Complementary Perspectives:
Two New Guidebooks for Psychobiographical Research
– A Reciprocal Review by Leading Scholars in the Field

Introduction

Note from the Authors: Each of us is presenting a review of the other’s recent book. We are both scholars who have spent decades studying psychobiography. We each published a book on the topic at almost the same time. How much fun it would be for you readers if we attacked each other and had a battle royale in public. But we regret we must inform you that you won’t get the fight you hoped for. Read on to see what we have to say about each other’s work.

Part 1: Providing an Indispensable Handbook of Psychobiography
A Review of Joseph G. Ponterotto’s The Psychobiographer’s Handbook:
A Practical Guide to Research and Ethics
(American Psychological Association, 2025; 399 pages)

By James William Anderson

The Psychobiographer’s Handbook: A Practical Guide to Research and Ethics simultaneously provoked guilt in me and relieved it. I presented my book on psychobiography as a study of the methodology of psychobiography, an inquiry into “what makes for successful, compelling, high-quality psychobiography” (Anderson, 2024, p. 1). My book, as I conceived it, would be a guide for psychobiographers. And in some ways, it is. I looked at such major topics as doing research, using psychological theory, managing one’s relationship with the biographical subjects, and analyzing a life.

But as I read the book by Joseph G. Ponterotto (Joe), I saw that he gave far more guidance to psychobiographers than I did. As his title states, his book is truly a “handbook” and “a practical guide.” Early in the book, Joe writes, “If you are new to psychobiography, I can almost guarantee you that by the time you work through this book, you will be ready to conduct your first psychobiography” (Ponterotto, 2025, p. 16).  (Hereafter for quotations from Joe’s work, just the page numbers will be referenced). I can attest that the book accomplishes exactly what he intends. Let me add that his book is equally valuable for experienced psychobiographers as it is for beginners.

Instead of feeling guilty for what I left out, I can feel grateful that Joe covers these areas. If someone points out what I failed to look into, I can say, “Yes. You need a copy of Joe’s book, and I strongly recommend it.” I see Joe’s book as truly complementary to mine. Is my book complementary to his? That is for him, rather than for me, to say.

Joe provides thoughtful, well-explained guidance for psychobiographers.  Here I highlight a few of the many topics he covers.

1. Selecting a subject. He recognizes that scholars, in order to truly engage with the subject, must study people who capture their interest, people who in some way provoke them. That can lead to trouble, as Joe points out. The psychobiographer might write a distorted study due to idealization or denigration.
2. “Avenues of Interpretive Insight.” Joe describes but goes beyond Irving Alexander’s influential “Indicators of Salience.” Joe provides a list of 20 keys he has developed over time for extracting the wheat from the chaff in the research material on a psychobiographical subject. Let me also note that he effectively uses lists and tables throughout the book, such as this list of 20 keys (p. 280). Here are some of my favorites of the questions he has psychobiographers ask themselves. “Am I coming across information that is surprising to me?” “Is the integration of the material leading me to altered or new questions regarding the subject?”  “Can I feel empathy for this person?  If so, what fosters the empathic connection? … If not, why not?” Do I feel I am capturing the subject’s essence?” “How is my ‘relationship’ with the subject evolving over the course of the research?”
3. “Structuring the written report.” Joe notes that the context makes a difference in how the report is presented. The report might be a term paper in a course, or it may be written as an article for a professional journal. But, in all cases, one aims at “historical and biographical knowledge first; psychological knowledge second; and the ability to integrate the two in a coherent, fluid story” (p. 294).

One of the major topics of the book is ethics.  I see much value in Joe’s approach, but here I also have a professional difference of opinion with him.

First, let me specify some of the positives. Joe provides a great deal I did not know about legal issues.  While citizens have a certain right to privacy, that is balanced against the protection of a psychobiographer’s freedom of speech. He notes that, in the area of privacy protection, the law makes an explicit exception for public figures. Joe quotes legal scholars Yanisky-Ravid and Lahav: “Public figures, by virtue of their position in society, waive a substantial part of their right to privacy when there is important and legitimate purpose behind informing the public of certain information” (p. 162). With public figures, the legal standard for a determination of libel is high. To be considered libelous, a statement must have been made “with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for truth” (p. 155). For someone who is not a public figure, the so-called libeler only must be shown to have exhibited “ordinary negligence.”

The famous Goldwater Rule receives an examination from Joe. In 1964 FACT magazine surveyed psychiatrists about presidential candidate Barry Goldwater’s mental health. A majority of the respondents deemed him unfit to be president. A court case held that the psychiatrists, with little knowledge of Goldwater, were overstepping their authority. The American Psychiatric Association established the Goldwater Rule, which stipulated that its members should refrain from diagnosing public figures. And non-psychiatrists, as Joe points out, should also be careful about diagnosing public figures, although the Goldwater Rule does not apply to them.

There is much valuable information that Joe provides about ethics and legal issues.  But here I come to my difference of opinion with him. “Mental health professionals engaged in psychological biography,” he writes (p. 158) “have a higher standard of psychological ethics than do biographers, historians, and journalists.” I would make a different statement. I would say that mental health professionals have an equal, if not greater, standard in their quest for truth and depth, as compared to biographers, historians, and journalists. I would add that the American Psychological Association Ethical Standards have limited applicability to psychobiographers. The Standards were written primarily for clinicians (who must keep the well-being of their clients foremost in mind) and for researchers who are doing work such as psychological experiments, in which it is unethical to cause harm to their subjects, whom they study directly, often in person. But psychobiographers are acting as biographers and historians, not primarily as psychologists, when they do their work.  In my view, there is a surpassing value to psychobiographies. Not only do they help us understand particular biographical subjects, but they deepen the psychological knowledge, insight, and acuity of those who read the studies. If psychologist-biographers are hamstrung by various rules that do not apply to other biographers, the work may be severely compromised.

Let me look at one of Joe’s examples. John F. Kennedy, as president, flagrantly cheated on his wife.  Joe notes (pp. 159-160) that “if the affairs and infidelity had been made public during his lifetime, his presidency could have been at stake as well as, possibly, his marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.” He also refers to the effect on President Kennedy’s children. The implication is that a psychobiographer should be very careful about revealing such information while the subject is in public office.  In my view, devotion to truth comes first. One could not write an adequate psychobiography of Kennedy if one left out this aspect of his behavior. A psychologist would be fated to write studies that are inferior to the studies produced by historians and journalists, who would have no reason to censor their studies and omit mention of Kennedy’s affairs.

Under the heading of “ethical considerations,” Joe takes the position that a psychobiographer has an obligation to do competent work, and I certainly endorse that approach to ethics. Many of his specific measures of competent work provide valuable guidelines.  Here are some of the questions (p. 178) that he has psychobiographers ask themselves: “Choice of subject is well thought out. Have reflected on what draws me to study the person.” “Have considered my positionality to the subject and am examining my potential biases, favorable or unfavorable, toward the figure.” “Have a plan or system in place to help me monitor and bracket my potential biases toward the chosen subject….”  “Will treat documents I come across (e.g., letters, journals, diaries, artwork, sensitive records) with care and respect.” This aspect of Joe’s attention to ethics provides substantial benefits for psychobiographers.

One of my favorite chapters of the book is on self-care. Joe is a healer and, to the heart, a caring person. In my view, that is part of the reason why he is so hesitant about a psychobiography possibly causing pain to someone such as the relative of a psychobiographical subject. But another effect of his character is that he is sensitive to the well-being of his fellow psychobiographers. He brings up a number of situations that I have observed but never thought of addressing in my book.

Joe’s approach is personal and open as he discusses this topic, the same approach that shines in every chapter of the book. He warns that psychobiographers might become preoccupied with the people they write about. He talks about how absorbed he was in writing about Bobby Fischer. “I am not the only psychobiographer,” he points out (p. 306), “to have heard a frustrated family member or close friend exclaim something parallel to: ‘Enough about Bobby Fischer! I do not want to hear another word about Bobby Fischer!’” I can remember hearing such complaints, except that, instead of Fischer, the name “William James,” whom I wrote my dissertation on, was inserted.

Joe has another one of his lovely lists on the topic of ways that a psychobiographer should pay attention to his well-being. Some examples of pledges he recommends that a psychobiographer will make: “Periodically, I will evaluate my involvement in the study to gauge the time spent on the project and thinking about my subject” (p. 308). “I will consider taking a multiday or multiweek break from my research if necessary to rest, attend to other priorities, and regain some objectivity toward the project and a controlled empathy toward my subject” (p. 309).

So far, I have focused on specific themes, but I have not commented on the tone of Joe’s book.  Throughout he exudes enthusiasm in a way that is contagious. He speaks of the “lure and draw” (p. 17) of psychobiography.  Such work, to Joe, is an adventure. He tells us his deep desire to know about, not only Fischer, but others such as Arthur Conan Doyle, singer Ian Anderson, and John F. Kennedy, Jr. That curiosity drew him to psychobiography and has kept him committed. A reader would come away from this book realizing how fulfilling and stimulating the quest of psychobiography can be.

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Part 2: Enhancing the Credibility of Psychobiography
A Review of James William Anderson’s Psychobiography: In Search of the Inner Life
(Oxford University Press, 2024; 272 pages, inclusive of 18 photos of historic and contemporary personalities)

By Joseph G. Ponterotto

Psychobiography has long held an “Uneasy Alliance” with historical biography (Elms, 1994) and, I might add, with the broader field of psychology. There is a sound reason for the interdisciplinary ambivalence.  As Professor James William Anderson (Jim) notes in his book’s Chapter Two, “Research, the Foundation of Psychobiography,” a good number of psychobiographies, starting with Sigmund Freud’s (1910/1957) study of Leonardo da Vinci, are not based in the depth of historical and socio-cultural research that would pass muster with historical biographers. Further, numerous psychobiographies over the past century have been limited in quality due to poor theoretical understanding and application of psychology (Chapter Six, “Use Psychological Theory, Don’t Let It Use You”). Thus, historians and psychologists have had legitimate criticisms of the field of psychobiography.

Jim’s new book, Psychobiography: In Search of the Inner Life (hereafter referred to as The Inner Life) will go a long way in promoting and modeling rigorous psychobiographical research, and I think, will single-handedly move the past “uneasy alliance” of psychobiography to history and psychology, to a cautious if not positive alliance. The Inner Life is a culmination of Jim’s 45 years of studying and conducting psychobiography, beginning with his early studies of William James (Anderson, 1980, 1982) and his first primers on how to conduct rigorous, theory-driven psychobiography (Anderson, 1981a, 1981b).

The Inner Life is characterized by a fluid and engaging writing style inclusive of in-depth case examples of both problematic psychobiography and exemplary studies from a wide variety of authors and historic subjects spanning the last century. The stories (case studies) and text are riveting reading for an interdisciplinary audience. Through Jim’s renaissance-like knowledge and guiding voice, I felt as if I were at times reading about history, psychology, literature, cultural studies, art, theatre, and even Hollywood intrigue (profiles of Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, and Oprah Winfrey). After reading The Inner Life, one clearly knows what high-quality psychobiography is and is not and is ready to critique published psychobiography and conduct research that is credible, and interesting.

Jim’s definition of psychobiography is “the study, using psychological perspectives, of the lives of notable figures in history, politics, intellectual life, the arts, and other fields” (p 2). In Chapter One, Jim lays out major themes explored and demonstrated throughout the book and its many case studies. These themes include:  a) the quality and credibility of psychobiography rest on the depth of historical research conducted (thus bridging the history-psychobiography alliance); b) the importance of using and applying psychological theory in an in-depth, accurate, and credible manner (thus bridging the psychology-psychobiography alliance); c) an in-depth understanding of the social and cultural factors in the life space of the subject studied; d) the centrality of the relationship of the researcher with the historic subject and the importance of researcher positionality and reflexivity; and e) the value of understanding the narrative identity process of the subjects, that is, the stories they tell themselves (consciously) and that they may be guided by (unconsciously).

The Structure, Contents, and Flow of The Inner Life

The Inner Life consists of 11 chapters that flow well and build off one another leading to an exemplar of executing strong psychobiography in the penultimate chapter: Jim revisiting, in the context of the book’s main themes, his classic study of the relationship between brothers William and Henry James (Anderson, 2003a). Chapter One introduces the reader to psychobiography and the author’s experiences and perspectives in the field. This chapter captures the reader’s attention as we come to know a little about Jim personally and the growing field of psychobiography. The chapter includes a brief vignette on President Donald Trump during his failed 2020 election bid. Here we already see Jim’s insights into understanding the “inner life” of a controversial political figure.

Chapters Two and Three focus on the foundation of a strong psychobiography: comprehensive historical and biographical research on one’s subject. Jim notes that the “information we gather is the sine qua none of psychobiography: without it, we have nothing.  The result can never be better than the research on which it is based” (p.16). The author, who emphasizes the value of first-person document sources (e.g., letters, diaries, art renderings, dreams), describes both historical research flaws as well as the misapplication of psychodynamic theory in the study of notable historical figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Erik Erikson, and President Woodrow Wilson.

An interesting section of Chapter Two is Jim’s own reflection on his evolving attitude toward President Wilson and toward Princeton University (his alma mater), which houses the former Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (since renamed without “Woodrow Wilson”). Jim shares his evolving empathy with African American students and alumni who advocated for the School’s name change given Wilson’s level of racism (which Jim’s research showed was even beyond the norm of racism for the historical period). Here the author demonstrates his subjectivity as an alumnus of Princeton and as a psychobiographer and social justice advocate.

This chapter also highlights the challenges and rewards for psychobiographers when they have the opportunity to interview their living subjects. The author demonstrates this process through interesting mini case studies of Meyer Zeligs’ writing on Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers, Deirdre Bair on Simone de Beauvoir, and Leon Edel on Edith Wharton.

Chapter Three focuses on research material of special value to the researcher.  Jim’s emphasis on a variety of first-person document sources (culled from his own experiences as a psychobiographer) as central to a deep dive into the inner lives of our subjects is quite clear. The author discusses and demonstrates the value of first-person sources including slips of the tongue, use of humor, photographs and videos, and artwork. Regarding the artwork, Jim presents select drawings of William James and demonstrates the interpretive value of the drawings. This chapter also presents the interpretive value of a subject’s fictional writing, dreams and fantasies, and with some caution noted (not to pathologize), of delusions and other psychiatric symptoms.

With a solid foundation of historical research and document sources in hand, the next set of chapters moves to the critical topics of psychobiographers’ relationships with their historical subjects and the importance of cultural competence in conducting psychobiography. The concept of countertransference and the challenges of balancing our natural subjectivity with researcher objectivity are highlighted. A central thread in Chapter Four is the importance of psychobiographers navigating their feelings, whether positive or negative, toward the historical subject through the practice of reflexivity and awareness of positionality. Using substantive case examples, Jim demonstrates a lack of reflexivity in William Bullitt’s and Sigmund Freud’s psychobiography on President Woodrow Wilson, as well as models of attuned reflexivity in Leon Edel on Henry James, Robert G. L. Waite on Adolf Hitler, and Doris Kearns Goodwin on President Lyndon B. Johnson, among others. These strong psychobiographer models of reflexivity and positionality demonstrate establishing and maintaining a controlled empathy with their subjects (including Adolf Hitler), which is essential to a revealing and insightful psychobiography.

Chapter Five reviews and demonstrates the importance of psychobiographer cultural competence in profiling notable personalities across time, place, and culture. To present a convincing and credible psychological profile, psychobiographers must come to know and understand their subjects in proper historical, social, religious, gendered, and economic contexts. This multicultural competence is not easy to achieve and highlights the importance of rigorous historical and archival research emphasized in the earlier chapters of the book. Once again using vivid case examples, Jim highlights the important themes of culture in psychobiography through profiles of Alice James, Jim’s own work on William James, and a more contemporary personality, Harvey Milk.

Chapter Six addresses the central importance of selecting and applying psychological theory as a bright lens into the inner world of our historical subjects. Jim highlights the importance of not de facto foisting a psychological theory onto a historical subject. The psychobiographer’s first step is to dive into the historical and biographical research of subjects to understand them in a socio-cultural context and to develop and maintain that controlled empathy highlighted earlier.  Jim investigates inadequate theory selection and application, as well as his recommended use and application of theory, through published case examples. Jim talks the reader through his use and application of psychoanalytic theory with particular emphasis on William James. This chapter also cautions the reader on psychological diagnosis of our subjects and the importance of avoiding pathography.  Psychiatric labels do not help us understand the inner and complicated lives of our subjects; they do the opposite: they detour us away from the search for the subject’s true and layered inner self.

A major achievement in The Inner Life is the bridging of traditional psychobiography to theory and research on narrative identity. In Chapter Seven, Jim benefits from the generous offer of noted personologist and psychobiography Dan P. McAdams to co-author a state-of-the-art chapter on the value of narrative identity in psychobiography. Narrative identity focuses on storytelling, a process that transcends time and cultures; it includes cultural stories passed down to us across generations, the stories we tell ourselves, and the human instinct to establish coherent stories that bring a sense of meaning to our lived- and yet-to-be-lived lives. This chapter includes detailed case examples of narrative identity in psychobiography stemming from several researchers and covering a wide variety of subjects, including President George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, opera icon Maria Callas, formerly enslaved author and civil rights leader Harriet Jacobs, and current iconic personality, Oprah Winfrey.

The final chapters of The Inner Life bring the major themes of the book to an integrative conclusion and demonstration. Chapter Eight focuses on data analysis and interpretation and how to craft one’s profile into a coherent picture. Jim applies the metaphor of psychobiographer as a sculptor: looming before both “is a mound of data; the sculptor preparing a bust faces a chunk of clay or block of stone. Both psychobiographer and sculptor have to transform their material into a semblance of a person” (p.168).

With the support of personologist and psychobiographer Amy Demorest, the author reviews Irving Alexander’s (1990) often-cited identifiers of salience and how to use these indicators to search for hidden meaning in a subject’s behavior. Jim’s own concept of “multiplex analysis” is introduced here; this form of analysis focuses on identifying and integrating “an exploratory structure that forms an interacting, reinforcing whole. The elements of the formulation work together” (p.181). The author then demonstrates the application of multiplex analysis in a review of three noted psychobiographies: Leon Edel on Henry James, Ruthellen Josselson on Carol Gilligan, and William Todd Schultz on musicians Elliott Smith and John Lennon.

Chapter Nine, on the topic of the psychobiography of literary artists, will thrill readers and researchers in literature and theatre. The main thrust of this chapter is the position that through their fiction or written plays, artists explore and express their deepest concerns and desires. The chapter comes alive with insightful analyses of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, as well as the relationship and marriage of Miller to Marilyn Monroe, and the life of Edith Wharton and her love affair with William Morton Fullerton. Jim provides an example of how Wharton’s novella, Ethan Frome, is a window to her deepest desires and feelings.

One of Jim’s most admired psychobiographies is on the loving and at times ambivalent relationship between the James brothers, Henry and William (Anderson, 2003a). In Chapter Ten, Jim revisits his classic study on the brothers and incorporates sections of the study to demonstrate the application of the themes of strong psychobiography emphasized throughout the book (a tender photo of William and Henry together is a real treat, p. 231). Apparent in this chapter is Jim’s strong allegiance to psychoanalytic theory (see also Anderson, 2003b), and of course, his emphasis on first-person document sources, in this case, culled from weeks spent at Harvard’s Houghton Library archives. The book ends in Chapter Eleven with a concise summary of the chief ways a psychobiography can go wrong.

Summary and Critique

It is clear in this review that I believe Professor Anderson’s Psychobiography: In Search of the Inner Life, is a masterwork on research methods, theory, data analysis, and interpretation in psychobiography. Jim’s writing is open, self-disclosing, and engaging—drawing readers in to allow them to assess their own positionality to this great psychobiographer. All the themes of weak and strong psychobiography first introduced in Chapter One are systematically demonstrated through vivid case examples drawn from historical subjects of the 20th and 21^st centuries, who represent a culturally- and career-diverse set of noteworthy personalities.

While noting the book’s many strengths, I also looked for any content gaps from my perspective as a fellow psychobiographer and teacher/supervisor of graduate student psychobiography. There is one topic I would have liked Jim to address: ethical issues in psychobiography. Though researcher ethics was not in the plan, nor a purpose of this volume, given the author’s vast experience in psychobiography, I was curious as to his thoughts on the matter of ethics in psychobiography.

The Inner Life will appeal to psychobiographers and psychohistorians; to historical biographers; and to students and psychologists specializing in personality, development, child, and applied psychology. The book is ideal for a variety of advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, biography, political science, and the study of literary artists. Given its advocacy and demonstration of rigorous interdisciplinary case study methodology, the book is appropriate as supplemental reading in qualitative and case study research courses across disciplines.

Three decades ago, Alan C. Elms (1994) published a user-friendly guide on conducting strong psychobiography. I consider Elms’s Uncovering Lives to be a classic authored work in the methodology of psychobiography. On this 30^th anniversary of Elms’s notable work, Professor James William Anderson (2024) has produced the next masterwork in psychobiography theory and methodology. Elms uncovered lives, and now Anderson explores the inner life. I am aware that I cannot call The Inner Life a classic work at this juncture, but I predict that Jim’s integrative work will be the go-to psychobiography primer for the next 30 years.