psychobiography

American  

[sahy-koh-bahy-og-ruh-fee, -bee-] / ˌsaɪ koʊ baɪˈɒg rə fi, -bi- /

noun

plural

psychobiographies

1. a biographical study focusing on psychological factors, as childhood traumas and unconscious motives.

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psychobiography British  

/ ˌsaɪkəʊbaɪəʊˈɡræfɪkəl, ˌsaɪkəʊbaɪˈɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

1. a biography that pays particular attention to a person's psychological development

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Other Word Forms

• psychobiographer noun
• psychobiographical adjective

Etymology

Origin of psychobiography

First recorded in 1930–35; psycho- + biography

Example Sentences

What Mr. Macdonald wants to do is a kind of cultural psychobiography.

From New York Times • Jul. 5, 2018

For her psychobiography of Stangl, Ms. Sereny interviewed him for more than 60 hours in prison in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he was serving a life sentence.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2012

The author is William Todd Schultz, a professor of psychology at Pacific University, who specialises in what he calls "psychobiography".

From The Guardian • Jul. 26, 2011

Haitink's Ninth flies in the face of the modern school of Mahler interpretation, with its overwrought hysteria and psychobiography.

From Chicago Tribune • Jun. 3, 2011

By now psychobiography has become such a fad that last year an American Psychiatric Association task force recommended that psychiatrists avoid such projects unless the subjects are dead or give their permission.

From Time Magazine Archive