What is the difference between gestalt and trait-stroke graphology?
Gestalt is a German term which means ‘the whole,’ and is usually applied to a school of psychology. Gestalt graphology means that the analyst views the handwriting as if looking at a photograph. When you look at a photo, you see the whole picture, rather than its individual elements. In gestalt graphology, the handwriting sample is viewed in terms of the way the writing is arranged on the page (spatial arrangement), its form (style), and the way it “moves” across the page (movement). The trait-stroke approach (often referred to as “graphoanalysis,” which is actually the trademark of a handwriting analysis school) assigns individual strokes of writing a personality trait name, which the graphoanalyst constructs into a detailed picture of the personality. Gestalt graphology is akin to looking through a telescope –you see the bigger picture. The trait method is more like seeing through a microscope, one element at a time. Getalt methods seem to appeal more to conceptual thinkers, while m
