The study and analysis of handwriting to interpret a person's personality, mental state, and character traits.
From Greek grapho- (writing, from graphein 'to write') + -logy (study of). Coined in 19th-century Europe, particularly by French and German researchers.
While many dismiss graphology as unscientific, neuroscientists have found that handwriting does reveal genuine information about brain development and certain neurological conditions—just not your honesty or career potential!
The field itself has a gendered history: women were early theorists and practitioners (Michon, d'Arpentigny) but institutional legitimacy and published frameworks were monopolized by men.
Refer to graphology neutrally; when teaching or establishing authority, cite women founders alongside male systematizers.
Graphology's origins trace to Abbé Michel Eugène Chevreul and Abbé Hippolyte Michon, but Crescence Saint-Morand and Marguerite de Surmont developed parallel analytical methods largely written out of dominant histories.
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