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Author: William McKinley Runyan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195034868
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Author: William McKinley Runyan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Biography (as a literary form)
Languages : en
Pages : 424
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Book Description
The understanding of individual lives is pursued within the social sciences, humanities, and clinical professions, yet is everywhere haunted by troubling methodological problems. William McKinley Runyan reviews and responds to major criticisms of psychobiography and of the case study method, and suggests criteria for evaluating and improving in-depth studies of individual lives. Theoretical points are vividly illustrated with examples from the lives of, among others, Vincent Van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare, Malcolm X, Woodrow Wilson, Virginia Woolf, and several of Freud's classic case studies.
Author: James William Anderson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197602096
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 281
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Book Description
Psychobiography is the study, through a psychological lens, of influential and important figures in history, politics, literature, and other fields. A psychological approach is necessary to reveal what moves and motivates these people. Many psychobiographies have been faulty because they throw psychological jargon at their subjects and treat them simplistically. Anderson shows how to study psychobiographical subjects sensitively and compellingly.
Author: William MacKinley Runyan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Author: Alan C. Elms
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195354338
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 328
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Book Description
Psychobiography is often attacked by critics who feel that it trivializes complex adult personalities, "explaining the large deeds of great individuals," as George Will wrote, "by some slight the individual suffered at a tender age--say, 7, when his mother took away a lollipop." Worse yet, some writers have clearly abused psychobiography--for instance, to grind axes from the right (Nancy Clinch on the Kennedy family) or from the left (Fawn Brodie on Richard Nixon)--and others have offered woefully inept diagnoses (such as Albert Goldman's portrait of Elvis Presley as a "split personality" and a "delusional paranoid"). And yet, as Alan Elms argues in Uncovering Lives, in the hands of a skilled practitioner, psychobiography can rival the very best traditional biography in the insights it offers. Elms makes a strong case for the value of psychobiography, arguing in large part from example. Indeed, most of the book features Elms's own fascinating case studies of over a dozen prominent figures, among them Sigmund Freud (the father of psychobiography), B.F. Skinner, Isaac Asimov, L. Frank Baum, Vladimir Nabokov, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Saddam Hussein, and Henry Kissinger. These profiles make intriguing reading. For example, Elms discusses the fiction of Isaac Asimov in light of the latter's acrophobia (fear of heights) and mild agoraphobia (fear of open spaces)--and Elms includes excerpts from a series of letters between himself and Asimov. He reveals an unintended subtext of The Wizard of Oz--that males are weak, females are strong (think of Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion, and the Wizard, versus the good and bad witches and Dorothy herself)--and traces this in part to Baum's childhood heart disease, which kept him from strenuous activity, and to his relationship with his mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, a distinguished advocate of women's rights. And in a fascinating chapter, he examines the abused childhood of Saddam Hussein, the privileged childhood of George Bush, and the radically different psychological paths that led these two men into the Persian Gulf War. Elms supports each study with extensive research, much of it never presented before--for instance, on how some of the most revealing portions of C.G. Jung's autobiography were deleted in spite of his protests before publication. Along the way, Elms provides much insight into how psychobiography is written. Finally, he proposes clear guidelines for judging high quality work, and offers practical tips for anyone interested in writing in this genre. Written with great clarity and wit, Uncovering Lives illuminates the contributions that psychology can make to biography. Elms's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious and will inspire would-be psychobiographers as well as win over the most hardened skeptics.
Author: Claude-Hélène Mayer
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030812383
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 387
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Book Description
This book explores psychobiography with focus on meaning making and identity development in the life and works of extraordinary individuals. Meaning-making and identity development are existential constructs influencing psychological development, mental health and wellbeing across the lifecourse. The chapters illustrate through the eyes of 25 international psychobiographers various theoretical and methodological approaches to psychobiography. They explore how individuals, such as Angela Merkel, Karl Lagerfeld, Henri Nouwen, Vivian Maier, Charles Baudelaire, W.E.B. du Bois, Loránt Hegedüs, Kim Philby, Zoltan Paul Dienes, Albertina Sisulu, Ruth First, Sokrates, and Jesus construct their lives to make meaning, develop their identities and grow as individuals within their sociocultural contexts. The texts provide deep insight into life’s development.
Author: Robert W. White
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9780202369341
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 468
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Book Description
The Study of Lives reveals for the first time the extent of Henry A. Murray's considerable influence on the study of personality. Throughout his long and distinguished career, he has either trained or strongly influenced some of the world's leading psychologists, eighteen of whom have written fascinating essays for this book. The range of topics presented here is as diverse and highly original as Murray's own ideas about personality. Everyone concerned with the study of personality will find this book an excellent sampling of the best work being done in the field. "The study of lives" is a phrase Henry A. Murray has often used to describe his own work, and it suggests his central conviction that living beings must be studied as living wholes. Personality, he has repeatedly pointed out, is a dynamic process-a constantly changing configuration of thoughts, feelings, and actions occurring in a social environment and continuing throughout life. If small parts and short segments of human affairs have to be isolated for detailed scrutiny, they must still be understood as parts of a patterned organic system and as segments of a lifelong process. This has never meant for him that all research should take the form of collecting life histories, although his contributions along this line have been outstanding. It implies simply that isolating, fragmenting, and learning just a tiny bit about a lot of people tend to carry us away from what is most worth studying. The essays in this book are grouped under headings that represent some of Murray's strongest interests: His conception of personality as a dynamic process is reflected in Part I, which deals with continuities and changes in the course of life. His interest in devising procedures suitable for disclosing live feelings, fantasies, and adaptations and his insistence on the necessity for an adequate taxonomy of carefully discriminated, carefully defined variables are represented in the papers of Part II. His view that creativity is a central property of human nature has contributed to the reflections and researches that make up Part III. Finally, his concern with values--the great blind spot of traditional science but so obviously a momentous problem for contemporary lives and societies--has been taken up in several different ways by the authors of Part IV. Robert W. White was professor of clinical psychology at Harvard; he has been director of the Psychological Clinic and chairman of the Department of Social Relations. After receiving his degree in history for Harvard he taught at the University of Maine for many years before switching over to psychology.
Author: Dan P. McAdams
Publisher: Durham : Duke University Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
"The text of this book was originally published, in slightly different form and without the present index, as volume 56, number 1 of the Journal of Personality"--T.p. verso.
Author: William Todd Schultz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195168275
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 393
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Book Description
Brings together the world's leading psychobiographers, writing on many of the major figures of our age - from Osama Bin Laden to Elvis Presley. This book addresses the subject of how to construct a psychobiography. It provides useful definitions of good and bad psychobiography, and discusses an optimal structure for psychobiographical essays.
Author: Joseph G. Ponterotto
Publisher: Charles C Thomas Publisher
ISBN: 0398092516
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
This book represents a psychobiographical story of John F. Kennedy, Jr. In reality, psychobiography is psychological biography—the intensive psychological study of an individual of historic significance within a sociocultural-historical context. It covers JFK Jr.’s search for identity and purpose, and the depths and vibrancy of his personality. The author approaches the life of JFK, Jr. as a psychologist and psychobiographer with the goal of understanding the workings of John’s mind; his inner feelings, fears, hopes, and desires perhaps not visible on the surface. Presented in four parts, Part One explores the death and legacy of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in a psychological and social context. His life and place in history is introduced, and the conditions around his death are deconstructed and examined. Psychological theories used to frame and understand Johns’ psychological development are briefly introduced, and his ethnic and religious influences are discussed. Part Two tells the story of John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s life in a somewhat chronological order. Important events and relationships in John’s life are discussed with respect to early childhood, early schooling, high school and college years, law school study, and his work as an Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan, including his co-founding of George magazine and his life with Carolyn Bessette. Part Three speculates on the future of John’s professional career and his marriage had the couple lived a full life. Emerging in this part is a strong impression that John was destined for a life in politics and that he would have succeeded in this quest. John’s marriage to Caroline Bessette and the possible directions of their partnership is analyzed. Borrowing from quantitative research methods in personality psychology, JFK Jr.’s personality traits on a popular and well-validated measure of personality is assessed. His personality profile is then compared to select U.S. presidents throughout history. Part Four provides additional theoretical and research methods information. The leading theories of personality and psychosocial development first introduced in Part One are expanded. Finally, ethical issues related to John’s psychobiography are explored and discussed. Additionally, the illustrations and tables supplement the text in exemplifying relevant data. This book will be an insightful resource to address unanswered questions about JFK Jr.’s life and potential future had he lived a full life.
Author: Dan P. McAdams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Personality
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
