Have you ever wished that you could know more about a person without asking? What if there was a way to screen potential employees, roommates, tenants, boyfriends or girlfriends? Many people turn to handwriting analyst Sheila Lowe for answers. Sheila has been in the business of graphology for 40 years, and she can determine a person’s behavioral and personality traits based on a writing sample. Sheila told myLifetime that her expert eye can reveal an individual’s fears and whether someone is purposely using handwriting to mislead — for instance, in a crime. Each written letter can unlock so many mysteries!

Check out Sheila’s “Criminal Minds Revealed Through Handwriting,” and learn about "The Devil’s Teardrop,” a thrilling movie about a renowned handwriting analyst who must track down a killer.


What exactly does a graphologist do?

A graphologist is trained to examine handwriting for the purpose of recognizing personality traits and behavior for a variety of applications. Probably the most common application is analyses for employers who want to ensure they hire the best applicants for a position. In most countries besides the U.S., the term “graphologist” also covers the other side of handwriting analysis — handwriting authentication. These are two related but separate areas of practice. Some graphologists’ practices cover both areas, some just one. Handwriting examiners who are trained in a law enforcement environment only do handwriting authentication, and they tend to look down on private examiners. However, we are trained in the same techniques and can be just as competent (it depends on the practitioner of course, as in any other field).

What can you learn about personality traits from handwriting?

Handwriting reveals a great deal about the writer’s social skills and social style, thinking style, ego needs and ego strengths, introversion/extroversion, organizational skills, sexual needs and attitudes, fears and defenses. Of course, handwriting can’t tell everything about the writer — humans are just too complex [for anyone] to be able to do that — but people are often stunned when they discover what a competent graphologist is able to tease out of their handwriting.

You also study psychology; how do the two fields complement each other?

Psychology provides the framework for the handwriting analysis. Without an understanding of personality development — both normal and abnormal — the graphologist is only able to compile a list of personality traits, which is not especially helpful. By understanding the core needs of the writer, his or her energy levels, emotional and intellectual maturity, where his fears originate, etc., the graphologist can provide helpful, practical insights and sometimes make recommendations to aid the writer to move past blocks to success in work, relationships, and so on.

If the police receive a ransom note from a criminal, how could a graphologist help them find clues about the writer?

The graphologist would be able to add information to any profile the police had already developed, or help them build a personality profile. Although age and gender cannot conclusively be determined from handwriting, there are indicators for masculine/feminine traits and emotional age. The graphologist could also point out general personality traits and red flags for pathological behavior, as well as false statements the writer may have made in the ransom note.

Can you determine emotion in handwriting? For instance, if you were looking at the handwriting of a criminal written near the time of the crime, could you possibly conclude that it was emotionally charged, and tell what emotion that person was feeling?

Yes, emotions and mood definitely effect temporary changes in handwriting. In the scenario you describe, it would be helpful, for the graphologist to have access to earlier samples of writing to compare to the new one, and determine whether the writing near the time of the crime was indeed more emotionally charged, as opposed to being the person’s normal state. One case where this was demonstrated was in the handwriting of Westley Allan Dodd, who murdered three little boys and was later executed at his own insistence because he knew he would kill again if he were ever released. His handwriting in the diary he kept showed definite changes in his emotional state near the killing time.

When analyzing handwriting for personality trait analysis, what's an ideal sample size? One word? One sentence? A paragraph?

The more writing available to the handwriting analyst, the more accurate the analysis can be. That’s because a small sample might not show up some important characteristics that would appear in a longer sample, or the writing might change in some ways as it progresses down the page. Someone who is conscious of what they are writing may start out neat, but as they continue writing, they forget and fall back into their natural style. A sample of at least a page in length is what I usually ask for, though often I don’t get that much. The graphologist’s experience is important here. I’ve been studying handwriting for more than 40 years, so my experience allows me to make judgments from a smaller sample that a newer graphologist would be unable to.

Does someone's signature carry more weight than a sentence written about a trivial topic?

No, the opposite is often true. Your signature is your public image; it’s what you want people to know about you. Although some personality information may be gleaned from a signature, it’s best to compare it to lengthier text. If the signature is congruent with the text — looks pretty much like it — that says the writer is open and up-front about himself. However, if there are major differences between the two, it may be that the writer is very private or has something to hide (additional text could provide the answer). People who have to sign their names many times during a day often scrawl their signature, which may not be adequate for analysis.