Historical Perspective

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.

Graphology, or handwriting analysis, is the study of handwriting shapes and patterns to determine the personality and behavior of the writer.  Graphology should not be confused with document examination, which disregards the personality of the writer but determines forgeries and altered documents.

According to membership records of graphological organizations, there are more than 20,000 certified graphologist in the United States. However, most graphologists receive their certifications through correspondence courses that require no prerequisite psychological or criminological university training. This suggests that individuals and businesses should ascertain qualifications, education and experience of graphological firms before subscribing to their services.

A study by the American Psychological Association's annual convention revealed that graphology - conducted with the aid of computer technology - can be a reliable tool for determining traits such as honesty, emotional stability, substance abuse risk and judgment.

Unlike psychological tests, graphology does not become obsolete because of outdated or culturally discriminatory test questions. It is not even necessary that the person speak or write English.

Handwriting analysis should be used as a supplement and not a replacement to current procedures.

Because there are no essential commonalties on the basis of race, culture and gender in terms of the brain and personality, handwriting analysis is completely objective, unbiased and non-discriminatory.

In America, an estimated 5,000 corporations use handwriting analysis in a variety of ways, including employment procedures and team-building.

Businesses in European countries commonly use handwriting analysis in their employment practices. In France and Switzerland, approximately 80 percent of the large corporations use graphology in their hiring procedures.

Graphology is taught in psychology departments of several leading universities in Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland and Israel.

Handwriting, as viewed by the Federal Courts, is considered public domain. There are no civil laws precluding the use of handwriting samples and there have been no lawsuits involving graphologists.

Graphology has been practiced for centuries and today, there are more than 2,200 published works on handwriting analysis.

According to psychologist David Lester, Ph.D., "... a majority of the studies support the validity of graphology and the accuracy of graphologists. Furthermore, as long as there is a fair number of studies that demonstrate the success of graphological judgments about people, and there does appear to be a fair number, we must accept that graphological judgments can be valid. "(The Psychological Basis of Handwriting Analysis, The Relationship of Handwriting to Personality and Psychotherapy, David Lester, Ph.D., Nelson Hall, Chicago, 1981, page 53).
 




Marketing Research and Survey Corporation Study

In a 16-year study conducted by psychologist Herb Greenburg, President of Marketing Research and Survey Corporation, the question was asked: "What is the most important factor in job success?" After reviewing 350,000 employees at more than 7,000 companies, the study determined that: "Personality is the single most important factor in job success - not education, not experience, not age, gender, race."

Greenburg's study found no differences in job success among men or women, young or old, black or white, high school dropouts or college trained, experienced or inexperienced workers when they were matched to their jobs by personality characteristics, instead of being mismatched and therefore misemployed through traditional job criteria of race, gender, age, work-experience or education. His conclusion: "Eighty percent of noncommunist bloc workers are misemployed."

Greenburg states that job matching, that is, matching the applicant who has the right personality dynamics to the job that specifically requires those characteristics, is the key to cutting costly personnel turnover.