psychobiography

[sahy-koh-bahy-og-ruh-fee, -bee-]

noun

plural

psychobiographies 

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

psychobiography

/ ˌsaɪkəʊbaɪəʊˈɡræfɪkəl, ˌsaɪkəʊbaɪˈɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

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

Other Word Forms

• psychobiographical adjective
• psychobiographer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychobiography¹

First recorded in 1930–35; psycho- + biography

Example Sentences

Her bookcase displays her many publications: her psychobiography of the poet Robert Lowell, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and her books on suicide, on exuberance and on the connection between mania and artistic genius.

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In “Loving Highsmith,” filmmaker Eva Vitija explores the life and career of author Patricia Highsmith through the lens of her love life, a form of psychobiography that fitfully brings the subject into focus, only to render her elusive in the end.

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

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

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She has authored eight elegantly crafted and disparate novels, among them “Thicker Than Water” and “Envy”; a spate of autobiographical works, including “The Road to Santiago” and “Seeking Rapture”; and a psychobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux.

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