Handwriting analysis is a hobby that not many people have heard of. Yet it has been used for lots of things, from a neat party trick to helping in a murder investigation, handwriting analysis has a lot of potential. It has been debated over the years just how much handwriting analysis should be used as evidence for convicting someone. Is it really as reliable as its supporters would claim? While we don’t have the answer to that question, we do know that handwriting analysis can at least be fairly accurate at telling someone’s personality. Here are some of the basics.
Before you start reading, if you would like to analyze your own, or someone else’s handwriting, write a sample paragraph, preferably in cursive, on a piece of paper before you read the rest of this article. Typically if people read about certain characteristics that they like, they tend to mimic them in their writing subconsciously, and therefore your analysis won’t be as accurate.
Size:
The size of a person’s handwriting reflects how outgoing they are. The larger the handwriting is, the more out going and expressive the person typically is. Which of course means those with tiny handwriting are withdrawn and tend to bottle things up inside. Handwriting that’s in the middle is just that, a person who’s in between the two extremes, and handwriting that varies shows rapidly changing feelings. This might be a sign of deeper psychological problems, or it could simply mean they’re in a confusing mood at the moment.
Slant:
Handwriting will lean either to the left, the right, or be almost totally vertical. What does this tell us about a person? You can probably guess without too much thought. Imagine a person when they are talking to you. If they’re really into what they are saying do they pull back from you or lean in closer? If you said lean in closer, then you’re right. Handwriting that slants to the right, or leans in, means the person is more expressive of their emotions. They’re more likely to tell you how they are feeling, whether it’s an outburst of anger, joy, or sadness. Leaning to the left is the opposite. These people hide their feelings and try to control their emotions. Vertical writing shows someone who straddles the fence. They can vary to either side depending on their mood and the situation. The degree of how intensely the writing is slanted shows how intensely a person holds back or how much they express themselves.
Position:
The last thing to look at for a quick overview of someone’s personality is the way they write on a piece of paper. If the paper is lined, do they write on the lines or do some words go above or below? This shows whether or not they like to conform to other people’s standards. More non-conformist types tend to write away from the lines. If the piece of paper has no lines, where do they start writing? If they start in the middle then they like to be the center of attention. If they start more to the left they are focused more on the past. Starting closer to the right edge shows a person living more in the future.
Remember that no analysis is perfect. Some people have strange quirks in their writing that don’t fit normal standards. You may extremely extroverted and have tiny writing. Typically, however, these tricks can be used to get a basic feel of what someone is really like. If you are interested, you can find many books out there about handwriting analysis. There a many others traits and details that can be shown through writing.
