It is of great importance that we must realize the part which untruthfulness plays in the relationship of one person to another since there are many different forms of sincerity and insincerity. At times, the child takes pleasure in invent­ing stories; he does this to defend himself from punishment, or because he confuses fact and imagination. The adult, not admitting his bad habits or shortcomings, tries to embellish certain weak points in his character so that he may make a good impression on others.

One person lies to protect himself from the criticism of stronger individuals, the weakling to avoid making a deci­sion, the lazy person as an excuse for his easy-going life, the vain to impress others, the greedy for material advantage, and so on.

We shall begin with the lies of the child. Ofttimes chil­dren show an abundance of exaggerated imagination, and are unable to distinguish between actual fact and their own fan­cies. Because of this confusion, they are not reliable witnesses in such situations as court inquiries, etc. In other cases, the child lies for fear of punishment. Not all parents and teach­ers have a proper comprehension of the child's nature. The child feels himself unprotected in the face of the adult's authority and tries to defend himself against what he believes to be unreasonable harshness by resorting to lies.

In normal cases, these weaknesses in the child's character disappear during the time of adolescence. Pathological cases, however, will be discussed in a later chapter.

Sample 74. Misunderstanding and a too severe education have had a bearing on this fourteen-year-old girl's habit of telling falsehoods. She is lazy and often absent-minded, ab­sorbed in her own more pleasant pursuits. The confused and wavering writing shows that she has little will-power, and that she defends herself by lying in order to avoid punish­ment, since she is indiscriminately punished for everything, even for such minor faults as untidiness in her books and clothing and negligence in accomplishing her tasks. The shaky script and uneven pressure mirror her sloppiness and weakness of character. The small letters placed between larger ones picture her fear of punishment. Her relatively steady capital letters reflect her fear and opposition to those adults whose attitudes seem, to her, to be both unfriendly and unreasonable. This girl is in constant need of excuses, whether they are for her laziness, negligence, or general care­lessness in her duties in school or at home. Due to parental mismanagement and her own negative reaction to it, she is always forced to be on the alert in her invention of stories.

Sample 75. The unequal writing in the script of this eleven-year-old boy reflects his repressed character and gen­eral reserve while the angular style of writing, coupled with the closed vowels, emphasize this fact. We notice some rounded letters which indicate his affection and sensibility. This child simultaneously admires and envies his older brother, to whom he feels deeply inferior since he believes him to be exceptionally strong and gifted. The boy tries, however, to conceal his sensibility for he wants to appear in­vincible in the eyes of his playmates and is afraid to be teased because of his femininity. He has many innocent secrets and displays a strangely pedantic attitude which is apparent in a script which looks somewhat like a length of barbed wire.

Sample 76. The writing of this girl of fifteen reveals an ex­tremely sensual imagination. The large and angular lower loops uncover her effusive nature, while leftward traits in­dicate that she takes refuge in dreams from the monotony of her daily life. The slow traits indicate her laziness and, as a consequence, her neglected or unaccomplished assignments. We notice, however, in a few uniquely formed letters, that she has great hopes for her future. She uses her lively imagi­nation to conceal character deficiencies with such probability and participation in these fabrications that she eventually be­lieves these stories herself.

Sample 77. The author of this writing is a woman of over 51 whose extreme imagination is revealed in the long lower loops. She lacks discipline in her daily life, and finds it hard to stick to extensive work for she is aimless and uneconom­ical. On the one hand she is too generous in her spending, depriving herself of necessities so that she may be able to lavish gifts on her friends, on the other, she finds herself un­happy when she is forced to manage with insufficient means. It is obvious that she does not know how to face hardships, or even reality, for she takes an oblivious refuge in a dream world. Though such an amount of imagination should form a basis for a creative life, in this woman, however, it is merely a block in her personality development. This obstacle is very apparent in her futile flourishes, and the inconsistently large letters at the beginning of each word.

These different examples prove that it is not easy to dis­tinguish between sincerity and untruthfulness. Only that in­dividual who has reached spiritual maturity, and who has concentrated his energies in an active altruism, can be called sincere. The man who is sincere in his attitude towards him­self will be able to act sincerely with others, since he is moti­vated by self-knowledge.

Sample 78. This handwriting belongs to a fifty-year-old woman whose letters are so childishly formed that we might think that they had been written by a very young person. The script, as a whole, appears to have been written by an undeveloped and infantile character. The school model is en­tirely preserved and betrays the writer's narrow-mindedness and arrested development. The closed vowels reveal her secretive and evasive nature, which makes it impossible for her to manage her life.

Sample 79. This sample of the script of a thirty-three-year-old woman shows her to be a repressed and reserved person. Her real being is enclosed behind the conventionally formal attitude of a society woman. We notice her prudence and constraint in the small, pinched letters, while her wish to appear serene and in command is expressed in the high and ascending letters. She watches herself carefully, displaying an artificial and insincere attitude. In spite of this, however, she feels out of place and even suffers from a strong inferiority complex. Although she is talented and endowed with innate culture and good taste, she is unable to make use of her vari­ous gifts. Her continual dissimulation has upset her nervous system making it extremely delicate; she complains of differ­ent ailments, which, although she herself has created them, keep her from enjoying her life.

Sample 80. An artificiality coupled with leftward involved traits characterize this egotistic woman who attaches signifi­cance to her pleasures and personal success alone. The con­nected letters reveal her adaptability to circumstances. Pre­tension and affectation are mirrored in this writing, but we see that the writer is adept at making an immediate con­nection with other people. We notice that the letters and even the words are wedge-shaped, revealing her dissimulation and egocentricity. An ordinary mind, though theatrical, re­flecting only average intelligence, is expressed in this writing.

Sample 81. This script reflects a strange combination of vain imperiousness and insufficiency which exist in this thirty-eight-year-old woman who is consistently deceiving her­self and others. Her most dangerous propensities are ma­terialistic greed and extreme ambition. We discover her self-centered character in the narrow and angular traits, while her greed comes to light in the fat lower loops. The in­numerable flourishes mirror her exaggeration of imagination and sentiment. Though she possesses practical intelligence, we can see an arrested development in some of her tangled and infantile flourishes. She tries to conceal her inadequacy in a plethora of words which she hopes will attract attention to herself. She is able to change her characterization as the occasion seems to demand when she detects a negative atti­tude in others.

Sample 82. This is the handwriting of a male homo-sexual. The leftward traits and garlands fading away into threads, uncover the repressed character of a man who has learned how to conceal those desires and passions which are opposed to the general mores of society. In his script, we see that the vowels are sometimes partially unclosed, showing a certain dissimulation which is for him self-defense. In addition to these traits, we notice a certain arrested development which is expressed in childish traits and psychic infantility.

Sample 83. Passions and concealed sexual desires predomi­nate in the handwriting of this twenty-six-year-old woman, manifesting themselves in broken-back lower loops. The abrupt changes in the slant of her writing prove her to be extremely volatile; one day she wishes to become an artist, on another a scientist. On one occasion she can work with perseverance, while within the next twenty-four hours she has lost her interest in everything but dreaming. She is abso­lutely unreliable, both in accomplishing her work and in keeping her promises, since her moods are based on caprici­ous whims. She has enough ability to succeed in almost any career, but her laziness impedes any development in her talents. In order to conceal her weakness this writer invents stupid lies. She sees no reason for paying attention to the ideas of her friends since she believes that her opinion, alone, is worthy of being taken seriously. In the falling ending we see the disappointment which is a logical consequence of her egocentricity.

In addition to those neurotically unstable individuals who can never act with complete sincerity, there are others who suffer from organic rather than psychic handicaps and there­fore approach everything in a negative manner. They regard healthy people with a bitter dislike, and are discontented not only with the world, but themselves as well. We find that such characters, unhappy in themselves, do not want their fellow-beings to be any happier.

Sample 84. This handwriting belongs to a twenty-two-year-old college student. From her early childhood she has had a hard struggle for her daily needs. This sense of priva­tion, plus the fact that she was brought up without affection, has left a deteriorating impression on her mind and she feels generally disgusted and isolated. The narrow angle in a rather large writing reflects this lack of feeling and affection towards herself as well as others. Though she is endowed with many unusual gifts, she does not trust other people and envies those individuals who seem to her to be more fortu­nate. The rightward and rapid writing, coupled with long lower loops, reveal her materialistic wishes and her ambition to make her own way in the world. The insincerity of this girl is a result of necessity rather than preference.

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