THE HANDWRITING OF INTROVERTS AND EXTRAVERTS 



JUNE E. DOWNEY 



University of Wyoming 



To determine whether the temperamental patterns conventionally de- 

 scribed as introversion and extraversion show themselves in handwriting, 

 written samples of an alphabetical sentence were collected from a group of 

 some one hundred sixty individuals, of whom one hundred and two were 

 members of a university faculty and the rest college students. The samples 

 were obtained in connection with returns from Root's Short Test of Intro- 

 version-Extraversion, 1 so that it was possible to select on the basis of the 

 Root scores two groups of penmen definitely contrasted with respect to 

 the characteristics in question. To increase accuracy, ratings by friends 

 were obtained for this selected group in terms of the two introvert tendencies 

 of withdrawal from society and seeking of satisfaction in imagery, day- 

 dreaming and problem-solving, and the contrasting extravert tendencies 

 of mixing freely with people and expressing imagery and thought in overt 

 behaviour. The combined procedure finally yielded twenty-five specimens 

 of handwriting which could be assigned to definitely introverted individuals 

 and twenty-five which could be assigned to definitely extra verted indi- 

 viduals. A few specimens carried question-marks concerning their in- 

 clusion in the group but the collection as a whole was fairly satisfactory. 

 It was found, it may be said, easier to validate the questionnaire results by 

 the judgments of friends in the case of university faculty members than in 

 the case of college students. 



From the material obtained twenty-five pairs of handwriting samples 

 were arranged by coupling together the writing by an introvert and that by 

 an extravert, keeping constant the sex and the appoximate age. A group 

 of fifteen pairs was obtained for faculty subjects and ten for student sub- 

 jects, twenty-five in all. Again the pairs are fairly satisfactory but a few 

 pairs were recognized as showing incompatibilities, one particularly with 

 reference to a discrepancy in age, which will be referred to later. 



It was not possible to select judges or assistants for the test with the same 

 care used in selecting specimens. Individuals differ very greatly in their 



1 A. R. Root. A Short Test of Introversion-Extraversion. The Personnel Journal, 

 x (1931), 250-253. 



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