Typologies
Many Graphologists, particularly in Europe, subscribe to what is known as the "typological" theory of
personality.
Typology experts have a particular way of categorizing personality
according to special guidelines.
There are several theories
of typology but the main thought behind them is that most
personalities can be categorized according to type – hence the word
typology.
In other words a personality
can be classified as belonging to a specific personality group.
As can be expected with a theory of this nature, there is always
a great deal of controversy.
Typology is a helpful guide
Anti-typologists are critical of using
typologies to describe people. They feel that people who use
typologies are guilty of putting people into boxes.
However, those who subscribe to typological theories argue that
they in no way attempt to put people into boxes. Typologies are purely
to be used as helpful
guides.
Be that as it may, there are a number of different schools of typology
and some very important thinkers have subscribed to this line of
reasoning.
Jung's Personality
Types
Jung believed that people conformed to certain basic personality
types and wrote a massive book to explain and support his theories.
He classified people into two main groups according to their personality
attitudes. In fact it was Jung himself who first used the
words "introverts" and "extroverts" to describe these two attitudes.
Now to these attitudes he added 4 principal functions, namely sensation,
thinking, feeling and intuition. He suggested that by combining the
4 functions with the 2 attitudes we would arrive at the most
important personality classifications.
|
ATTITUDES
Introvert
Extrovert |
FUNCTIONS
Thinking
Feeling
Intuition
Sensation |
For instance you could be an introverted thinker; or
you could be an extroverted
sensation type. Then there was an introverted intuitive type and so
on. All in all, if you juggled these about, there were 16 possible
permutations or personality types.
When we apply this to handwriting you'll find that the handwriting of an introvert will differ widely from that of an
extrovert.
While the handwriting of an introvert will
conform to certain graphological patterns the handwriting of an extrovert will
conform to a completely different set of patterns.
For full details about Jung's
book on personality types Ref: Psychological Types by C.G. Jung
Myers-Briggs
Personality Type
The typology of Jung forms the basis of the Myers-Briggs
Personality Type
Indicator which is well-known among psychologists today. It also
refers to 16 basic personality types and is widely used as a
personality assessment tool.
Le Senne
Highly regarded among French graphologists was the French philosopher
and psychologist, Le Senne. He created a typological system which
divided people according to emotivity and activity.
The emotive person is someone who is easily moved by events - he
shows a lot of feeling.
The active person is one who translates everything into action - so
that even his thinking is action orientated.
Le Senne combined his two classes of
personality with people who were guided
by primary or secondary responses.
Simply put, this meant that they
were either impulsive (primary) or they thought about things carefully
before acting (secondary) (Ref: Character and handwritings by Emile
Caille)
On a lighter note
If you find this too serious click the
following link to try a rather odd personality
test
The bird-horse-muffin test!
It may sound silly but it’s great fun and it will give you a
lot to think about!
The Do it Yourself Corner
Typologies can be helpful to a limited degree.
But if your want real detail and specific information about
yourself or someone important to you, you will gain much more
information by examining the handwriting of the person concerned.
To find out how to do this go to:
The Hidden Meaning of Handwriting
which is a
do it yourself Guide for personality assessment.
