Psychobiography: A Phenomenological-hermeneutic Analysis of Personality

Abstract

Psychobiography uses phenomenological and hermeneutic methods to deal with the narrative data of individual life, and proposes and solves psychological problems by reconstructing and explaining the life course of characters. It is a phenomenological hermeneutic analysis method of personality research. This method emphasizes the phenomenological value of individual and special things, which highlights the significance of case study, it emphasizes that the researcher's consciousness experience has a direct understanding of the whole nature and significance of the research object, so as to take care of the complete personality and people's inner world. Fundamentally speaking, psychobiography belongs to the humanities research program of psychology. As a case study, psychobiography is committed to putting forward the theory of the causes and mechanisms of personality formation. It is an effective supplement to the mainstream positivist research program by extending one specific aspect to another to obtain a general conclusion. As a research model of humanities, psychobiography follows the rules and standards of humanities research. In addition to synchronic comparison and triangle mutual verification, the scientific of psychobiography lies in whether it truly describes the research object, whether it fully understands the meaning of the object, and whether it can bring broad resonance.