Last class we discussed how bad handwriting can make one seem unintelligent. Aesthetics were essential to the credibility and social status of books and authors hundreds of years ago. According to Howard, The monks in the fourteenth century as well as the ancient and medieval scribes were required to be flawless without a single defect. Before the invention of computers and typewriters, I wonder how many gifted and intelligent authors weren’t recognized because of their mediocre handwriting.
To further investigate this possible correlation, I found a study conducted in 1971 on 103 college students to search for a correlation between handwriting, intelligence, and personality. They studied 47 different types “handwriting variables” and how they could predict behavior and answers to questions based on knowledge. The study found that “clues about personality could be educed from handwriting.” Specifically, 6 of 16 handwriting factors could be predicted by 5 of 10 personality and intelligence factors. I could understand a few personality factors correlating. For example i find myself to be pretty impatient with a “just go for it” attitude. I could see this being a result of my bad handwriting because I like to write as fast as possible, getting as many of my thoughts on the paper as I can while i think of them. I dont believe their found correlation between handwriting and intelligence is strong enough to make an official statement concluding that they are actually correlated.
It is strange to think how much the necessity of good handwriting has greatly dropped even in recent years (past 20 yrs). Handwriting used to be a big part of the elementary school curriculum, at least from my experience it was. However, currently, in a lot of schools, this subject is skipped almost entirely. It is a scary thought that one day pens, pencils, and paper may all be irrelevant.
It is also ironic that people with bad handwriting were seen as unintelligent back then; A common joke or stereotype now a days is if you have bad handwriting you are destined to become a doctor (definitely not an unintelligent profession). But of course that is only a joke.
In relation to your point regarding bad handwriting and unintelligence, I had a physics teacher in high school who was a very intelligent man, yet whenever he wrote on the board no one had the slightest clue as to what he was attempting to write. Despite this, each of my classmates still saw him as being very intelligent and being incredibly knowledgeable on the subject, which to me was a clear sign that handwriting was not correlated to intelligence. Although I think that handwriting is something that many people may in fact unconsciously use to initially judge the intelligence of others, I believe that today this attitude towards handwriting serves more as an initial judgement and less as a finalized view towards others than it had centuries ago.