How big is your signature?
It might be time to pay attention, because a new study has revealed the size of our sign-off can reveal a lot about our personalities.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of the Republic in Uruguay, found women with large signatures are more likely to be vain and egotistical – while the same could not be said for men who signed their name with big letters.
“The fact that narcissism might be restricted to signature production only in women would be consistent with sex differences in the expression of narcissistic traits in everyday life,’ the researchers told the Daily Mail.
They said in previous research, it had been found men express narcissistic tendencies through a lack of empathy, while women did it through ‘extreme concern with physical appearance, of which handwritten signatures could be an expression’.
In the study, 340 signatures from men and women were analysed, in conjunction with several different personality tests.
The researcher also found both men and women with a larger-than-average signature are more likely to enjoy being the centre of attention.
“Given the positive association of signature size and sociable dominance, larger signatures could be interpreted as a signal of the inclination to stand out and occupy a central position within a group,” they wrote in the Journal of Research in Personality.
The psychologists determine sociable dominance as a positive attitude towards others, a central position in groups, a strong need to dominate and the holding of solid self-esteem.
