat J ~ns of trA lt~ would be excluded . /' 19 FIGURE 5 Topol ogi cal RepreAe ntation of the St r uc ture of Pe r sonality (:1 , motor - percep tua l r egion ; i nn e r - pe r ~ on al r egion; P, periphera l pa rts of It C, centr al par t s of 1) 20 As for the second question posed, it was answered before the gestalt psycho l ogists first formulated thei r theory by the famous French graphol ogist, Crepieux-Jamin (6) . He sta ted in 1888, "The study of elements is graphology t·rhat the study of alphabet is to the reading of prose ; " Roman , who studied the t.,rritings of young children, noted that the child of f ti ur or f ive years old has a global perception of his graphic expressi on , but he is una ble t o fixat e on the parts ~.,hile maintaining h is asp of t he whole . Bell, in hi s book, ~roj~~ tive__ T echni ques, s ummarizes the assumptions of severa1 prominent graphologists and states (3): Handwr i t ing is not simply peripheral manual movement. It is the acti ~i t y of t he ges talt which i s called personality. A s cript is a dynamic wh ole wh ich does not consist of a summation of isolated s i gns but of a group of different graphic cri teria fonninp, a dynamic relationship. The t r ai ts of handwri ting \.,rhe n seen as a part of a gestalt are capable of interpr etation a nd give us clues t o the individual p er ~ o nality that ha s pr oduced them. ny han dw r itin ~ trait va r ies in i t s i ntensity and frequency, not only i n the s ame specimen, bu t in the same l ine. Therefor e sL ngle-trait analysis , whi l e amenab le to statistical treatme nL. is bound to discredit graphology , unl ess it is recognized t hat such analys is i s not rep res entative of the methods of graphology. The aut hor believes that las t s t atement to be r ather strongl y worded , but as the r eader can see , graphologv is conside r ed to be a ge s talt. GESTALT PRI NCI PLE We have a1 r e'ldv alluded to the gestalt principle hut it ne eds to be sp~ ~i fically estq~'js hed. S!mp1v Rtated, the gestal t princi ple is no more than , 't he ',/h o e is not simp!v c.hE' sum of itR parts. " As "1. I-'ertheimer 21 r states (37 ) , ' "Parts of a gestalt have no meaningful identity independent :I.f their place , role and function in the whole." He also indicates that ana lys is of the parts, however thorough , cannot provide an understanding of t he whole. 1' 0 the graph ologi st , the naper on which one writes , represents t he p, estalt of personality . It might be considered the writer's world or life space . The manner in which he functi ons on the paper i s i ndicative of his functioni ng in t he outter world. If the writing is disturbed and lacks rhythmic balance, the same. is true of the writer's personality. In fact Allport , Klages , .Holff a nd many others have found that disturbed handwriting is indi cative of disturbances in the other forms of expressive movement. The studies of Hallach and Ta f t mentioned earlier, also have shown that graphic expansiveness (t he amount of paper used) is related to the personality traits of i ntr oversion and extraversion along with the degree of psychological dis t ur bances. However, besides the gestalt of the who l e wr i t ing, t he inner '. symmet ry and cons is tency a re also very important as will be demon!'ltrated i n the following section . PRINCIPLE OF CO~~IGU RATION "'hen one exper i ences t he brea t htaking beauty and forcefulness of a Van \'ogh paint ing. he realizes this dramatic creation is much more than a series of color patches . This canvas represents t he emotion and creativi t y of the pai n ter, himself. Each painting i s unique and t his i s caused bv the configuration of its element s. This configuration of elements is in turn caused by t he confi2uration of Van Go~h . How can you tell a Van Gogh painting from t hilt of . another artist ? The answe r l i es in the f ac t that there are 22 certain characteristics of a Van Gogh painting such as definite strokes and character istic color selections which by themselves are meaningless but 1n t he t ota lity of t he picture makes the paint ing unmistakenly a Van Gogh . . I n a li.ke manner, huma n personality i s conf igured by certain traits '.... hich are me aningful wh en cons idered in terms of the whole person. Also, the conflguration of gr a phic and othe r- expressive movements fo llow the principles of configuration or as the early gestalt psychologists called 1 t t he "law of Pragnanz." Th is l aH ~"as f or-mula ted as a r es ult of r esear ch with ~e ometric f orms. \~ olff explains it as follows (40): If ~ev e ral geometric organizations are t o be perceived , that figure wi Jl be perceived which has t he mo st stable shape. The l aw of conf iguration is stronger than the law of experience. To demo nstrate t he veraci t y of these s tatements , Wolff of fered the geome t ric form of fi gur e 6 as an illus t ration. ~o one perceives the letters A,. M, V, IJ, and '{; everyone due to t he law of configuration perceives a geometri c figur e. Ir'flih I '; ..l l· l CU RE tl 23 Wolff also 'indic'a tes the significance o f the law of configuration in terms of graphology with his assertation that we not only per cei ve the figure wi t h the most s tab le sha pe , but when expr es sing ourselves , we use the f i gures which offer t he mos t stable patter n . This implies that each stroke lo a graphi.c exp resslon i s unconscious ly chosen in t erms of the appropr 1- ar.eoess of . t he wh o le scheme of exp resRion or the gestalt. The pr i nciple of ~o nf igurat l on i ndicates personalit y is not huilt tiD in an a ccidenta l ;n,loner but f ol1()ws t he " -:' a ~} of Pra gnanz" or configurati on . Wol f f fllrther " tates (40 , p. 150) : The principle of .::o nfiguration i.e; a l mo"t s vnonymous \-lith rl,' r1;'on!l l1 t \'. TIl e ella rae t eris ti c con f 19u ra t i on of t rai ts i n pers onality distinguishes one individual from a nother, and the configura tion o f mov eme nts creates what we ca ll he coordination of our a ctivities . ~OBt authors of pra ph ology t exts and articles make a s tatement to the e t fect that handwriting mus t be cons ider ed a s a gestalt. The grapho logical aS5umnt1ons r ef~re ncecl f rom Bel l earlier illustrate this point. HOI"eve r, only \'erner \-10) ff has seri()uslv studi.ed graphology i n terms of the law of Lonf i guration a nJ the other gestalt n ri nciples , Wolff a lso s uggested ,; pecific methods to interpret h:mJ\.,rrit i ng i n t erms of t he gestalt . H ~ COl1.dlcteo many exper iment s And studied thousands of handwriti ng samples n several languages. As ~ r esul t of a lifelong s tudy , Wo lff simply and modes tly summe d h is findings (40 , :J P, QS-6 ) : Up t o nO\-I no exuerimeota l methode; have been f ound than enable us to demonstrate that pe r s onali t y is dete rmined hy a gestalt principle . f)Jr f indi.ngs wi t h graphic mo vements seem to be the first ster in Ronrnachil1.~ oroof that per sonali t y , as reflected i n graphic expression i ~ acti ng under the princi pl e of conf iguration and or ~ an jza t i on. or as a ge s talt. ,'oHf 's find ing..; 'dli ch exnerimentallv demons t rate the r a tionale of ~ ra p hoJogv in t~rmc; gpstat t psychology are summarized as fo ll~l s : 24 1. The pri nCi ple of ba lance i n our body corresponds to the principl e of balance in pe rsonalitv. 2 . '':he l aw of stahilitv can h(' considered the basic law of personalit it i s that principle which to exnres s i ve movement holds toge t he r t he parts, . a <;e stalt . 3. '~ r5 n nal!tv jg determined hy the principle: forces give t o a lv~ t em of bala nce the mos t regu lar configurati on of Wll ich the Rvste·, is 'apa! Ie . 4. r, ra ph~c mov emenrs ref l ect the organization of personali t y and are t r tl :'i "df.::lp rams 0' l he- unc ons c ious . " 5, (,raphlc ra tte rns are aymme t rica l a nd r efle c t s ymmetry in personality . ~ . ~ r3ph j~ ra· tern~ a re cons isten t over a l ong neriod of time as is oer!"onalir.v. , 2S CHAPTER IV THE RATI ONA LE OF GRAPHO LOGY I N TERMS OF JUNG' S PSYCHOLOGY Ca r l lung wa s a Swiss psychologist who s tarted out as an a dvocate of the Freudian psychoanaly t i ca l approach to ps ychology . However, in 19 12 , .T ung set f orth his own theor y of the libido and the unconscious and parted company with Freud . It is somewhat ir.onica1 using Jung to demonstrate the psycho l ogical rationale of graphology , for many Amer i can psychologists view .r ung ' s approach \vl t h the same scepticism they view graphology . This i s partially caURe v the f act that J ung made brilliant speculations but the il ystema tic struct ure of his thought 1s s omewhat obscure. Jung, hi mself , real ized t his and ~pe n t a conside rab l e amo unt of time clar ifYing s ome of the mi sunderstandings caused bv different i nterpretations of hi s work. Hm.r ever, he consi dered himse l f t o be a pioneer and att r ibu ted muc h of t he 1TIisund e r~ t an ding to t il(' newne ss and originality of his t houghts . As J ung h1.mRelf s -ated ~ lS , p. 117), "I expos e mys elf to critical judgment becaus e J fee! I t 1':; trw duty C'f one ..... ho goes his o\o1n l.;ray to inform soci e t y of ...,h at hE' f inds on hi.:; voyage of discovery, be it cooling wa ter for t he t:lir stv or t he !':'lr.dv vas tes of un frui tful ('rror. " ! nother pr ohlem Ar ea to 'lome Ame r t can psychol ogi. sts is the fac t t ha l Jung centered h is psychology upon the a~u lt . His fee lings concer ninR his s tand in this lrea (an he summed liD in one s en tence (1 4). "If there i e; 'inv t hing t hat ~"e Vli<;b t( chl'1n;>e i n t he chi ld, \.ie s hould first exam ine it Rnd see wherher it i.e: r 'l something th.'lt could ')(' hett e r changed 1 n ,mrs€', v{,s ." ':hh Jed .J':,,? to thE' posit !0n w1le r e he rejected Freud's t heo ry of th~ 'lexual er.io]o['y of fl.3VC!I::"f'Ur!)sps . 7 1 ,bnR it W-'lS more meaning:u l :0 dr.alYle ma n's ('urn'oc confli C'ts vi-:,~ alt€'ml'~.lr.g t o I. pcover t he confll.ct', or h:c; child'loo,j. l!'-",'ev!?y Jun~ df~epl'J rL'Sj,·(t· Freud and \oliR '''ork and 26 pointed out that jr~ud's theories were well grounded but one sided (14); Thus Freud's sexual t heory of neurosis i s grounded on a true and factual principl e . But it makes the mistake of being ~ one-sided and exclusive; also it commi ts t he imprudence of trying to l ay ho l d of unconfinable Eros wi th the crude terminology of s ex. I n this respe ct Freud is a typical epresenta tive of the mate rialist ic epoch , whose hop e it wa s f~J o solve the wo r ld riddle In a test- tube. J u n~ also gave ser ious consider ation to t he anti-thesis of Fr eud's osychoana l yt ica l approach , Adler ' s theo ry conce rning man's strivings for c; uperiority. J ung refer red to it as "the will to power." Jung implied ~her e was merit to Adler's approach a lso , but like Fre ud's, it suffered f r om one-s idedness . Ther efore, J un g took an eclectic approach, but going one step fur t her , synthesi zed his thinking into what he considered a common sense approach. based on the principles of opposites. ,The main points of the ana l ytical theory are as f ollows (14, 15 , 30). 1. The re~ ec tion of the sexua l etiology of psychoneuroses. 2. Jung's defi nition of the libido i n t erms of psychical e ne rgy. 3. Classi f i cation of ma n into introverted and extraverted types . 4. The concept 0' the mi nd hav1 ng four' primary functions: thinking , . Tl-o f eeling , sensation and i ntuit.l on . ..,._ ) L . ~-- lAP ' Jung 's use of the term ~ is different from that of Freud who us ed libido in r elation to s ex. Jung understood libido as the i ns tinct i onal ~ energy which come li up lvithin t he human oe rsona1ity from t he un:Onscious to I consciousness (10). Jung ' s ~o~c eption of the psyche and the libi do i s also governed by h is' rrinciples of opo os ltes. To both t he pc; vcho]o?,ist and the graphol ogist the t erms introvert and E'x travert. have imnf')rtant me aning . However. becaUSe of thei r popular uSl'l ge , thes e words i'fl.V' ri!.k~r. iI more gene ra 1 ized a'1d vague meani ng t han when .!·jrg d ~velo')e d th~m :1" ?ut of hi s thc.i!'< on attitudf' t ypes . One of t he 27 problems , wh ich .botnered J ung, center ed on trying t o determine what was t he r aw ma t erial which caus e d ps ychol ogical complexes. Or another way to consi der t he quest i on is ' ~a t a re the specific contents of psychic process es?" Progoff makes the fol l owing ohservations (30, p. 99) : The t hinking bv which J ung develops t he the ory of types runs ·somel.hat as fo llows: His study of the i ndividua l has to focus on t he movemen t of libidinal ener gy i n the psyche and on i ts manifesta t ions in psychi c phenomena. That is the basic mater i al "Tith wh i ch he works . If we follow t he expression of libi do as t he in d ivi ~ual makes his adj ustment t o experience, we f i nd t hat certai n a spec t s of t his movement tend to foll ~v s imilar patterns wi thin par t icul a r individuals . To t his ex tent, it can be said that there ar e necessa r y s t eps in the exp r ession of l ibido , and t,is prov ides certai n cr i ter ia with which to study t he developme nt of t he pers on a l i ty i n daily lif e . Tung i ntended no absolut (> s t andard of measur em ent, he was formulating wha t he t hough t ,,,as a l ogical starting poi n t to tackle i ndi vidual differences. An other important aspec t of the ana l ytica l psychology is what J ung rer~rred t o as t he four Eundamen tal psychic f unctions : s ensat ion, t hinking, fee linp and i ntu ition. Jung used t hese to express and r epr esent t he ways anJ mea ns of con~~ i o us orientation . j ung explai ned thes e f unctions i n a lect ure gi-.'en to lill' Internationa l. Co ngr es s of Education at Terr itet in 1923 (11.) . l'nder t he ~cadin "" sensation I inc lude all perception by means o f the sense organs: b ' t:linking 1 und e rstand the f un c tion of lntell e c tua : L O? ~ t inn , and the ~or m i n g of logical conclusions; feeling is a f,ret 0n o~ s ub j ec tive evalua t ion, and i ntuiti on J hold to bp perc ~n t 1o n ~v WRV of the unconsci ous , or the perceptl0, f i:1 uncf'nscio,"s content. Thus, the ind 'vlduill meets the oll ts i 1 ,~ Iwrld through his s ens es, and then, in order to interprpt that ""ich is 1')erceived, he t hinks . Afte r tb e obj ec t IhpS mt'ani ng, it is eVillu,dn! ae; p l eaRant or unpleasa nt i n teTInS of t he orc.er ver's pS'lchl<. cr!.pr.r.aUr-fi. Thilt IS he " ,~ s tRhJishes the value of t he ,1ject" or hd'l "t l'elim; . " The fi ln1 RSnec!" of f' xpprience js not conscious, 2R tht ~.. (? Are l~t ta!~t t i1"1p!'s an dividu,, ] knows IJhich J ung calls "imm eJ iact;'! ' ~ "'il re.ll1'<; ' n: ;el'1~ t"n<' \ lir<" o r "i nt,dt ion . " Progoff' ohserves 00 , p. l rl 'l) : ', he llbido h ,1S r hw, mil·i . f.·'Jr "~ (""" ,\t each noi n t , psvchic ene!';,v ~,<1 S (':';1" ,;><;",..i in il difL,rent ',.J., V (C'warn e xp e r ienc e, a nd J",t 111 a nec':!,,<., ar v "8", r~;1'.::h one : the ' ·~:I r n henomena \~t l lr, h o cc u rred when t ~p Jih'do m~ t the C~1 P L t of exrerience must o ·::'.Jr in !, )"lP ci egr, ( .i'! e'f'ry e:o .(un4' t .t~3 u ... ,~d r h,' rt-rrr", ),:1'1('na J J r 'r) ~!..: II \ 1 c· ~.; C ;1 i l U n. c t 1 ::) n I", • ~pc auc; e thinking and fee ling ln v clv~ ~ ; .> .~· " .. ~lfrjC r 1(" 03 L 1 1 if'" t;P! lS .?1 t :i on i n v,) lves a more p A SS1,Ve : e:. it \ ~ P""SII -l(,d ~ ::-. :-··in~·'j n{"l"- - ra tl( ' n :\ . ~. Intu i t ion, berause of the nB rure :I'k' /1' l ...... ) ~ • r~ .: oS r ~) -, I ~ i '-: f1 ,1 1 el l C):I..." (W) . . ..; ! ~1 .-~ l r:uC'J ...,:': ' ar' Lt' r, Ju n~', :'Jftsid" red t h? hl :m an psych e a wll derness 31' >" LS" .rI I : t 1. 1"1/ · l \.'.~ t-: B~rv~ as a s (arttn~ poin t o r refe l e nce :.. f · l" ~ . I .1"'l{:lr rl } r.. n n (~ i tio!1. J s ~ oulrl be prnper ly ~. )f. ;. \. (I , I. ,JI V :... • .• JI.I .'/ ;Il ~~ "'-;i i..n ff?rred tr ~lt tttl!!' f' f~.fe re p ur~' , , ,.. p ••,p l .. / 1" , 1 ··V.,.) ( " Or~f (,':r-;e:' ; en\.. p<:; ,q f o\'! , . , 'E" er JI:/ ,li J c; tfit t~ t'l ~ t. each r)(~r S':,\:1 \1r1.~ :. 'n',.' • 1 1.1 'r 'I n fl, 1.(.11, I fHj i \d '}~ l ~; , ·.ci r,: ',' TiH' 1:~ldn a :· t fun ,: t ~ (l n is ,I S n· r (' I '-. 1) • ',l' " . P!" l.el, O' l~ lilt:: basl ~ ro r t he . 1 1 ~ ,-;-, ~.tCi \ 1 .. t e:>l J::1f"J~ ;.; t:h:nL . ~l"' ,{! tv' ~'. ,,"' t11 T!"l.1. l~t ,t ., l ' r t.') r '- j ( , .. 4 ' ! r 1": 1 S r'"' \( r" [I r i e ""): l: tJ: i !.l 5 '1 ' The l ~d'f'r dc' \.~~ ...~()UI . t.( ri]v Ii't "',', 1""" r \' {1 '';':''li~, t=-' tj_fl1 29 GRAP HOLO GICAL IMPLICATIONS It will come as no" surprise to learn that the graphologists who are ori ented to the ana l ytical approach to psychology are primarily found in Europe. They i nter pret various handwriting indicators in terms of int r oversion and extraversi on as well as conSidering the four fundamental psychic f unc tions. How ever , even though American graphologists seldom mention the name of Jung , nearly all of t hem "make statements concerning intr oversion and extraversion and use the .ame graphic indicators as used tn Eur.0P e . The tradi tional graphic i ndications of eX~ ion are a right slant i n the writing, a rightward movement and ~e WT1tin~ There is a paucity of r esearch to j ustHy thi"s pos i tion and interpretation, but nearly every graphol ogist makes this interpretation. I n terms of the Lewinson-Zubin s cales cited in Chap ter Tw o, extraversion is indicated by the same factors which indi cate rel ease . The r ecent s tudy of Taft (33) indicated that Ext raverted Len" Ne urotics wro te larger than Extraverted High Neurotics. He als o i ndicated t hat l ~trave rt ed " Low Ne urotics (ELNs) wrote larger than I n t r overt ed 1.ol~ Neurot ics ( I LN s) . \.]al l ach, who has mad e s eve ral studies ~ onsiderlng graphic expa nsiveness , indica ted in his most r ecent study, t~ at there is a relationship be twe en t he disturbance level of the i ndiv idual (neurotici sm ) , and t he amo unt of gr oss bod ily activity req ui r ed to i nduce greater graphic expansi venes s . Concerning t he a ttitude of social extravers ion \~ a l] a cn s t a t ed ( 35 ) : I t is pr oposed that relati ve g raphic exp a'nsiveness does not pe r qe" cons t i tcl te a symbo lic me ans of expressing social e~ rravers 1on, ~ ut only ha~ the appearance of do i ng so . This appa r ent linl cetween the g raphJ c eXo r ession and s oc i a l attitude realms i@ viewed as arjsing because socia l extra verston tends tLl lnvclve gr"eater amoun ts of gr oss bodi l y activi t'i ban :~ocial Introversion, gros s bodi.ly act ivity i n 30 t urn possessing certain predic table consequences for graphic expansiveness. It is readily apparent that more def initive studies need to be conducted i n this area. As indicated previously, Jung s aw the mind as having f our main functions ; sensation , t hinking, f eeling and intuition. The graphologists interprets the fo llowing to i ndicate sensation (1 2): SENSATION pas t y writing smeary writing righn-/ard slant large extension in upper or l~~er zone l arge lower length colorless , flat writing The t r aditi onal indications for thinking are: THINKING small writing simplif ied wri t i ng connected clear spacing between lines emph asis on upper zone or 19j nal f orms opt:1.onal: lowe r zones without loops -raphologis ts determine the feeli ng function by: FEELING large middle zone f.ull, enlarged let ter forms p, a rlantis ga rlands with angles l.uge width Sae r'e coour connec t ions I 1 Garlandq are connective form, i n writing generall y t houg ht to indicate an easv-g0lnp perq lal·LV. The\ a r~ f ound i n letter s such as M and N, whi ch whe n written, re61"llb1e \J'e: <~r tve [1',,-. Saer'e Co our connections a re angular with (over ing <; crol There is littl e research i n English to justify the interpretations made of graphic indicators of the functions of the psyche. If one is wi lling to consider the thinking function in terms of intelligence. and i ntel l igence as being indicated on I.Q. tests, then there is some research t o justify some of t he indicators wh ich Hearns furnishes. One of the most scholarly and ambitious studies was do ne by Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Using intelligent but graphologically untrained judges, Castelnuovo-Tedesco had the judges rat e the intelligence of the writers on a five point scale . Pos i t i ve correlati ons were obtained when the judges considered (a) the speed of t¥-r iting , (b) the simplifications and/or original deviations of t he lette r form , and (c ) good aesthetic spacing of the lines on the page and of the ,,,, orci s in the line (5 ). Eps tei n et alia found a correlation significant a t the one per cent level when they compared original f orma tions of the wo r d "of" ( 7). TIley also found that when the letter g 1s formed s im ilar to a ftgure 8, this correlates with intelligence (p.(Ol) . The reader is ca utioned t o keep '- in mind that this is a very liberal inter pretation of the thinking function and the above, mentioned research should be interpreted i n a pr udent manner . There i s lit tle of an empirica l na ture i n English t o justify t he other func t i ons of the ;:>syche. Th:l.s does not imp l y t hat t he graphi c indicators whi ch Hea rns offers are i.ncorrect. It mea ns that at this time , th€re is nothi ng i n Englis" to j ustify his supposit ions. One of t he weaknesses of his paper i ~ the l a ck of a revi e~.; of the French and Cennan liter a ture. As the gr aphologists who hase th ~ ir analyses on the analytical a ppro~ch a re rlffisrily Ln fur ' pc. it is r ot Burpr ising t o find a paucity of research i n Enrrlish to pmpil ically establi<;h their inter pretati·ons. T~e Eu r opean ~rh01 ogi s ti b~v~ Qeen t ho w)rJd leade r s for ~ numbe r of ye a rs for the 32 a ttitude of t ~ e psychol ogists in Europe i s dif f erent than those in t he U~ i t ed States. ~aP hO l Og1 st s are considered s c ientists abroad vice being considered l ittle more than clair voyants as t hey are in many circ l e s in t he Unit ed S t at e~ ~ 33 CHAPTER V SUM}~RY AND CONCLU SIONS The stated purpose of this disertati on is to demonstrate the psychological rationale of graphology i n t erms of three important psvcho logica l systems . If the reader has come to the same conclusions as the writer , you no doubt fe0l that each of the systems exam ined ha~e contributed greatly t o psychology and t he graphologisti who base the ir gr aphoana l ysis on one or mor e of the systems, do so efficaci ousl y . I t is aIs" obvious chat i t would be very easy to take an ecl ectic posi tion as to \4hac constitutes the proper rationale of graphology. However, the wricer spes no vir tue in eclecticism as an end, but as a means to an end. The i mportant consideration is for each individual to synthesize this t hinking. go heyond eclecticism and knmv exact lv ,,,here he stands on an ~ ssue. Therefor e , the writer will mak e an attempt to suggest an ~ pp ropriate psychologi.cal rationale of grapho logy, even though he i s unable to offer a ;lleo t:y per ceo Anothe r unstated purposp of this paper i s to suggest possible hypo ti1ese:, f er fur t her r es earch . To this e nd, the author has made stateme nt s such I\S , "'lore r esearch needed in this area," or "Thi s wou ld make an i nt e resting topic for furthe r research . " It is hoped that i f t he reader doesn ' t run out and begin stud ies i n gra phology , he will at least he more <;ympathe t.1c a nd encouraging to those wh o do. In many ~" ays graphology is to psychology what hVf)n osis ls co medici ne. In fact s everal s tudies have b!'en done using roth p.rHf\hclogv and hypnosis ( 8). Th e lack of research dO("sn t t i ndicatE> thl t !'ometh Lng j 5 not a verity , but t hE' laC; of res earch , sert'u~lv hindel·q th~ us~[ul ne s s of any gi ven t ool. Gr a phology like hY1'fl0<;iS l.Ji; i. O.)t ,1ct·.i e !e \ddp accep tan, e an? use until it 1S f urt her 34 emB irically established . Only the n will the necessary attitude changes be brought about . Th ink of the tremendous advantages of using "frozen thoughts" , which i s not af f ected by factors as t he Hawthorne effect and the practice effect, as a project !.ve techni que or in a clinical situation. In terms of cos t alone , the advantages are t remendous. The most important factor to remember about grapho l ogy i s !! works ! ! I CONCLUSIONS To s uggest a rationale of graphology, one must first have in mind his psychology o f personality . TIle holistic gestalt theories of course stress t he consideration of the I.;>hole person . Impor tant also is the configuration of pe r sonal ity wh ich stresses t he patterns of and individuality of personal i ty. Gestalt psychologists have never a c cept ed the additive assumption made in t ra i t and f a ctor work. They wo uld definitely not accept an atomistic vi~.. of pe rsonali t y . Al though the ~ reudian conception of developmental s tages offers a po<;s i hle frame of refer ence for considering personality, the concep ts of rathexis Rnd object choice seem to f ur nish a mo re fertile grounds for considering pers onality . Also Fr eud 's i deas of de fense mechanisms a nd the other aspect of his dynamics of personali ty seem ver y plausible !.ndeed. Who ha s hyp ot hesized a Le t ter explanat ion o f the orga nization of personali t y i nt o t he ld, e go anJ sunerego ? It would not seem wis e to dis r egard the Jungi an conception of p ers onality types. His class ificat ion of introvert and extraver t appear in t he Ilterat'lre every olav. t1so there :Is a lot to r.e said a!:lou t his definit .i on ,,' lib i dinal ene~" ir. tenns of the Ds"chl'. /\lthou\;l.' n·ll. c o n si ('e r ~d in cogent t houghts concerning personality. One can see his idea about the dominate motive in personality being t he striving toward a goal of superority ever y time he reads a net_sp ap e r or hears the news. Also, his not i on that an indivi dual should no t be considered apart from his social setting seems relevant also. Allport and Murray have also of fered some interesting thoughts and s ignificant resear ch in the area of personality. Therefore, to f ormulate an approach to the most appropriate psychological rationale of grapho logv, one must start as the ecl ectic and after cons idering the best attributes of each system, attempt to interweave these vi ews into a workable hypothesis. It would be brash and naive to attempt to offer a theory at t his particular time, but hopefully as more research is accompli s hed and more psychological developments in personality are reported. a new theoretical of fering tYill be in order. The aut hor doesn't believe that the main points of the three p sy c h o lo ~ic al systems a re necessar ily mu tually exclusive. For examp le , t.,r hy can't one accept t he Jungi an theory of libidinal energy and still consider the writing as a who le in terms of being a gestalt? Isn 't it [easibl e to cons ider Freud 's organi zation of personality in terms of configuration ? Or at least as exhibiting certain patterns? Another imp ortant cons ideration t o a ny hypothetical of fering must be in tenns of the resea rch already accompli shed . Even i f the reader considers the present research i nadequat p , it s till must s erve as a s tarti ng point, There Is the problem of i nt erpret ation of resea r ch al s o , for different researchers tend to make differi ng int ernretati ons of t he same empir i cal results. A researcher, who on a visceral l evel 1s adamant ly op posed t o ::onc;1:d ering graph()logy as a nro.l ective tec>mique , is goi ng t o interpret requIte; in te:-ms of Id s O';1 n frame of r efe r ence and .!ill attempt to refu te 36 the other side. As the r esearch to empirical.l.y es tablish graphology is adequate but not ov e~Nh elmi ng, the researcher who believes in graphoanalysis is going to make every positive int erpr e tation he can. This is human nature. The wr i ter is somewhat amazed at the amount of emotionality and ego involvement t ha t has accompanied the development of graphology in the United Stat es . Ev en t o this day , the autho r finds many of his colleagues snickeri ng whe n t old the present writer i s doi ng research in graphoanalysi s. This has he en the case i n this country since t he turn of the ce ntury. The writer \.,ronders if deep down i nside, s ome psychol<;>gists as well as educators in general ob j ect t o the t hought that one could discover aspects of their personality wi t hou t consent through gr aphoanalysis . This might provide an interes t ing hyp othes is f or future res earch . Be that as it may . the current body of literature in the English speaking count r ies wi ll be used as a starting point for the suggested app r oach t o t he most appropriate rationale for graphology. In terms of gestalt psychology, the wr itten page being a gestalt is most appropr iate. This \,8S one of the nm pre limina ry questions posed i n Chap ter Three and IoTa s answered on pages 18 and 20. Also t he principle of configuration has bee n so well deve l oped by Holff 's !Ildny years of s tudy, t hat one mus t consi der personality t o be conf igured . Besides the research cited i n Chapter Th r ee , \"01 f[ has shoun exper imentally t here is a consistency in graphic pat t e rns made r igh t-handed left-handed, with eyes open and with them closed. It is surprisi ng to lea r n that right-handed i ndividuals will maKe the same sized f igures and l ines with t heir l eft hands whi le b l i nd- olded (40, 23ff) . \.]o lff al ~o cons idered the pr oblem of i nnat e configuraticins in the s cr ibblings of ve r' young children. He demons t r ated that children t en months old den,onstra te simp Je patterns of con figura tion wh:!.ch a re consis t ent 37 up .t o eight years of age. Wolff of course interprets this configuration in the human personality. He demonstrates and defends the verity of this hypothesis throughout his whole book. It is interesting to speculate on the reason ,,,hy ten mon t h old chi Idren show configuration in their scribblings for it' certainly wasn't learned. \.Jolff offers the following as a possible explanation (40 , p . 151): Although we never learned the configuration of graphic movements and are not aware of it, the configuration of movements into a harmonious pattern might have been learned unconsciously by adapting our form of expression t o the organized patterns of na ture. Along with t hese tw o key concepts from gestalt psychology , the writer finds very little of the material in Chap ter Two which does not contribute to a sound rationale of graphology . Graphology is a projective technique. One can di scern forces of cathexis and anti-cathexis; one can see a logical t hreefold division i n personal i t y and i n handwriting as a projec tion of personali t y . \fuether this division i.9 considered in terms of id, ego and superego is immaterial . The semantical considerations are secondar y. As indicated in beth the s ection on psychoanalyt ical psychology and the section on analytical PSYChOlog~ SYChiC energy is an important concept to the rationale of graPh010g0 One cOan discern indications of psychic energy in handwriting and whe t he r it is mo re appropriate to i nte r pretate these i nd ications 1.n t erms of sexuality or Jung ' s conception of libidinal energy is difficult t o decide. The wri ter favors J ung's interpretation but a lso helieves the re Is merit to t he i nterpretat ion in terms of sexuali t y . At present the r esearch results do not a llmJ one to make an empi r ical differentiati on. Although the works of Wallach (35) and Taf t (33) we r e used t o consider the factors of introversion and extraversion, the writer believes J 38 that these must be 'considered outside the realm of analytical psychology , for int roversion and extraversi on were determined in both of these studies by a questionnaire or self report device which does not consi der the mental t ypes. Jung's conception of t hese two phenomenon should be considered in t erms of his t hesis of libidinal energy and his interpre t ation of t he four psychic func tions. Neither Wallach nor Taft have this and t he refot:e their work i s not meaningful in t erms of analytical psychology . 'TIlerefor e, t he writer mus t currently reject Jung's analytical psychol ogy fot: there is no empirical evidence ava ilable at present in the English speaking countri es . vlli at is the psychological rationale of graphology? It is that writing r ep resents a gestalt . It shows the configuration principl e and it is a projectIve technique . Ha ndwriting is an involuntary and involutional r ept:esentat i on of the wr iter's personality. One can learn about dynamics of personality as we ll as the organization of personality through graphology. ,t:ap holagv is j ust ~egin ning to creep out of the stone a ges but its f uture developments should be interesting indeed. 39 BIBLI OGRAPHY 1. Allport, Gordon tv . and Ve r non, Philip E. Studies in Expressive Movemen.t. New York: MacMillian Co., 1933. 2. Allport, Gordon W. Personal~ a Psychological Interpretation. New York : Ho l t and Co., 1937. 3. Be ll, John E. ~ ec t lv e Technique~. New York: Longmans, Green and Co . , 1948. 4. Birge, W.R. "An Experimental Inquiry into the Measurable Handwriting Correlates of Five Personality Traits." Journal of Personality. 1954 . 23: 215-23 . 5 . . Castelnuove- Te desco , P. "A Study of the Relationship Between Handwriting and Personality Variables. " Genetic and Psychological Monographs. 1948, 37: 167- 220. 6 . Crepieux- Jamin, J. The Psychology of the Movements of Handwriting (translated by L. K. Given-Wilson). London, 1926. 7. Epstein L., Hartford , H. and Tumarkin, 1. "The Relationship of Certain Letter Form Variant s in the Handwriting of Female Subjects to their Education, 1.Q. and Age. " :J ourna l of Experimental Education. 1961, 29 : 385-92. 8. Fluckiger , F.A., Tripp, C.A. and We inberg , G.H. "A Review of Experimental Research i n Graphology , 1933-1960 . " ! erceptual and Hotor Skills. 1961, 12 : 67-90. 9 . Freud , S. !J1e_~o_._a nd th_e Id. . (Trans lated by Joan Riviere). New York: Norton and Co . Inc . , 1960 . 10. Gough , H.G. "Tests of Pers onalit y and Temperment." E:ncyc~_e d ia ~.~_~an nica. 1969, 18. 11 . Ha ll, C. S. ~. Primer of Freudian Psy chology. A Ment or Book . New York : Net. America n Library , 1954. 12. Hearns, R.S. H~n dwr 1ti ng A n....!'\ n~s i s Through Its Symbolism. 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"Dynamic Disturbances in the Handwri ting of Psychotics. i, Am_erican Journal of Psy chia~. 1940, 97 : 102-35. 22 . ______. ______and Zubin, J. Handwriting Analysis. Horingside Heigh t s, New York: King Crown Pr ess , 1942. 23. Lo rr , L. Lepine, 1.T. and Golder, J .V. "A Factor Analysis ' of Some Handwriting Character isti cs." Journal of Personality. 1954 , 22: ,- 348-52 . 24. Harcues , Irene. ~1ied Grapho logy. New York : Macoy, 1946. 25. ______Guide to Personality Through Your ~~~wr 1~1~g. New York: Arc Books I nc ., 196 5. 26 . Me dnick, Ma rtha r . and Mednick , S.A. Research in Persona l ity . New York : Holt Rhinehart and Winston, Inc. , 1963. 27 . :!I-l unr oe, Ruth. Lewinson , T. S. and Waehner , Trude Schmidl. "A Comparison of Three Projective Me t hods ." Journal of Personality. 1944- 45 , 13 : 1-21. 28 . Ol va nova, Nadya. T~~y c hol~f Handwriti ng. New York: SterHng Pub lishing Co., 1961. 9. Pas cal, G. R. "The Analysis of Handwriting : A Test o f Significance. " __u[' .!!.'!.L~L~er~o_nalH'y. 194'3, 12 : 123-44 . 30. Progoff , Ira . J u n g'~~y-~h o J og~~ Social Meaning. New York: Grove Press , 19)3. 31. Roman, Kla r a G. Handw ~_t}~_~_50 Person a l ~. New York: Noonday Pr ess, 1962 . 32 . Stafford, Muriel. Y!,u __:!.n _dJour Handwr iting. A Dell Book. ~eH York: De Jl Publishing Co., 196 3 . 41 33. Taf t , R. "Ext raver sion , Ne uroti cism , and Expressive Behavior : An Application of Wallach ' s Moderat or Effect to Handwriting Ana l ys is ." }ournal of Pe rsonality. 196 7. 35: 570-84. 34. Turabian , Ka te, L. A Manual for Wr iters . Phoeni x Books . Chicago: Univer s i t y of Chicago Pr ess, 1967. 35 . \va llach , M. A. and Br ant l ey, Helen T. "Rel ative Graphi c Exp ansiveness as a Function of Gr osH Bodilv Activity and Psychological Disturbance . " J ou rna l_0l-P e r s_on~}ity_ . 1968 , 36 : 24 6-58 . 36. We lls , F.T. . "Per sona l History , Han dwr iting , and Specifi c Behavior." .J ournal of ~~rson~} t~. 1945 , 14 : 295-314 . .~ 7 . Wertheimer , ~. "1:. "Ges tal t Psychol ogy ." Encyclopedia j!ritannica. 1969, 10 . 38 \,'o H s on , Ros e. A Study in Handwr:l.ting Analysis. Ann Arbor, Mich : Edwards Brother s . Inc ., 1949 . 39 . I n H.H . Anders on and G.t. Anderson (editors) ~n . lnl:roduc t :l.o n~Pr o jec tive Te chniques . New York: Prentice 1\all , 1951. 40. \~o lf f , We rner. Diagrams of the Unconscious . New York: Grune & Stratton, 1948.