Handwriting and Self-Presentation

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Abstract
Relations were examined between students' self-conceptions and handwriting-based inferences about academically relevant traits made by members of the academic population to whom the writers were unknown. There was good interjudge agreement for some traits. Agreement between handwriting judgments and writer self-ratings was significantly reduced when judgments were based on best rather than normal handwriting, suggesting suppression of self-revelation. When asked to do so, students successfully conveyed “false” impressions of named traits via handwriting. Handwriting can be regarded as a social act; Ss showed knowledge of how it can be modified by situational demands to effect differing kinds and degrees of self-presentation.

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