GRAPHOLOGY
Etymologically, graphology means the science of the study of graphisms (graphos: writing / logos: science). The various graphological specialisations arise as a result of the direction, or discipline, given to said study. In some of these specialisations (graphophysiology, medical graphology, forensic handwriting analysis, etc.) the neuter graphological method is used; that is to say, graphic aspects and sub-aspects are analysed using graphological terminology, without necessarily needing to make any psychological interpretation thereof.
Graphology is the study of graphisms, handwritten graphic symbols that represent words and ideas; this technical term graphism is to be understood in its widest sense as referring to any graphic expression_r, legible or illegible: punctuation signs, mathematical language, doodles, paraphs, etc.
From the graphological point of view, writing (a neuromuscular and psychic act) is understood to be a convergence of voluntary physical gestures that, via a semiconscious-learning process, become internalised, automatic and personalised due to a series of biological factors and to the sum of socio-cultural experiences.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HANDWRITING
Psychological analysis of handwriting, or graphopsychology, consists in the study and practice of advanced graphological techniques which offer a scientific interpretation of an individual’s personality based on handwriting and, in part, on doodles and drawings. Like psychiatry and dualistic psychologies, it looks at graphic-motor representations (writing) of mental activity as indicators of psychological states, as opposed to materialistic psychology which rejects the idea of mind.
The term graphopsychology was coined by the Italian graphologist Marco Marchesan and it is the term that has gained the greatest acceptance among professionals, although there are also other names used to refer to the discipline, such as psychographology, coined by Father Girolamo Moretti, and psychology of writing, by Wilhem Preyer, Robert Saudek and Jean Charles Gille. The layman tends to equate graphopsychology with graphology, believing them to be synonymous; this confusion is easy to understand if we consult the dictionary of the Real Academia Española, which defines graphology as “the science or art of ascertaining someone’s character through graphisms” (ciencia o arte de averiguar el carácter a través del grafismo). There is, in any case, a close relation between the two; graphopsychology is a specialisation within the field of graphology – not the only one, but certainly the most well known.
Graphopsychology, used as a projective technique, fits within the general framework of psychiatry as a way of diagnosing a patient’s state of mind. It is considered one more personality assessment tool within a scientific protocol which psychiatrists follow exactly, step by step, called the exploration of psychological or psychopathological symptoms.
Exploration of psychological or psychopathological symptoms is carried out by interviewing the patient as well as their family members, friends and colleagues; then there are “diagnostic” interviews, various medical tests, batteries of tests, and even the qualitative analysis of writing, all of which offer data and direct information concerning the person’s state or mental processes. Most of this method can be applied to criminology, especially in interviewing suspects.
引用自：
GRAPHOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HANDWRITING,
GRAPHOPSYCHOLOGY,
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