Klara G. Roman

The author presents graphology as a dynamic theory of personality, noting its roots in Europe prior to the advent of psychoanalysis or other projective techniques. Klara Roman studied in Budapest. She first practiced in Chicago, and was positioned on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York. This work constantly adverts to scientific authority, psychometrics, and verified principles. She makes an effort to record scientific observations and testing, and presents "long-accepted answers" that lack a scientific basis as matters requiring further study. This handbook is still the text for many interested in the diagnostic practice.

History -

French pioneers. Around 1830, Abbe Flandrin began systematic study of handwriting in Paris. His disciple, Michon possessed a keen gift for ob servation and a photographic memory. We still have access to their collection of thousands of specimens and notes. The founder of modern intelligence testing, Alfred Binet, was influenced by the successes of graphology.

German scientific foundations. The new sciences of psychiatry, physiology, and criminology began sharing the terms graphologists had developed. Sadly, a plagiarist and pretender named Ludwig Klages developed a pseudo-scientific mysticism (Geist und Seele, in conflict) which became an ideological cornerstone of the Nazi creed, as traced by Theodore Lessing. [9] Fortunately, neurologists, and clinical psychiatrists. Max Pulver has shown how both conscious and unconscious drives are projected in writing patterns. [11]

Hungarian School. By 1920, Hungarians familiar with the Continental work formed an institute which made independent developments. The author developed an instrument known as the "graphodyne" which was used in large-scale clinical investigations.

Since then, handwriting studies have continued, and Americans have published major contributions to the science. The point of reviewing the history is to note that there are no fixed laws in the field, more study is needed, and that handwriting is distinct to each person, each person is different, and analysis may be a key to personality differences.[17]

Modern graphology considers the movement and forms as expressing and projecting the writer's inner life. [5]
Abundantly illustrated with handwriting examples, and 171 items in the Bibliography, with a Work Sheet and a detailed Index designed for use in making a Handwriting Analysis.… (mais)