r . Handwriting and Greativity W D TenHouten, University ot California, Los Angeles, CA, USA @ 2011 Elsevier lnc. All rights reserved. This article is a revision of the previous edition article by Warren D TenHouten, volume 1, pp. 799-807, @ 1999, Elsevier lnc Glossary Creative aspirations The interest in, and the desire for, the realization of a creation. Graphologically, creative aspirations are reflected in the height and elaboration ofthe upper zone of letters such as t, I h, k, and l, and in many capitalized letters. It is the expressiveness ofwriting, or the totality of graphic movements, that is sufficient to differentiate one writer from another. Creative organization The deliberate and systematic production of ideas and methods that result in creation. Graphologically, the creatively organized person can be expected to show good organization, simplification of form, and originality ofgraphic expression. Cood organization is reflected in the overall use of space and movement in time (ease of forward movement). Simplification is the use of economic shortcuts, finding economy of time and motion, and seeking what is essential. Originality refers to spontaneity and creativity in the handling of space, form, and movement. Spohen words are the sytnbols the symbols of spohen care abot,t a srate of future aflairs (the realization of a creation), to organize a program to realize this state, and to in this endeavor in spite ofdistractions, obstacles, and obstructions. On the other hand, the intention to solve a problem can lead to the deliberate and systematic production ofideas that result in creations. persevere personality, moral) they are daimed to 'reveal' lack consistency and await standardization. Attempts by Fumham et al. (2003) of mental agerience, and. written words are words. Creativity in writing The ability to produce new forms, to restructure stereotyped situations, to innovate, to redefine, and to improvise. Required is the aspiration to imagine and conceptualize creations, together with the organizational skills for turning such ideas into obiective creations. Graphology The study or description of handwriting in relation to changes from the ordinary which occur in some phpical disorders, such as hyperactivity, learning disabilities, and alexithymia; the art or science of inferring a person's personaliry, character struc(ure, and possibly, aptitudes, ftom the peculiarities of his or her handwriting. Intentionality Creativity iequires that a person is able to Aristotle to predict psychometrically valid personality measures from reliably measured handwriting factors collected under non- Graphology, Personality, and Culture Eleventh century Chinese scholar Kuo Io Hsu daimed that by using handwriting. he could distinguish "the noble man from the common man from a moral point of view." Efforts to develop graphology as a rational science were underway in eighteenth century Europe and North America, and for well over a century there has been a consistent, yet limited, interest in the relationship between handwriting and personality. Notably in France and Israel, graphology is widely used in personnel selection. This practice has been justly criticized as unfair to potential employees, for its results fail to approach the levels of validity attained by other widely available and less expensive screening devices. Graphology is not a viable method of assessing an individual's potential, and lacks ability to predict on-the-job performance. More generally, the claims ofpractitioners ofgraphology that their 'science' is sufficiently developed to have practical reliability and validity has scant support (Edwards and Armitage, 1992). With respect to the evaluation of personality, graphology has not shown itself to be effective in well-controlled tests. Guides to graphology that describe relevant factors to examine (e.9., slants, zone, pressure, size) and the traits (e.g., character, 588 self-conscious conditions have also failed to establish robust relationships between graphology and personality. The claims made for graphology are either not supported, or at best only occasionally and weakly supported. Yet, the possibility of future success cannot be ruled out. Graphology should not be dismissed as mere quackery and pseudo-science, or dismissed along with astrology, parapsychology, palmistry, the Tarot, and other such occult knowledge practices, even though the roots of graphology can be found in synpathetic magical practi€es. The invention of writing, as a technique of representing speech by a durable trace, was historically a dramatic leap forward for humanity. Sequential numbering which requires a slntem of number signs, is inconceivable without writing, and such a number q/stem is prerequisite for a system of economic exchange. This in turn is a requirement for the development of urbanDed societies with developed economies, in which time and value are subject to calculation. Thus, while graphology has a long way to go to establish itself as a way to measure salient aspects of one's personality and character stmcture, writing has played a crucial role in the development of civilDation. On the individual level, writing is essential to the development of cognitive abilities. The leaming of handwriting has the power to initiate reflection and to encourage the higher cognitive of analysis and abstraction. WhereVer there are students, legible writing is required, attractive script is appreciated, processes l' Handwriting and Greativity and both can affect evaluations by teachers and institutional gatekeepers. As text comes to be written directly onto computer keyboards, and as the 'man of letters' comes to be replaced by the 'blogger,' skilled handwriting has waned in importance. Because each person's handwriting is unique, however, graphology can and will long continue to be used in legal systems to detect forgery and ascertain authorship of written text. Handwriting is of interest to cognitive and affective neuroscience, because certain pathologies ofbrain development and neurochemical processes of brainwork can result in pathologies in speaking, reading, and writing. While humans of all cultures, as far as we know, have the potential for reading and writing, those cultures which remain largely illiterate fall short of developing in their members the most special of left hemisphere functions, rvhich include rational analysis, and which presuppose the measurement of time and money. Literacy, together with numerical cognition, confers ability to question the epistemological and theological doctrines of one's culture and civilization, thereby attaining the potential for developing a rational, enlightened, and scientific understanding of the world. While neuroscientist loseph Bogen (cited in de Kerckhove and Lumsden, 1988: aa2) groused about our own culture being a scholasticized, postCutenberg-induced-industrialized computer happy exaggeration of the Graeco-Roman penchant for'propositionizing,' r'e must take literacy, reading, and rvriting seriousl.v as one component of what might be needed in order to avoid a possible broader 'clash of civilizations' promoted by fundamenralists of all kinds. With writing, and handu'riting, comes the promise of freedom to think logically and clearlv, hopefully in a rvay that is not limited by the lack of affect and s),rnbolization, which Bogen called 'appositionalizing.' By being taught to decode alphabetic texts, which are both linear and sequential, the brain is encouraged to adopt strategies of sequential analysis for a wide range of other cognitive operarions as we1l. This insight was first expressed inPlato' s Phoedrus, in his suggestio n that the art of writing bears a strong resemblance to the four rules of investigation - examination, division (into kinds or variables), order, and enumeration. this insight w,as aniculated by Descartes, 2000 years later, in his Dlscourse on Method. We find this perennial idea further explored, and grounded in contemporary neurocognitive theory, in Martin Taylor's (1983) model ofthe bilateral cooperative model ofreading. 589 Graphology, the Study of Handwriting Proponents of graphology (see Brannan, 2004) maintain that writing can be used to identi$/ a seative personality insofar as writing communicates not only the semantic content of words but also expresses features of the personality structure of the writer. Handwdting is a process of psychomotor gesturin& tlis gesturing exemalizing and thereby giving creative expression to ideas and the contents of inner speech. Qualitative-holistic and quantitative methods of graphological analysis have been developed with the intention of enabling graphologists to make inferences about'sectors' or'constellations' of personality structue on the basis of detailed features of handwriting, on the levels of words and letters. One well-known quantitative graphological technique, the Psychbgram, was developed by K Roman and given formalization and elaboration by D. Anthony. The mostusual obiective of graphology in general, and the Psychogram in particular, is to represent an integrated view ofan individual's personality. The forry separate graphic indicators of the Psychogram (organization, rhythm, speed, rightward trend, pressure, etc.) are pafiitioned, on a concepwal, a prioi, basis, into eight sectors, induding 'intellect, aspirations, and creativity'. Roman wisely cautions that no single component or feature of handwriting can be interpreted without reference to others, even though for purposes of analysis they can be set apart and considered separately, viewing each one by itself. A single feature is significant only in relation to the group to which it belongs. This advice is widely ignored by graphologists. For example, Brannan (2004: 38) does not hesitate to daim that "a relatively heavy r-bar is evidence of strong will-power. . . . This trait implies the strength of purpose of the writer" (an inference made about Babe Didrickson [lived 1914-19561, a noted female athlete). Anthony operationally defines the intellect-aspirations-creativity sector of the Psychogram by six quite general features of handwriting samples: 1. good organizational structure; 2. innovative simplification of form; ('desire to form, build, or arrange,' e.9.. of the letters b, d, f, h, h l, and t, and capitalized 3. upperzone elaboration 4. 5. 6. letters); upper zone height; originaliry, and expressiveness (indicated, most generally, consistency in effort and direction). by an overall Creativity: Aspirations and 0rganization Creativity requires productive thinking. There is a 'dialectical' aspect to creativity in that it often involves interaction of logical-analytic/propositional and gestalt-synthetic/ appositional modes of thought), which are ordinarily lateralized to the leIl and right sides of the brains of right-handed adults without substantial brain damage. Thinking that integrates these two opposite yet complementary modes of thought is perhaps necessary for creativit, but alone is insufficient because oflinkages between creativity and intentionality. On the one hand, creative ideas can be stimulated by the integration of analytic and syrrthetic thought. But creativity means more than an idea and an aspiration; also required is that something actually be created, a creation. Creativity, Thought, and the Brain Gestalt-synthetic, holistic thought (in the adult, right-handed person) is usually associated with the functioning of the right cerebral hemisphere (RH) of the human brain, and logicalanalytic thought with the left hemisphere (LH). Intentionality, along with planning monitoring, editing commanding, and controlling, is associated with the executive-level functioning ofthe ftontal lobes ofthe brain. The frontal lobes evolved our of, and remain dosely linked to, the limbic structures which provide emotional response to images and models, and which, in combination with memory and information about the body and environment, enable the frontal lobes to direct T 590 Handwriting and Creativity meaningful, goal-directed actions in the interests of the self. The goal-directed behavioral programs of the frontal lobes extend to intentions and plans. These programs are complex resuits of social development and are formed with the participation of language, which enables abstraction, categorization, and generalization, and which is much involved in the conuol and regulation of behaviour. Dysgraphia and the Split Brain Dysgraphia - handwriting disability, can come abour, as rve have seen, as a result of living in a Iargely preliterare cuhure. It can also come about as a developmental to genetic accident, injury or illness. disorder due Dysgraphia seldom occurs in isolation, as it is often concomitant with related disorders such as alexith)..rnia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, parkinsonism, hepatic encephalopathy, aphasia, artention-deficit disorder, and various emotional pathologies. Still-developing dysgraphic students are apt to also have physical disabilities, sensory impairments, mental impairments, or emotional disorders. Dysgraphia stands in the way of academic success. Students with dysgraphia in the United States are eligible for special educational services, and are apt to be placed in categorical classroom programs designed for children with specific learning disabilities. We can understand creativity through the study of neuroIogical patients with a pathological lack of integration of anal1tic and syrlthetic thought. Such a group of patients are the 'split-brain' (cerebral commissurotomy, corpus callosotomv) patients who have had the two hemispheres of their brains surgically divided through sectioning of the corpus callosum, a structure containing some 200 million nerve fibers that directly connect the two hemispheres. This radical surgery was carried out as a ffeatment of last resort for severe, drug-refractory epileptic seizures. Following this operation, patients are limited in their ability to integrate the workings of the two sides of the brain. The two hemispheres can be of two minds. One of these patients would put his arm around his wife with one hand, while pushing her awaywith his other hand and arm, a case of true ambivalence. In a remarkably simple but nonetheless crucial experimen- tal study of eight patients undergoing split-brain J. Bogen discovered surgery limitations in both their writing and their &awing abilities. Following the operation, the right side of the body is controlled by the LH and vice versa. Therefore, performances carried out by the right hand result fiom LH actMty, and performances carried out by the left hand are related to the activities of the RH. These patients, who were all right-handed, eryerienced a reduced capacity to wdte (dysgraphia) with their left hands but not with their right hands. They also eperienced a reduced capacity to copy figures (dyscopia) with the right hand, but not with the left. The dysgraphiadyscopia phenomena are illustrated in Figure 1 by responses of one of the split-brain patients. To measure dysgraphia, a written model of the word, 'Sunday' was presented. The patient was able to copy this word with his right hand (and LH) but could manage only a crude'S A with his left hand (and RH). His severe dyscopia is illustrated by his effort to copy a cross and a solid cube. He copied the figures quite well with his left hand, butwith his right hand showed no configurational ability. It would appear that he started at the top (line segment 1) and then proceeded dockrarise. He drew the first seven lines correctly; butattheend ofline 7 (the'bottom'line), he made awrongturn, leftward, instead ofup upward and to the right. It is as if the left side ofthe cross fell offits axis between lines 7 and 8. It appears as ifhe grasps the figrue as a sequence of lines thatturn either to the left or right, but made one wrong turn. This could have been an effort at linear direction finding, but it most certainlywas not an exercise in gestalt completion. For the cube, it is as if he had merely used his left-hemisphere recognition of a number of connected lines, and then made a visual gesture of stacldng some of them up. He showed no configrrational ability to recognize the cube as a whole or gestalt. -eA glfls printed Left (using the 'Sunday'above as a model) I Left Model Right Figure At the left side of the figure, dysgraphia in the left hand (and right hemisphere) illustrated by the inability of a commissurotomy patient to write the word "Sunday" with his left hand (and right hemisphere). At the right, dyscopia in the right hand (and left hemisphere) illustrated by a patient who, while able to copy models of a cross and a cube with his left hand (and right hemisphere), failed to do so with his right hand (and left hemisphere). Reproduced irom J Bogen (1969) The other side of the brain l: Dysgraphia and dyscopia following cerebral commissutotomy. Bulletin ol the Los Angeles Neurological Societies,vol.34, Figure 5b, p. 83. Lllandwriting and Greativity Alexithymia, Creativity, and the Split Brain Klaus Hoppe and j. Bogen found alexithymia a cognitiveaffective disturbance involving a lack of words for feelings, in - twelve commissurotomized patients. Alexithymia literally means 'no words for feelings.' A better term would have been the existing Creek work, a-thymo-aleila, which means 'no feelings for words.' By analogy, the problem of the color-blind person is not a lack of words for colors, but rather a lack of colors for words. The alexithymic person has difficuhv describing his or her feelings to other persons. There is a difficuln'in verbally identi$,ing feelings but also in distinguishing feeling from bodily sensations. There is a lack of slrnbolizrtions, termed 'asyrnbollexia'by Hoppe in 1985, and an impoverishment of fantasy life, resulting in a utilitarian, operational mode of thinking. The opposite of alexithyrnia, called'sgnbollexia' b1' 59.1 Hoppe, is apt to be taken for granted in the everyday world but must be considered a form of creativity in its own right. Accord- ing to interhemispheric transfer deficit theory alexithymia results fiom a physical or functional disconnection of the two hemispheres, such that the cognitive representations of negative alfects (of the RH) cannot be articulated in words (bythe LH). J. J. Bogen and C. Bogen (1969:201) have argued thar an interaction benveen the modes of thought of the two sides of the brain is necessary for creative thinking. They suggest that "to demonstrate that division of the corpus callosum leads to a Ioss of creativity, we need some measure of creativity." Handrrriting pror-ided such a measure in a further alexithy- mia study carried out by TenHouten et al. in 1985, which included eight of the twelve split-brained patients of the Hoppe-Bogen stud,v and eight precision-matched control subAll 16 subjects were shown a 3-minute videotaped film jects. Commissurotomy Normal AA ) .a* a-(t *.*r- *,* *-e7, ta a. /+*a J-ia; *V*-r,/ -4,, a;4. NW e,.a2 Az--)- -3- ezfraR-? 4t / o- o-l;ft;;* az /d{-J -/* /u1/*--Z 4-2.-; ff-->a---zz--+ DM , hry Y,frZW, fr u,L il.' \r. att--o4 a"d- a. oaat Y;A,.k- . -4a..*., Cdm s.fi,fr sz'f4rful " fi/.4 "ffi" /i? 1t{^?, Z;p-c -4 92r* "t -L.=-- ea /- bd-.1.b J ^ z--/," /dnp z-r niE"--a-.1n ;1- cng NG q,L( 4- /*", -e/u -Szr-, n -^' ^- -C^l flt*yr.P{47* - / & ai.ra *-2.*z * .€-lr* .t-r/ //*r.qx ,/-;t N;t*.* fr RY ;je ,Iou *i.lt 1. -rnXE CM "'''v.J.At- 4* Lau 2 b!/ arlh/ il^k'uL ltL Jtad tD qd oiuri, u)as , &uz a a,fr aoy/*t47. AtL Jq 4n hD(, RM (, \or u Joo'l "b0 w t.+ F,t 7 rr .1- lf'atBllMt*'e) up LB c1, 7ll/" *e//*.U ^ /2"s, /,-A) AL -r/*/ "-Ur/;;Z. */,,fu"// fztzr*/ g*y'^// r. 424tn4 .o*47t. ^ 2 Ccm 3' Jju>4 *-r";l etztz.a -o =f u-d;z./ /.- r(*\ --a1/ a4* *1 44,:*4 L,44rre ,4/-4/1/r.--t4-A tu* . Crm Tl, hrbj t,JGs ,,ii 1aj,- auJ ,'J .;rutty !, o*1r1"'|:'.1/e5 {r 6'r&o n^4 h',> (,J ctb / O?;/F*-/ k+?y.r. ' 4* # Figure Selected handwriting specimens of eight commissurotomy patients (left column) and eight precision-matched normal control subjects (right column). Reproduced from TenHouten WD (1994) Creativity, intentionality, and alexithymia: A graphological analysis of split-brained patients and normal controls. ln: Runco MD, Hoppe KD, and Shaw M (eds.) Creativityand Affect, p.336. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. 592 Handwriting and Creativity four times. The film's two scenes depicted, with rnusic and visual images but no words, the deaths of a baby and of a boy. AIier the second showing of this film, all subiects were instructed to write four sentences expressing what they felt about the film. Small samples of the handwriting of the subjects are shown in Figure 2. The commissurotomized patients, in comparison to controls, were described by Psl,chogram variables as having less form and arrangement in the elaboration of their writing's upper zone and they wrote in a less expressive way. They were relatively constricted in their expression of self, as their graphic gestures lacked individual distinctiveness. Their script lacked rhlthm and coordination of movements, organization, and trizonal dynamics. In addition to its arrhythmic quality, their handwriting lacked an effective articulation of the letters u,ith connecting strokes, which according to Anthony, indicates a lack of'creativeness of the graphic expression.' Patients were infirm in their rvriting stroke (ductus) and showed an arrhythmic alternation of pressure and release. Here they can be said to lack conuol of sensuous expression. Their writing lacked consistencv in the slant of the letters. There is inadequate control over alignment and direction of lines and spaces between lines. And finally, there was a general irregularity in these patients' script. The handwriting samples were scored on the Psychogram by a professional graphologist, Marc Seifer, who u,as told only the age and sex ofthe writers (standard procedure in graphology). The six variables classified as indicators of creativity were intercorrelated, with the result that al1 correlations but those between Organization and Upper Zone Height w,ere positive. A factor analysis of this correlation matrix resulted in a twofactor solution, meaning that there are two latent, abstract concepts which might explain the correlatior-rs. (1977: 3). Simplification of form means economic shortcuts in writing seeking economy of time and motiorl and seeking what is essential. Originality has the commonsense meaning of the term, here referring to "spontaneity ...'and creativity in the handling of space, form, and movement" The three variables forming this factorwere together named Creative Organization. ofhigh creative aspiration is apt to be known for his orher original ideas; the person ofhigh creative organization not only has creative ideas, but possesses the methodological and organizational skills to turn such ideas into obiective creations. The person lntentionality Measures The commissurotomized patients, as hlpothesized above, showed significantly lower scores for Creative Aspiration and for Creative Organization than did their precision-matched normal controls. They were lower than controls for overall measures of other sectors as well - for Goal Direction, Libidina-l Energy, Expression of Feelings, Control, and Script Quality (Form Level and Functional Produaivity). A'second-order' factor analysis, using six sector-level variables, led to the discovery of a possible lack of intentionality in these patients. In both alexithymia and in some psychosomatic disorders there is an impoverished level of relations to obiects and goals, and a lack of dynamic energy in relation to these oblects. This lack of intentionality degrades one's ability to sustain focus. The data, while only exploratory and based on samples ordinarily considered inadequate for multivariate statistical analpis, suggest th4t a person predisposed to act with intentionality can be expected to show, in his or her handwriting, the following features: 1. Aspirations and 0rganizati0n Measurement - Upper Zone Elaboration and Upper Zone Height - joined Expressiveness in the first factor. Anthony defines 'aspiration' as a desire for the realization of values - of "ideals, ambitious intellectuality, pow,er, honour, excellence . . ." (1977:3). He argues, "Craphologically, it is commonly reflected by the upper zone elaboration .. . and upper The two upper zone variables zone height (. . . interest and aspirations above the daily routine, the intellectual guiding principle)" (1977: 3). Anthony defines Expressiveness as "those graphic movements which are'sufficiently distinctive to differentiate one individual from another.' These can include a flair for d;mamic design and spontaneous movements on the positive side, or by a stulti$uing rigidity and static immobiliqz on the negative" (1977: 3). This threevariable factor was named Creative Aspiration. The second factor attracted the other three intellect-aspirations-creativity sector variables: Organization, Simplification, and Originaliry. Organization refers to the writer's overall use of space and movement in time (ease of forward motion). Here, the emphasis is on form and design; figure and ground; and uniry coherence, and coordination. If 'creativity is defined, as in Anthony, as "the ability to produce new forms, to restructure stereotyped situations, to invent or innovate, to redefine, to improvise" (7977:3), then good organization can be interpreted as a rather global measure of creatMty. Anthony states that, "high scores for simplification and originality . . . are indicative of creativity" an ability to integrate intentions with actions in a fluent and rhythmic manner; 2. good alignment conool, indicated by parallel lines that are unwavering and straight - here reflected in a sense ofdirection and orderliness - and an effective use of time, all suggesting a functional integrity toward the fulfilment of obiectives; 3. writing that shows a naturalness and spontaneity in voluntary control of size, pressure, form, and arrangemenq 4. writing that is firm. with rhythmic alternation of tension and release in pressure and stroke (an elastic and flexible stroke shows meaningful functioning the making of an effective'impression' on the world); and 5. contractions and release that are balanced and rhythmic in movernent, disuibution, and form, all of which indicate an ability to perform productively. Note in &is description the importance of rhythm (.the for commissurotomy-control group differences). The commissurotomy patients' handwriting strongest single variable' as global features, Iack ofcoordination and rhythm, intentionality, and goal-directedness. Graphological variables contributing to Intentionality induded, in addition to three creativity rariables (Upper Zone Elaboration, Upper Zone Height, and Expressiveness): Rhythm, Trizonal Dynamics (psychical energy, goal-oriented behavior), Firmness of Ductus (the control of meaningful functioning, or making an 'impression' on the environment), Connectedness (ability to connect experiences had, I Handwriting and Greativity purposefully), Fluctuation (which integrates intentions with actions in a fluent and rhythmic manner), Siant Consistency, Alignment Control (indicating functional integrity toward the fulfilment of oblectives), and Regularity (movement and arrangement volitionally controlled by the writer, an ability to concentrate, and firmness and resolution). On the sector level, data analysis indicated that intentionality is primarily a joint function of two sectors, goal direction and emotional release. An overall measure of intentionality was positively correlated both with Creative Aspiration and with Creative Organization. These results have implications for the study of creativity and of pathological lack of creativity. On the basis of other than graphological analyrsis, in the same study it was found that following the splitting apart of the leli and right hernispheres ofthe brain, patients had a degraded experience ofsl,rnbols. These split-brained patients, in comparison to precisionmatched normal control subjects, used few affectladen words (a face valid index of alexithl,rnia). Their relatively Iiequent auxiliary verbs suggested a passive and indirect personal style; and they used relatively few adiectives, suggesting speech that is flat, dull, uninvolved, and lacking in color and expression. Further, they were found relatively less apt to fantasize or imagine s)rynbols (of the filmic stimulus). There was an overa-ll Iack of creativity in the content of their spoken and written verbal productions. These patients have been described as dull, flat, colorless, inexpressive, passive, indirect, lacking fantasy, unimaginative, unresponsive to symbols, and describing circumstances of events rather than feelings about these events. The evidence suggests, albeit indirectly, a la& of creadvity in the content of their spoken and written verbal productions. They symbolized in a discursive wa, using mainly secondaryprocess thought as opposed to a presentational structure consistent with primary-process thought. Hoppe (1985) noticed concreteness in their symbolizations, with an emphasis on stereot,?ic denotations. The strongest overall result of the handwriting analysis was that, for all of the eight pairs of subjects, patients showed less emotional release than did conrols, which replicates the earlier finding of alexithymia following cerebral commissurotomy. The hlpotheses advanced on the basis of graphological variables, distinguishing the handwriting of patients and controls, were consistently supported by other data. The split-brain patients showed a stong dysgraphia in their left hands. They also showed a strong dyscopia in their right hands. Their Iinear-thinking left hemispheres were not informed by their right hemispheres' affective, expressive, and spatial crearive mode of thought. This interhemispheric transfer deficit resulted in what can be termed an erpression dysgraphia rn tllle righthand, a phenomenon that had not been detected earlier. The split-brained patients did to some extent, however, express and syrnbolize emotions, primarily in a subconscious, negative way, through their handwriting. The alexithyrnia of these 593 on several other content-analytic measures. The criterion variables, it should be noted, were interpreted not as personality or character attdbutes, but rather as cognitive structures. Smith's Study of Handwriting and Creativity In one other study of relationships behveen handwdting and ceativity in 71 fifth-graders, Willa Smith devised a measure of creativity in 1998. the Graphological Creativity euotient (GCQ), based on the graphological traits spontaneiry openness, flexibility, intuition, autonom, self-acceptance, complo<ity, and persevemnce. Not surprisingly, an index based on these edectic criteria did not predict across several measures ofcreativity, but a weakpositive correlation of 0.30 (p:0.01) was found between the GCQ and the Torrance Test of Crearive Thinking (TICI), and between Complority and TTCT (p:0.05), when the orher creativity variables were controlled. Generally, the results were weak and nonsignifi cant. Handwriling Sensitive to Brain Damage Cerebral commissurotomy is a radical surgery but handwriting can be distorted even by minor brain damage, ofien without the writer being aware of the change in his or her script. It can be hypothesized that insofar as a head iniury is potentially lifethreatening it is one's signature that is the aspect of handwriting that is most apt to be affected. As an example, following a left-occipital injury sustained in an automobile accident, my own signature underwent three changes. First, there emerged a greatly simplified, and sometimes eliminated, first r of Warren. The dropped r was always the Ieltmost one, as if rr symbolized the Ieft and right cerebral hemispheres: this was corrected only with a protracted, conscious effort to do so. Second, a dent emerged at the height in the upper loop of the , in Houten. Graphologists uniformly regard the upper zone of script with higher cognitive functioning, so that this upper-zone dented t would be interpreted as symbolizing a pathology of higher, cerebral functions. This script feature lasted less than a year. And third, the an of Houten was essentially dropped, as were other letters and numbers at the ends of words or number strings. This was likely a manifestation of a mild form of unilateral neglect of the right visual field, not uncommon following left sided occipital lobe damage. It is important that we follow Beyerstein's (1992: 392-398) sage advice. tha! just because the brain is responsible for our psychological makeup as well as our writing, it does not follow that "script formation necessarily reveals deep seoets about our personal habits, talents, and predilections." Relationships between minute details ofwriting and social, psychological, and neurophys- iological phenomena would appear to exist, but this is no guarantee that graphology can become an effective evaluatii,e or predictive tool. Certainly, there is no aprioribasisto assume that writing deserves any special status as a window on person- patients is a matter of degree, and their LHs are hardly devoid of affective expression, especially for positive emotions. Research with split-brained patients shows that their RHs are able to signal their LHs, possibly by means of brainsrem connections. In two of these patients researchers found an From Graphology to Graphonomics 'affective aura' rapidly communicated fiom RH to LH (see TenHouten, 1994; TenHouten et a1., 1988). There was in this project a continuity of results based on graphology and Handwriting analysis will a-lways have a small following on the part of interested persons who are apt to also be practitioners ality or character. of nonscientific knowledge practices such as astrology, the Tarot, and the I Ching. Persons can indeed experience some insight into the self as a result of having their handwriting 'read' by an adept practitioner of graphology. As one of these authors, Santoy (1994: 230) proudly concluded, ,,Any novice who has studied this book carefully is now capable of analyzing the handwriting of his friends or acquaintances.,, To assert that a written r with a "short, tapered horizontal stroke,, reveals a person with "Caustic humor; sarcasm; destructive tendencies" is not science, but it does possess a kind of synthetic rationality. It is rooted not in science but in sympathetic magic. The problem with this 'key to personality' level of graphology is that, whatever clues are detectdd about an indi_ vidual's handwriting script, there is no way to validare that the dues measure what it is claimed they measure, and the same dues can be interpreted in wildly different wa1n. There is no doubt that graphologists have overestimated the quality and value of graphology. As the same time, there is no doubt that many graphologists are highly insightful, and are able to make use of detailed features of handwritten script to constnrct a highly usef,rl overview of a person's personality and character structure. Handwriting is a phenomenon of the world, and as such is subiect to scientific investigation. Advances in the study of handwriting focused both on pathology and productivity of mind, can lead to advances in the scientific study of handwrit_ ing from which cognitive and affective mental structures can be studied in normal and pathological populations and across cultures. and writing systems. Handwriting is primarily communicative, and. tlerefore involves social relationships with other societal members. Graphology can be understood only through multi-level analysis, of the mental, the social, and the biological. In fact, such an interdisciplinary enterprise has been underw4r for two decades, not under the name ofgraphology but rather as 'graphonomics.' This term, graphonomics, was chosen by an association ofpsychologists, bioengineers, physiologiss, computer scientists, cognitive scientists, and engineers. The Intemational Graphonomics Society was founded in 1985. No graphologists were invited to join this Society, and their conference proceedings cite no graphologists. Moreover, there was no mention of the possibility that handwriting might be correlated with personality. In commenting on this development, Beyerstein (1992 415n2) observed that, in perusing published works by graphologists, he found that none of the authors "seem conversant with the published research ofthis highly relevant scientific organization." The scientific analysis of handwriting, graphonomics, is too important to be leli to graphologists. See also: Personal Creativity. Further Reading Anthony D (1977) Psychogran 1ulde Book. New york: pantheon. Beyerstein BL (1992) Handwriting is brainwork: So what? ln: Beyerstein BL and Beyerstein DF (eds.) The Wrlte Stuff; Evaluation of Graphology The Study Handwrlting Anallsis. Bufla o, NY: prometheus. - ol Bogen JE and Bogen GM (1969) Ihe other side of the brain. /i/. The corpus callosun and creativity. Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Socieiles 34' 191-221. Brannan lVlG (2004) Twmty Remarkabte W0nen; Sr/en Thrlugh fheir Handwiilng. LiIre Biver CA: l,rlle Biver Press. De Kerckhove D and Lumsden CJ (1988) TheAlphabet and the Braln..The Lateraiization of Writlng. Berlln. Springer-Verlag. Edwards A and Armitage P (1992) An experiment t0 test the discriminatjng ability oi grapn0logists Perslnatily and lnditidual Dilterences 13: 69-74. Furnham A, Chamorro-Premuzic T, and Callahan I (2003) Does graphology predict personallty and intelligence? /ndividual Difierences Research 1: 7g_94. Hoppe KD (1985) l\4ind and spirituality. Symbollexia, empathy and G0d-representat 0n. Bullelin 0l the Natl1nal Gulld of Catholic psychtulris1s 9: 353_378. Hoppe KD and Bogen jE (1977) Alexithymia in twelve commissurotomzed patients. Psycholherapy and Psychosomatics 28 l4B-b5. Roman K (1952) Handwrlling. Key t0 persanality. New york. pantheon. Smith WW (1988) Creativity and Handwriting. A Study of the Relationship between Handwriting and Creatlvity in Flfth-grade Chitdren.EdD Dissertati0n ATT-8612082, Amherst: Universlty 0f Massachusetts. Taylor M (1983) The bilateral cooperative model of reading. ln: Taylor I and Taylor M (eds.) fhe Psychology of Reading. New york: Academic press. TenHouten WD (1994) Creativity, intentionairty, and atexithymia. A graphotogica analysis oi spJit-brained patients and normal controls. ln: Bunco l\,4D, Hoppe KD, and Shaw M (eds.) Creativity and,4llect. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. TenHouten WD, Hoppe KD, Bogen JE, and Walter D0 (19S5) Atexthymra. An experimental study of cerebral commissurotomy pat ents and normal control subjecls. Anerican Journal af Psychialry 143, 31 2-31 6. TenHouten WD, Seifer M, and Seigel P (1988) Alexithymia and the spllt brain. Vil. Evidence from graplrological signs. ln: Hoppe KD (Guest ed.) Henisphuic SWcializatiln, At'lect, and Creatlvity (psychiatric Clinics of North America Series). Philadelphia, PA: Saunders. Relevant Websites www.grapflolo0y.ws/graphology-world.htm www.graph0nomics.0rg - - Graphologists and graph0l0gy. lnternational Graphonomics Society.