Take a pen and write a few words, without thinking about how you hold it. Then look at your hand. Are your fingers very tight? Is your grip flexible? Do you hold the pen near the tip or more in the middle?
This is precisely what this personality test offers: observing a gesture that we make thousands of times without even thinking about it, then discovering what it might suggest about our temperament.
Start by observing the way you hold the pen
The most common grip is probably the one you use yourself: the pen rests between your thumb, index finger, and middle finger. This is the famous tripod grip, generally considered the classic grip for writing.
But everyone has their own little habits. Some people place their thumb very clearly above the index finger, others hold their pen further from the tip. It also happens that the pen is stuck between several fingers or held with a particularly tight grip.
To carry out the test, there is no need to modify your gesture. Write naturally, then simply observe your finger position, distance from the tip, and pressure on the pen.
Another clue may be interesting: does your handwriting leave a very pronounced mark on the paper or barely visible? In other words, do you tend to press hard or write with a light hand?
A soft, firm, high or near-toe grip?
According to the different grids proposed by this type of test, a flexible tripod grip relatively close to the tip would be associated with an organized, methodical personality and attentive to details. The people concerned would readily be perfectionists and would like to maintain a certain control over what they do.
Conversely, a higher grip on the pen and light pressure would be more associated with a creative, imaginative and independent temperament. The person would tend to take a step back and favor freedom rather than rules that are too rigid.
Do you hold your pen very firmly? Popular interpretations see it rather as a sign of a determined, willful and persevering personality.
Significant pressure could also reflect a certain tension or strong emotional intensity.
On the other hand, a very light grip would be associated with more flexibility and adaptability.
What if your way of holding the pen is out of the ordinary?
Some takes are much less conventional. In particular, the thumb can largely cover the index finger, while the pen can get stuck between several fingers.
In the interpretations proposed by these tests, these ways of doing things are readily associated with independent, intuitive personalities who are not attracted to conventions. They could correspond to people who like to do things their own way and who don’t hesitate to think outside the box.
But again, there is no need to try to lock yourself into a category. If the way you hold a pen is particular, it may simply be… your way of holding a pen!
Can you really know your personality from your pen?
This is obviously where the test deserves to be taken with a little perspective. None of these associations can scientifically determine your personality. The way to hold a pen depends above all on learning, habits acquired during childhood, the comfort of the hand or even the morphology of the fingers.
It can also vary depending on the situation: you don’t necessarily hold your pen in the same way to take notes quickly, write a letter or draw.
Graphology, which seeks in particular to deduce psychological traits from writing, also remains very controversial on a scientific level. It would therefore be excessive to consider this little game as a real psychological test.
An excuse to get to know each other better
However, this type of test can have an interest: that of making us think about our own behavior.
Do you recognize yourself in the profile of the perfectionist person? Ask yourself if you actually have a tendency to want to control everything. Would your take correspond more to a creative temperament? This may be an opportunity to question yourself about the place you give to spontaneity.
The real interest of the test is perhaps ultimately there. Not in the promise of revealing your personality from three fingers, but in the little pause it imposes.
So, take a pen, look at your hand… and see if the portrait presented to you resembles you. To be taken as a game, certainly not as a personality diagnosis.