Progress in Psychobiography

WUliam McKlnley RunyonUniversity ol California, Berkeley

hMSTMCT Progress m psychobiography What is i f Has there been any''And what processes contnbute to lt*

The issue of progress m psychobiography is pursued from two different per-spectives The first section bnefly reviews the histoncal growth of the field, in-cluding the range of disciplines involved, the nse of associated professional or-ganizations and publication outlets, and a quantitative analysis of the increasem books, articles, and dissertations in psychobiography The second section ar-gues that progress in psychobiograi^ical understanding can be analyzed intoeight component processes, such as the collection of additional evidence, theformulation of fresh interpretations, cntical exaraination of pnor explanations,and the application of new theoretical advances These processes are illustratedwith an examination of the course of debate about the physical and psychologi-cal disturbances of King George III

Psrsonality psychology is concerned with the four basic tasks of developinggeneral theones of personahty, analyzing individual and group di^rences, un-derstandmg individual persons, and studying selected processes and classes ofbdiavior In that developing a better understandmg of individual persons is one(rfthe ultimate djjectives of personality psychology, progress in psychobiogra-phy IS intimately related to progress in personality psychology as a whole

Psychobiography, bom in the pnmeval blue-green seas of Freud's Vi-enna Psychoanalytic Society, clumsily struggles up onto the beach, andthe story begins What progress, or what evolutionary developmentshave there been m psychdiiography smce those earliest days of Freud'sLeonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood (1910/1957)'?

Journal cf Personality 56 1, March 1988 Copynght © 1988 by Dufce UniversityPress CXr 0022-3506/88/$! 50

296 Kunyan

This amphibious creature, living m the worlds of both biography andpsychology, initially defined its mission as "applied psychoanalysis " Inrecent years, however, it has developed a more eclectic and differentiatedself-conception, definmg itself as biographical studies which make ex-plicit use of any kind of formal or systematic psychology This psychol-ogy IS often psychodynamic, but psychobiography may also draw onphenomenological, trait, or social learning theones of personality, aswell as from the resourees of social, developmental, cognitive, and ab-normal psychology

The question of progress hi psychobiography has many dimensions,and this article will focus on two of them First, I bnefly review the his-toncal growth of the field, discussing the range of disciplines involved,the quantitative growth of hterature, and the increasing institutional sup-port of the field Second, and more importantly, I offer an analysis ofwhat constitutes intellectual progress in the psychological understandmgof an individual life, with an examination of the processes which ad-vance that understanding

TiM Historical drowth of Ptfchalblogmiaxt

The field of psychobiography is traditionally defined as beginning withFreud's Leonardo da Vinci andaMemory of His Childhood (1910/1957)Although there were a few earlier psychobiographies (e g., Sadger,1908,1909), Freud' s Leonardo was by far the most influential A sampleof other early psychobiographical (and psychoanalytic) studies mcludeanalyses of Shakespeare as revealed through Hamlet (Jones, 1910), of theartist Giovanni Segantini (Abraham, 1911/1955), Richard Wagner (Graf,1911), Amenhotep IV (Abraham, 1912/1935), Martin Luther (Smith,1913), and Socrates (Karpas, 1915) A number of these earliest psycho-biographical studies are summarized m Dooley's "Psychoanalytic Stud-ies of Genius" (1916), and further discussed m Barnes (1919) and Fear-ing (1927) Dunng the 1920s a significant number of psychobiographicalworks were published, often by those with no formal trammg in psycho-analysis or psychiatry, with several of the best known (Garraty, 1954)being studies of Margaret Fuller (Anthony, 1920), Samuel Adams (Har-low, 1923), Edgar Allan Foe (Krutch, 1926), and Abraham Lincoln(Clark, 1923,1933)

This nsmg tide of psychoanalytic biography led to a number of attackson the method (e g , Whilbey, 1924, DeVoto, 1933), but the production

Pzogress in PsychOblogtaphy 297

of psychobiographies continued through the 1930s By the end of thedecade, there were psych(*iographical studies of wnters such as Tolstoy,Dostoevsky, Moh^re, Sand, Goethe, Colendge, Nietzsche, Pbe, andRousseau, and of public figures mcludmg Caesar, Lincoln, Napoleon,Darwin, and Alexander the Great (Anderson, 1978) In contrast, the1940s were a relatively slow penod for psychological biography, with ex-ceptions such as Guttmacher's (1941) study of George III and Langer'sThe Mind of Adolf Hitter, ongmally wntten in 1943 for the Office ofStrategic Services but not pubhshed until 1972

The 1950s saw a slowly renewed production of psychobiographies,such as studies of Jonathan Swift and Lewis Carroll (Greenacre, 1955),as well as Beethoven and his nephew (Sterba & Sterba, 1954) The majortunung pomt, however, in terms of more ngorous and methodologicallyself-conscious psychobiography, was the publication of George andGeorge's Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House A Personality Study(1956) and Enkson's Young Man Luther A Study in Psychoanalysis andHistory (1958) From the 1960s through the present there has been anencHinous outpounng of psychobiographical analyses of wnters, artists,musicians, politicians, religious leaders, scientists, and others

Prominent examples of recent psychobiographical works are studies ofHenry James (Edel, 1953-72, 1985), Isaac Newton (Manuel, 1968),Mohandas Gandhi (Enkson, 1969), Max Weber (Mitzman, 1969), Em-ily Dickinson (Cody, 1971), Joseph Stalin (Tbcker, 1973), James andJohn Stuart Mill (Mazhsh, 1975), T E Lawrence (Mack, 1976), AdolfHitler (Waite, 1977), Beethoven (Solomon, 1977), Samuel Johnson(Bate, 1977), Alice James (Strouse, 1980), Wilhelm Reich (Sharaf,1983), William James (Feinstem, 1984), and studies of groups of mdi-viduals such as Anwncan presidents (Barber, 1985), revolutionary lead-ers (Mazhsh, 1976), personality theonsts (Stolorow & Atwood, 1979),Utopians (Manuel & Manuel, 1979) and philosophers (Scharfstem,1980) (For additional examples, see reviews m Anderson (1978), Glad(1973), Mack (1971), Runyan (in press), Strozier and Offer (1985), andbibliographies by deMause (1975), Kiell (1982), and Gihnore (1984))

The growth of psychobiography is indicated not only by tte array ofindividuals studied, but also by the widening range of disciplines oftiiose contributing to it. To bnefly illustrate, important contnbutions topsychobiography have been made by

1. Psychoansdysts and psychiatnsts, beginning with Freud and hisearly circle, through Enkson and his studies of Young Man iMther (1958)

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and Gandhi (1969); Mack in his study of Lawrence of Arabia (1976),Gedo (1983) m his psychoanalytic studies of artists, and many others,

2 Histonans, such as Mazhsh with studies of Richard Nixon (1972),James and John Stuart Mill (1975) and a number of others, Loewenbergwith studies of Hemnch Himmler and others (1971, 1983), Strozier inhis analysis of Abraham Lincoln (1982), Waite's study of Adolf Hitler(1977), and many others,

3 Political scientists, such as George and George in their studies ofWoodrow Wilson (1956,1984), Greenstem (1975) on methodological is-sues. Glad on Jimmy Carter (1980) and others, and TUcker on Joseph Sta-lin (1973),

4 Academic personality psychologists, many of them influenced byMurray, Allport, and White, such as Elms with psychobiographical stud-ies of Allport (1972), Freud (1980), Skinner (1981), Mun^y (1987) andothers, Anderson with methodological wntings on psychobiography(1981a) and on William James (1981b), Stolorow and Atwood on person-ality theonsts (1979), Helson on E Nisbet (1984-85), Mendelsohn onVerdi (1985), R Carlson m applying Tomkins's scnpt theory (1981),myself on conceptual and methodological issues (1982), Weissbourd andSears on Mark TWain (1982), Newton on Samuel Johnson (1984), Alex-ander on Harry Stack Sullivan (1985), McAdams on Yukio Mishima(1985), and a number of others whose woric is represented m this specialissue,

5 Literary cntics such as Edel on Henry James (1985), Crews on Na-thaniel Hawthorne (1966), or Bate on Samuel Johnson (1977),

6 The psychohistory group around deMause and his Institute forPsychohistory, with studies o^ Jimmy Carter (deMause, 1977), RonaldReagan (deMause, 1984), and others, and finally

7 Members of a vanety of other disciplines who have contnbuted topsychobiography, including those from sociology, anthropology, reli-gion, education, music and art history, the history of science, and others

In short, the practice of psychobiography is spread across a substantialnumber of existing disciplines and professions This is m part becauseexperts m each area are often drawn to attempting psychctoiographicalmterpretations of leading figures in their field, such as hterature profes-sors with Samuel Johnstm, Nathaniel Hawthorne, OT Henry James, arthistonans with Van Gogh or Picasso, or political scientists and histonanswith Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, or Joseph Stalm Although not assimple as a one-to-one correspondence between the professional activity

Progress in Psychobiography 299

of the author and the subject m that there are many cross-overs, authorswith pnmary affihations with political science, hterature, or the historyof science tend to wnte psychobiographies about a somewhat differentset of subjects

A Quantitative Analysis of the Increase inPublications

The most succinct way of summanzing the growth of work m psycho-biography across these diverse fields is through a quantitatn e analysis ofthe growth of publications over time, as m Table 1 Table 1 provides arough estimate of the number of English-language psychobiographicalstudies broken down by 5-year penods from pre-1920 through 1975-1979, and indicating whether the subject is from the United States (orNorth Amenca) or from Europe (mcluding the Soviet Union) There area much smaller number of psychobiographical studies, perhaps onequarter of this total, on subjects m other parts of the world that are notincluded in this table The figures in Table 1 are denved from a quanti-tative analysis of 617 psychobiographical publications m William Gil-more's Psychohistorical Inquiry A Comprehensive Research Bibliog-raphy (1984), which was intended to provide a relatively comprehensivelisting of English-language publications in psychohistory and psycho-biography, and contains more than 4,000 items My analysis excludesthose Items from his bibliography on group psychohistory, history of thelife cycle, and methodological items, and is focused specifically on psy-chobiographical studies '

1 William Gilmore's Psychohistorical Inquiry A Comprehensive Research Bibli-ography (1984) was intended to provide a comprehensive list of English-languagestudies on psychohistory, including selected studies m other languages, with a sub-stantive focus on methodology, and Amencan and European studies Gilmore iden-tifies his sources m constructing this bibliography as previous bibliographies in psy-chohistory and related fields, Gilmore's own previous bibliographical contnbutionsto the Psychohistory Review and items encountered as co-editor of the PsychohistoryReview and the GUPH Newsletter, a card file from bibliographer Normal Kiell, anda systematic search of citations in Psychological Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts,Abstracts m Anthropology, Dissertation Abstracts, Amenca History and Life, andHistoncal Abstracts, and a search of the contents of the History cf Childhood Quar-terly and Journal cfPsychohtstory, the Psychohistory Review, the/ PA Bulletin, theGUPH Newsletter, and HK Journal cf Interdisciplinary History The search yieldedmore than 4,0(X) items, which Gilmore classified according to geographical area.

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Psychobiographical studies were at a fairly constant low level frompre-1920 up through the 1950s (ranging from 6 to 26 publications per 5-year penod), and began to mcrease significantly m the early 1960s, withan accelerated increase in the 1970s Of the 617 psychobiographical stud-ies from pre-1920 through 1979, 361 of them, or 58% of the total, ap-peared between 1970 and 1979 In other words, more than half of allpsychobiographical pubhcations occurred within the most recent dec-ade

A more detailed analysis of these results, broken down by disserta-tions, articles, and books, is contained in Table 2 Table 2 mdicates thatthere were almost no psychobiographical dissertations until 1960, with atotal of 5 m the 1960s, and 35 m the 1970s Of the 43 psychobiographicaldissertations until 1980, 35 of them, or 81% of the total, were producedbetween 1970 and 1979 This substantial increase in the number of dis-sertations m the most recent decade suggests that the number of articlesand books should continue to nse m the followmg years as these scholarsseek to establish their careers

In summary, these figures mdicate a substantial increase in psychobio-graphical books, articles, and dissertations in recent years These figuresshould be taken as rough indicators, as other procedures for locating ci-tations may of course yield somewhat different results These analysesprovide, however, at least a preliminary indication of trends in the hter-ature, and can be a starting point for other quantitative analyses of thedevelopment of the field

Institutionalization

The proliferation of pubhcations m psychobiography has been accom-pamed by, and m part made possible by, a growing mstitutionahzation ofthe field, as indicated by the development of professional organizations,conferences and conventions, specialty journals, and dissertations m thefield For example, recent professional associations supporting work m

histoncal penod, and the three topical categones of general psychohistoncal studies,studies of stages of the hfe cycle, and psychobiographical studies of individuals Myanalysis is confined to substantive psychobiographiical studies, and excludes thoseItems on group psychohistory, history of the life cycle, or methodological studiesFinally, Gilmore's bibliography contains items through the end of 1981, but myanalysis indicates that the listings fat 1980 and 1981 are quite incomplete, so I ana-lyzed studies up through the end of 1979

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psychobiography mclude the Group for the Use of Psychology in History,begun m 1972 as an affiliate of the Amencan Histoncal Association, theestablishment by Lloyd deMause of the International PsychohistoncalAssociation in 1976, the founding of the International Society of PoliticalPsychology by Jeanne Knutson in 1978, and the organization by RaeCarlson and others in 1983 of the Society for ftrsonology

Recently develoj)ed publication outlets which include significant at-tention to psychobiographical work are the Psychohistory Review (begunas the Group for the Use of Psychology m History Newsletter m 1972),the Journal of Psychohistory (changed to that name m 1976, after beingcalled the History of Childhood Quarterly since its founding in 1973),the journal Biography, begun in 1978, and finally, Political Psychology,started m 1979 in conjunction with the International Society of PoliticalPsychology

In spite of the growth of publications in psychobiography, and the de-velopment of associated professional organizations and publication out-lets, the academic mstitutionahzation of work in psychobiography seemsrelatively limited to date It should be noted, however, that it is possibleto have substantial intellectual development of a field with httle or nopenetration of academic institutions (cf Shils, 1972) It has been esti-mated that there are over 200 courses in psychohistory being taughtaround the country (Kren, 1977, Lifton with Strozier, 1984), which pre-sumably include some attention to psychobiography Universities such asUCLA and Kansas State have graduate programs m psychohistory whichdevote some attention to psychobiography, and a few psychology andother departments teach courses m the study of lives or psychobiographyHowever, as far as I am aware, it is still relatively unusual to find formalacademic training m psychobiography (I would be pleased to hear fromanyone who has more systematic data on this issue )

Another indicator of the growth of psychobiographical work withinacademia is the number of doctoral dissertations p'oduced, which re-flects both the interests of students and the extent to which faculty mem-bers are willing to serve as chair or committee persons on dissertationsm this area I made a computenzed search of Dissertation Abstracts fromtheir beginning through 1984 to identify all dissertations using the termspsychdiiography or psychobiographical in their title or abstract, and lo-cated 19 dissertations This, though, is only a subset of psychobiograph-ical dissertations, smce many psychobiographical dissertations do notuse that word m their title or abstract Gilmore's bibliography (1984)

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provides a somewhat more complete sample, and lists 135 psychohistor-ical dissertations through 1979, with 43 of them being psychobiograph-ical As discussed earlier, 35 of these 43 psychobiographical disserta-tions were jwoduced m the most recent decade covered, 1970 to 1979

Tb this point, I have bnefly discussed the growth of publications mpsychobiography and the associated development of professional orga-nizations and publication outlets What, though, has been the intellectualyield of this increased volume of work* The next section examines thecrucial question of intellectual progress in psychobiography, and of theprocesses which can bnng it about

Intellectual Progress In Psyehoblograidty

What constitutes progress m our knowledge and psychological under-standing of an individual hfe'' And to the extent that progress does occur,what processes contribute to it?

For example, what progress, if any, has there been in our psychologi-cal understandmg of Adolf Hitler dunng the course of research on hishfe, from the Office of Strategic Services study in World War II (Langer,1972), through Bullock's classic biography in 1952, through Waite'sThe Psychopathic God Adolf Hitler (1977)? What progress, if any, hasthere been in our knowledge and understanding of Freud, from an earlybiography by Wittels (1924), through Ernest Jones's standard three-vol-ume biography (1953-57), through more recent studies by Roazen(1975), Sulloway (1979), and others? Finally, m the clinical realm, whatadvances, if any, have there been m our knowledge and understmidmg ofFreud's classic case studies of Little Hans, the Wolf Man, the Rat Man,Dora, and others through decades of reanalysis and reinterpretation(e g , Bemheuner & Kahane, 1985, Gardiner, 1971, EUenberger, 1970,Kanzer & Glenn, 1980; Obholzer, 1982, Sherwood, 1969)' In short,does the investment of massive amounts of tune, money, and mtellectualenergy lead to a progressively better understanding of mdividual lives?And to the extent that there has been progress m understandmg, how hasIt come about?

This section will Mefly discuss the concept of progress, and then out-line a set of processes used m advancing our knowledge and understand-ing of mdividual lives These processes will then be illustrated with amore detailed analysis of the history of debate about the puzzling disor-ders of Kmg George III

Progress in Psychobiogiaphy 305

Conceptualizing Progress in Biography

Tb respond to questions about whether certain sequences of biographicalstudies are progressive or not requires a clanfication and definition of theconcept of progress. The literature on the concept of progress is surpns-lngly extensive, from studies of the history of the idea of progress, toanalyses of progress m physics, biology, the social sciences, history, andother disciplmes, to progress in technology and matenal benefits, to eco-nomic progress, to progress in morals, and finally, to progress m humanwelfare as a whole (cf Almond, Chodorow, & Biarce, 1982, Laudan,1977, Munz, 1985, Nisbet, 1980)

Underlymg these many uses of the concept of progress, the idea maybe defined most simply as change over time in a direction perceived asdesirable or preferable Thus it involves a temporal or historical compo-nent, and a valuative component A third possible component of the ideaof progress, which is sometimes but not necessanly implied, is that ofprogress as inevitable Let me make clear that I am nor claiming that asequence of biographical studies is necessanly progressive Some are,and some aren't Rather, the concept of progress is introduced as a wayof addressing epistemological issues m the study of hves, as a way ofcomparmg life history studies not to some absolute standard of truth,which can be impossibly difficult to specify, but rather of comparmg agiven study with pnor studies m terms of a vanety of specifiable cntena

Consider, for example, the case of Lincoln biography Lmcoln's deathwas followed by a stream of idealized and hero-worshipping biogra-phies One of die first realistic biographies was pubhshed by Hemdonand Weik m 1889 It dealt with issues such as Lmcoln's uncertain ances-try, the development of his character, and his changing religious beliefs.Was this progress or not* A review in the Chicago Evening Tribune in1889 said of the hock, "It vilely distorts the image of an ideal statesman,patriot, and martyr It clothes him in vulgarity and grossness . Itbrings out all that should have been hidden It is not fit for familyreading . In all its parts and aspects—if we are a judge, and we thinkwe are, of the propieties of hterature and human hfe—we declare thatthis bodk is so bad, it could hardly have been worse" (Thomas, 1947,pp. 150-151).

Clearly, from their perspective, iHat bodk was not an improvement overthe earlier hero-worshipping biograjAies The point is that "progress"

has to be assessed m reference to a particular frame of reference.

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to particular valuative cntena Thus, the same work may be judged asprogressive in light of one set of cntena, such as histoncal realism, andregressive in light of other cntena, such as religious or moral punty

Furthermore, the same work may be progressive m some aspects andregressive in others Strachey's influential Eminent Victorians, pub-hshed m 1918, was an advance in terms of cntena such as selectivity,wit, and debunking, but regressive in terms of histoncal accuracy andcompassion m its portraits of Florence Nightingale, Matthew Arnold,and other Victonan heroes In short, the same work may be seen as pro-gressive or regressive in terms of different cntena, and also may be pro-gressive in some aspects but regressive m others

How then should we look at progress m our knowledge and under-standing of individual lives'' It seems to me that progress in psychobio-graphical studies can be meanmgfuUy assessed in terms of cntena suchas (a) the comprehensiveness of the evidential base, (b) the msightful-ness and persuasiveness of interpretation, and (c) the literary or aestheticappeal of the nanative account This article focuses on the first two ofthese cntena the quality of evidence, and of lnterpretahon, while manyother works have focused on literary appeal (Novarr, 1986, fttne, 1981)Advances in understanding can occur through a vanety of processes,such as collecting additional evidence, cntically evaluating the evidenceand sources, and proposing and testing new interpretations

The processes involved m advancing our knowledge and understand-ing of individual hves can, for the sake of simplicity, be divided intoeight steps or components, as in Figure 1 This set of processes is relatedto the specific cntena I am prqposmg Other cntena of progress, such asmoral rectitude, metaphonc expressiveness, or political correctnesswould suggest a somewhat different set of processes

The components m Figure 1 have been numbered from one to eight forpurposes of identification, rather than to identify any ngidly fixed se-quence of steps The top left-hand box, which is labeled "Evidence, andProcesses of Data Collection," includes thmgs such as findmg additionalletters or dianes, conducting further interviews, or finding additional ar-chival records or physical evidence In research on Hitler, for example,this would include matenal such as Mem Kampf, interviews with anddocuments by those who knew him, the discovery of his burned corpse,records of his personal physician, and the alleged discovery of previ-ously unknown "Hitler Dianes " The second step is the cntical exami-nation of evidence and sources, including activities such as detecting for-

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genes or falsifications m the evidential base, and learning how muchweight to give to the testimony of different witnesses In the case of Hit-ler research, dental records supported the claim that the partly burnedbody found by Russian soldiers outside the Fuhrer's an- raid shelter mBerlin was that of Hitler (Waite, 1977), whereas a study of the paper usedin the alleged Hitler dianes revealed that it was produced after his death

The third component is background theory and knowledge, which isdrawn upon m mterpretmg the mdividual case, and would include theo-nes of psychological development, an understanding of the relevant cul-tural and histoncal background, and knowledge of relevant medical con-ditions and biological processes The fourth step is the generation of newinterpretations and explanations of the mdividual case, while the fifthstep IS the critical evaluation and attempted falsification of proposedinterpretations These third through fifth steps are clearly illustrated mthe history of interpretations of the mental and physical disturbances ofGeorge III, King of England from 1760 to 1820 He suffered from a puz-zling array of symptoms, including pain m his face, arms, and legs, vis-ual and auditory hallucinations, sleeplessness, and agitated talking andhyperactivity This array of symptoms has been contmuously interpretedand reinterpreted in terms of changes m theoretical knowledge over thelast 2 centimes Some of his contemporanes interpreted his disorder interms of an imbalance of the four humors, while m the 1930s his plightwas reinterpreted m terms of Freudian thecwy, and in the 1960s, reinter-preted agam in terms of a recently discovered metabolic disease, por-phyna The fifth cell m Figure 1 indicates the cntical examination andattempted falsification of proposed interpretations. With King GeorgeIII, as will be seen m a later section of this article, senous questions havebeen raised about each of the proposed mterpretations of his illness

The sixth component is the production of a narrative account of thehfe, which mcorporates a number of specific mterpretations and expla-nations, organizes a substantial amount of data about the life, and drawson theoretical and background knowledge The numbered subscnpts in-dicate a whole sequence of accounts which might be produced about thesame hfe, such as a biography of Hitler in 1944, one in 1952, and anotherin 1977. All of the precedmg five processes used m constructmg the ac-count can be repeated in an itra^tive cycle

The seventh step is the cntical evaluation of the narrative account, asm the form of a bode review (for a biography) or a case conference (fora clmical presentation), considermg factors such as the adequacy of the

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evidence, the appropnateness of the background theory, and the credi-bility of the proposed interpretations The eighth and final component is"Social, Fbhtical, Psychological, and Histoncal Factors," which influ-ence each of the other processes They influence what data are collectedand seen as relevant, and how cntically they are scrutinized These fac-tors influence the kinds of background theory and knowledge which aredrawn upon, influence the mterpretations which are proposed and howcntically they are evaluated, affect the shape and structure of the finishednarrative account, and influence the cntical reception that the finishedwork receives As one example of such political and social influencesupon the course of biographical interpretation. King George Ill's politi-cal supporters argued for a physical interpretation of his symptoms, sug-gestmg that they were temporary, while his political opponents arguedfor an interpretation m terms of a mental disturbance which might wellbe permanent and make him unfit to rule

The impetus for a new psychobiographical study can come from de-velopments m any one of the eight components m Figure 1, such as thediscovery of new sources of evidence, advances in theoretical knowledgewhich make possible the mterpretation of previously inexphcable events,the cntique and dismissal of earlier interpretations and the proposal ofnew ones, or social and historical developments which highlight newthemes or issues m a previously studied hfe

These different component activities are pursued in a quasi-judicial oradversanal format, similar to procedures in courts of law, where differentmdividuals with different theoretical or political mterests will be propos-mg their own interpretations, wnting their own accounts, and cntiqumgthe evidence, inferences, arguments, and conclusions of others withcompeting points of view (Bromley, 1986)

Now that the model has been presented, how is such a conceptualframework to be evaluated'' One test is its utility m understanding whathas happened m the history of researeh on different hves In the prefaceto biographies, audiors often speak about the rationale for undertaking anew biography of the individual m question The reasons that they givefor atten^ting a new study often closely resemble the categones sug-gested here For example, Thomas's biography of Abraham Lmcoln m1952 refers to the availability of new evidence m the form of tiie recentopening of the Robert Tbdd Lmcoln papers m the Library of Congress,and the forthconung Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln which Thomashad consulted. As a second factor, he also refers to the extensive research

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and fresh interpretations developed in the 35 years since the last majorsingle-volume biography of Lhicoln by Lord Chamwood, all of whichneed to be incorporated into a new smgle-volume biography McLellan,in his 1973 biography of Karl Marx, said that his fresh biographical at-tempt was justified by the publication of the unexpurgated Marx-Engelscorrespondence and the publication of crucial additional writings ofMarx In McLellan's view, previous wntmgs on Marx were marred bythe "gnndmg of political axes," and he aimed for a balanced interpreta-tion, avoiding the "extremes of hagiography and denigration "

Wolfgang Hildesheimer wrote a recent masterful biography of Mozart(1982), which IS also a profound meditation on epistemological problemsm biography and about what can or cannot be known about another hu-man being He states that his biography of Mozart comes partly out ofreexamination of the pnmary literature, partly out of the research andstudies of others, but importantly, out of disagreements with the existinginterpretations The bodk is "not least, a book of disagreement, a re-^onse to provocation, the attempt to cleanse and restore a fresco whichhas been painted over repeatedly m the course of centunes" (pp 3-4)

As a final example, Robert Caro (1982) m the first volume of his mas-sive study of Lyndon Johnson states that his biography is based onhundreds of interviews, scores of them with Johnson associates neverpreviously mterviewed by biographers, and that his findings make it pos-sible to clear away a vast number of false stones about Johnson's child-hood and college years, many of which had been fabncated and dissem-inated by Johnson himself

To sum up, biographers do not always provide a rationale for theirwork in relation to earlier biographies, but when they do, most of then-reasons can be fitted mto the categones identified in this model as theaccumulation of additional evidence, the cntical evaluation of earlier evi-dence, the availability of new theoretical resources, the inadequacies ofpnor interpretations, or the proposal of fresh interpretations

Examination of the stated practices and intentions of biographers,does not, of course, provide proof of the adequacy of this conceptualframework, although it does indicate a siniulanty between the model andthe factra^ which biographers themselves identify as important m ad-vancmg biographical understanding At a minimum, this is convementand avoids the limitations of those rational reconstructions of histoncalinquiry which seem unrecognizable to practitioners of the craft.

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The Case of King George III

Tb this point, the discussion of progress in the study of hves has beensomewhat abstract, with only brief illustrations In this section I wouldlike to make the issues more concrete by analyzing the course of inquiryinto a specific biographical issue, namely, the debate over conflictinginterpretations of the disorders of George III of England The emphasiswill be not so much on the details of the kmg's disturbances, but ratheron what the history of inquiry on this intensively studied individual canreveal about processes involved m advancing biographical understand-ing

George III (1738-1820), King of England dunng the Amencan Rev-olution and from 1760-1820, suffered from five distinct penods of ill-ness, m 1765, 1788-1789,1801,1804, and 1810-1820 The disorder of1788-1789, when the king was 50, was the most fully documented at-tack, the first that involved mental disturbance, and the one with thegreatest political implications, thus, it is the one that will be discussedhere

First reports of the disorder came m June 1788, when the king com-plained of a fever and violent pams in his stomach and bowels He re-covered shortly, but in October of that year, signs of delinum appeared,accompanied by symptoms such as weakness of the limbs, hoarseness,sleeplessness, excitement, and confusion A member of the court. LadyHarcourt, recorded m her diary (MacAlpine & Hunter, 1969) that.

Every alarming symptom seemed increased, the bodily agitation wasextreme, and the talking incessant, indeed it was too evident that hisMajesty had no longer the least command over himself [T]heveins m his face were swelled, the sound of his voice was dreadful, heoften spoke till he was exhausted while the foam ran out of hismouth (p 25)

His four attacks from 1788 on were marked by symptoms such as painfulweakness of the arms and legs, hoarseness and difficulty m articulation,pain in the head and face, occasional anesthesia, abdominal pam, con-stipation, racmg pulse, visual and auditory disturbances, delusions, andagitated talking and hyperactivity

How was such a puzzling array of symptoms to be explained'' To sim-plify, the history of different explanations of tte king's disorders can beroughly divided into five stages (a) contemporaneous explanations, (b)

312 Kimyan

classification according to descnptive psychiatry in the 19th century; (c)psychodynamic explanations, (d) explanation m terms of a metabolicdisorder, porphyna, and (e) cnticism of the porphyna explanation andthe search for alternative explanations

During the first of these stages, many physicians at the time werefrankly baffled by the king's array of symptoms, and some fell back onthe ancient theory of an imbalance between the four humors black bile,yellow bile, phlegm, and choler According to this interpretation, thekmg imtially suffered from pain m his feet, but by staying out in the coldwith wet stockings, an imbalance among the four humors was dnvenfrom his feet up mto his brain

The king's disorder was of great concern, not only for the sake of hispersonal well-being, but also for political reasons, in that if he wasjudged msane, then the Pnnce of Wales would be appointed regent, withpowers of the king An issue which earned great weight at the time waswhether the king's disturbances should be seen as the result of a physicalproblem, in which case one could expect recovery or death, or whetherhis symptoms indicated insanity, in which case recovery was relativelyunlikely and he might have to be declared incompetent to rule Differentpolitical factions lined up behind different medical opinions, with theking's Tory supporters favonng an explanation in terms of physical dis-turbance, whereas his opponents were more inclined to consider the dis-turbance a mental one By Mareh 1789, the kmg had apparently re-covered, lendmg support to the theory of physical ongms of the prdjlem

A second explanation was proposed m 1855 by Dr Isaac Ray who dis-agreed with the royal physician's earlier assessment of physical delir-ium, and argued rather that the disturbances had all the charactenstics of"ordinary acute mama," resultmg from an abnormal mental state

The next extended study, initiating the third stage, did not appear until1941 when an Amencan psychiatrist, Guttmacher, pubhshed a psychoan-alytic study titled America's Last Kmg An Interpretation of the Madness(^George III (1941) He argued that the kmg's disturbances could beexplained m psychodynamic terms, and that his attacks could be under-stood as breakdowns under the pressure of political and domestic eventswhich overwhelmed his vulnerable defenses and led him to decompen-sate

Fourth, Bntish psychiatnsts and histwians of medicine Macalpme andHunter (1966) first put forward their hypottesis that the king's puzzlingarray of symptoms resulted not from a mental disturbance, but rather

Progiess in Psychobiogiaphy 313

from porphyna, a rare metabolic disease not discovered until the mid-19th century PorjAiyrms are purple-red pigments which exist m everycell m the body and which give blood its red color In the disease of por-phyna, there is a disturbance of porphynn metabolism which leads to anaccumulation of toxic chemicals throughout the body, which, m acuteattacks, can produce a wide array of symptoms, mcludmg intense ab-donunal pain, weakness and paralysis of muscles, reddish-brown unne(from an excess of porphynns), sensitivity to sunlight, and psychiatncdisturbance The range of symptoms of George III, which are extremelypuzzling from a psychological perspective, fit closely with those of por-phyna Indeed, according to Macalpine and Hunter m their 1969 bookGeorge III and the Mad Business, "his symptoms and their sequence readlike a textbodc case" (p 173)

Although uxinalysis was not a systematic practice at the time, therewere six different instances m which the king's physicians noted that hisunne was dark or bloody at the height of his attacks If porphyna is he-reditary, then one would expect to find symptoms of it in the king'sancestors and descendants Macalpme and Hunter report that laboratorymethods venfied the existence of porphyna in four living descendants,and that analysis of histoncal and medical records provides evidence ofporphyna m relatives such as Mary, Queen of Scots, James I, four ofGeorge Hi's sons, and his granddaughter, Pnncess Charlotte In short, avanety of lines of evidence seem to converge m pointing to the conclu-sion that the king suffered from porphyna

Ciitkrlsins of the Poiphyiia Hypothesis

The case, however, was not that simple, as mdicated by the flurry of let-ters on this issue m the Times Literary Supplement m 1970,^ which takesus to the fifth and current stage Given the apparent effectiveness of theporphyna hypothesis in accountmg for a great range of disparate mentaland physical symptoms, how could it not be true''

The porphyna hypothesis was cnticized by Guttmacher (1967) andother psychodynamically onented theonsts, but most problematic was

2 The (mginal review of Macalpine and Hunter's George HI and the Mad Businesswas pubhshed in the Ttmes Literary Supplement on 8 January, 1970, p 30, whichwas followed by comespoixlence on IS January (p 58), 22 January (p 84), 29 Jan-uary(pp 110-111), 5 February (pp 134-135), 12 February (pp 168-169), and 19

202)

3M Kunyan

the fact that the porphyna diagnosis was cnticized by a number of lead-ing authonties on the disease ^ In particular. Dean (1971), who first iden-tified porphyna vanegata, the type that George III was supposed to beafflicted with, did not believe it In his expenence, acute attacks of thedisease could be traced back to susceptible individuals taking drugs suchas barbiturates and sulphonamides which were not in use until the begin-ning of this century Most importantly, since porphyna vanegata is he-reditary, with an autosomal dominant gene that leads approximately halfof the children of a earner to acquire it, there should then be a large num-ber of living descendants of George III and his 15 children who had thedisease, and no such evidence exists In a detailed hereditary study. Dean(1971) had traced the spread of porphyna vanegata in South Afnca fromone immigrant nearly 300 years ago to over 8,000 living descendantswith the same gene today Macalpme, Hunter, and Rimmgton (1968) firstreported clinical and laboratory information on two descendants whowere supposed to have porphyna, but one of these cases is seen by ex-perts as highly questionable In their book one year later, after the cnti-cisms were published, Macalpine and Hunter (1969) then state that thedisease has been diagnosed m four living family members, but provideno details on methods of diagnosis or laboratory test results, whichmakes it impossible for others to evaluate their claim As Dean says,"such a statement without evidence is hard to accept" (1971, p 164)

Macalpme and Hunter (1969) also argue that the gene could be tracedfrom George III through eight generations of his ancestors to Mary,Queen of Scots Each of the children of a porphync parent has only a50% chance of mhenting the g^ne, so the chances of it passing directlyalong the royal line for eight generations are extremely remote (approxi-mately 1 in 256) As expressed by Dent (1971), if the gene is passeddirectly down the royal hne, "then the gene must have had an uncannyknack, defying, I think, scientific explanation, for picking out the sub-

3 Cnticism of the porphyna hypothesis was pubhshed in the British Medical Jour-nal hy Prof essoiC E Dent on 3 February 1968 (pp 311-312), D r G Dean on 17February and 27 Apnl 1968, and Professor L Eales and Dr E Dowdle on 30 March(p 841) Much of rtus correspondence IS reprinted in G Dean(1971) TTie porphynainterpretation was, on the other hand, either (tefen(ted or perceived posiuvely m thatsame journal by T K With on 3 February 1968 (pp 312-313), Professor A Gold-berg on 24 February 1968 (pp 509-510), and ProfessOT C Rimington, on 24 Feb-ruary 1968 (p 510), and by Rimington (with Macalpme & Hunter) on 16 March1968 (pp 705-706)

Progress in Psychobiography 31S

jects in the direct hne of succession first son when available, otherwisewhoever comes next according to the particular rules m this complicatedgame" (p 154) Dean concludes that the claim that George III and manyother members of the royal family suffered from porphyna vanegata "is,in my opinion, not only unproven but, on the evidence presented, ex-tremely unlikely" (1971, p 157)

What more recent advances have there been m this debate about theporphyna hypothesis'' In particular, what could a seareh of the hteratureon porphyna and medical history do to clanfy the situation'' I surveyeda number of recent textbooks and hterature reviews on porphyna (Gold-berg & Moore, 1980, Kappas, Sassa, & Anderson, 1983, McCoU,Moore, & Goldberg, 1982, With, 1980) and searehed sources such asIndex Medicus, the Bibliography cf the History qf Medicine, CurrentWork in the History of Medicine An International Bibliography, andjournals such as Medical History, Bulletin qfthe History of Medicine,Journal of the History of Medicine, and the last 10 years of the BritishMedical Journal A less exhaustive search was made of the histoncal andpsychological hterature through a computenzed search of Historical Ab-stracts and Psychological Abstracts * I also contacted a leading biogra-pher of George III, histonan John Brooke of London, and the world'sleadmg authonty on porphyna vanegata, Dr Geoffrey Dean of Dublin,to see if they knew of any recent contnbutions to the problem

On the basis of what I was able to learn through this search, it seemsthat there they recens o s0 Tc ( c7000 Tc (si0.000 Tc (425000 Tz /F0 11.000 Tf 0 Ts 0.041 Tc (O) Tj 01.295 Twflurr an) Tj 0.000 Tc (d) Tj 0.164 Tw -0.094 /F0 1n) 000j 0.000 Tc (s) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.000y) Tj 2.8 Tw 0.021 Tc ( numbe) Tj30000 Tc (e) Tj 0discuTw -0.245 Tc ( o) Tj 0.000 400 Tz /F026g, th000 Tz 7.00058 Tw --0.129 Tc ( th) T5 Tw /F124000 Tc (t)j 0.440summ29 Tw -0.057 Tc (( i) Tj 96 Tc (l) T Tj 0.648 Tw 0.021 Tc ( numbe) T50000 Tc (e) Tj -0.485 Tw -0.122 Tc ( o) T (,)0 Ts ( A) 1.155 T775 Tw 0.041 Tc ( thi) Tj 0.5Tw ( His) Tj 0.000 Tc (e) Tj 0.024 Tw -0.085 Tc ( (G2290 Tc (.000 Tc (s) 2Tc (a)T 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.000 9 Tj -0( unlikely) Tj 0.000 Tc ( c723 (s) Tj ET BT /F0 11.000 Tf 0 Ts 0.033 Tc (tha) Tj 9ca2) Tj 0Tc (y) Tj420 Tw 0.025 Tc ( ther) Tj790 Ts ( A)3j 0.332 367 Tw 0.00 Tz /F1f5a2CTj32 Tc (e) Tj 0.0 Tc ( Tz ( I) Tj 0.3.000 Tz /F0 11.000 Tf 0 Ts.321 Tw /l) T Tj 0.648 Tw 0.021 Tc ( numbe)F124.000 Tc (sh) Tj 0.112 d29 Tw -0.057 Tc (( i) T0.062 Tw ( &) Tj 0.91discuTw -8 Tc ( recen) Tj 0.0000 4Tw 0.061 Tj -0.179 Tw -0.059 Tc ( year) Tj 0.000 Tc (s) Tj 1.364 Tw -0.367 Tc ( o) Tj 2000 Tz /FTj 0.207op w 0.034 Tc ( th)o) Tj 0.000 Tc (f) Tj 1.009 Tw 0.119 Tc (F0 1n16 Tc ( .000 Tc (d) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.0005Tj 0.9pnma19 Tw -0.122 Tc ( no) T2 (n) TTc (t)9 0.440summ29iz) Tj 0.000 Tc (d) Tj 0. ( 90.000 Tc rg 22. 198li Tz /F0 11.000 Tf 0 Ts 065 0.000 Tc (y) Tj12 Tw 0.048 Tc ( recen) Tj 0.0000.00.000 Tc (( Journawi Ts -0.038 Tc ( debat) Tj 038.000 Tc (Tj 0.332 Tj 0.) Tj 0.000 Tc (d) Tj 0.61853.000 Tc (,) Tj 1.371 Tw 0.082 Tc ( an)j 76 Tc (g) (e) Tj 0-0.034 Tc ( Dea) n) Tj 0.000 Tc (g) Tj 0.589 Tw 0.075 Tc (F0 1n02) Tj 0.000 Tc (m) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.000)9 0.445 Tw 0.041 Tc ( thi) Tj ( 7 -0.061 T7j 0.440Tf 0 Ts 0.336 Tc ( o) Tj 9 Tc (e)00 Tw 97.0 Tc (e)) Tj 0.00555 Tw -0. 0.205 TBatle.002 Tc (tremel)Tj 0.632778 Ts ( A) 1.155 T( u5002 Tc (tremel)Tj 0.6-1j 0.000 Tf 67T BT /9.00058 Tl^l0.011 Tc ( medicag) Tj 2.3z /F0 Tj ET BT 000 94.155 T( u6likely) Tj 0.000 Tc ( c55 from) T8j 0.440Witt -0.002 Tc ( 1980) Tj 0.74000 Tc (3.000 Tf ( u.027 Tc ( Goldbeth) Tj 4.6 Tc (e) Tj4j 0.440O4 Tw 0.026 Tc ( direc) Tj 0.000000 2rg 22. 1xcept -0.245 Tc ( o) Tj 0.000 783.000 TcTj 0.332w -0.016 Tc ( throug) j 0.000 Tc (t) Tj 0.817 Tw 0.039 Tc ( s189) Tj 0.000 Tc (s) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.0025Tj 0.9Hurst0.129 Tc ( th) T5 Tw /F120.000 Tc 30j 0.440198.129 Tc ( th) T2Tj 0. Tc8.000 Tc (te) Tj 0022 T24 Tw -0.104 Tc ( wa) 000 0.000 Tc (e) Tj 0wh w 0.034 Tc ( th)e) Tj 0.02 0.000 TcTj 0.440128 00 Tw -0.253 Tc ( i) T-.000Tc (y)8j ET BT /F (y) Tj 0.756 Tw -0.053 Tc ( d) T6Tc (n) Tj 0 (y) Tj420 Tw 0.025 Tc ( ther) -.00.000 T Tj ET BT 000)3j 0.332 0.00.054 Tc ( als) Tj 0.000.355 Tw -0. (s) Tj 0.652 Tw 0.066 Tc ( t) - 0.0Tc (l) Tj 4j 0.91disor-0.034 Tc ( Dea) 0 Tw 97.000.000 Tc Tj 022. 1 -0.097 Tc ( onl) Tj 0.0003 Tw ( a) Tj 0.349fur00 520.080 Td 0.000 Tw 9j 0.000 Tc (t) Tj 0.817 Tw 0.039 e) Tj Tj000j 0.000 Tc (s) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.0000025 Tc baw 0.034 Tc ( th)k Tw /F120.000 Tc (s) Tj 0.121 Tw 0.026 Tc ( abl) T590.000 Tc (,) Tj 1.371 Tw 0.082 Tc ( an) ( 7a2) Tj 05(e) Tj 014121 Tw 0.026 Tc .371 Tw 370.000 Tc (e) Tj 0t) Tur.002 Tc (tremel)Tj 0.6 /9000 Tc (s) j 022. b -0.038 Tc ( debat) TjTj 2) TTc (t) Tj 3.5do.069 Tc ( searehe) Tj 0.90.000 Tc Tj 1.271 Tw 0.122 Tc ( opinion) Tj79.000 Tz /F Tj 0.805nsi-0.034 Tc ( Dea) 0 Tw 9 Tj 0.000 Tc (w) Tj 0.684 Tw -0.367 Tc ( o) F120c ( (197 Tj -0.148 Tw 0.134 Tc ( basi) T4000 Tc ( (s) Tj 0.151 Tw -0.367 Tc ( o) j 0.000 0.80n2 Tis00 Tw -0.253 Tc ( i) T1 I) Tj /l) T Tj 0.648 Tw 0.021 Tc ( numbe)0.000 Tc (g) Tj 0.589 Tw 0.075 Tc (F0 1 Tj0 Tc (.000 Tc (s) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.0000(s) Tj 0.652 Tw 0.066 Tc ( t) - 06000 Tc (fTj 0.440 0.736 Tw 0.160 Tc ( o) Tj 0.017 -0.061 T 1.059 Tw Ts 0.180 Tw -0.253 Tc ( i) T-.02Tw -0.016 9j 0.648 Tw 0.021 Tc ( 0 Tw 97.046Tc (y)8j ET BT -0. (s) Tj 0.652 Tw 0.066 Tc ( t) - 0.000 Tc Tj ET BT 000 Tj -0.1diff Tw ti Tz /F0 11.000 T1) Tj 0.00000 Tc (h11.000 Tf 0 Ts 0.159 Tc (ject)-f 67T Bs ( A)3e) Tj 0.3li v) Tj 0.000 Tc (d) Tj 0.61j 0.000)8j ET BT -0 Tj 0.440 Tw 0.091 Tc ( search)-j 76.000 Tz /j 1.271 Tw -0.018 Tc ( searc) Tj 07c (s) Tj ET BT 0o) Tj 0.207ransmittTj 0.000 Tc (') Tj 0.541 Tw ( I) Tj 0.913 Tw -0.162 Tc (F0 1 50 Tc ( .000 Tc (d) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.7.0461.000 f8 Tw 0.021 Tc ( 0 Tw 9 0.000 TcTc (e) Tj 0l48 Tc ( recen) Tjg i) T-.02 0.000 T2j 1.169 peno Tw -0.186 Tc ( s Tw 9 0.0a2) Tj 0TcI) Tj 0.l48 Tc ( recen) Tjg i) T0) Tj 00 Tc (s) Tj 0.151 Tw -0.367 Tc ( o) Tj 1Tw -0.016F Tj 0.8lTs -0.102 Tc (whoeve) Tj 08.000 Tc T Tj 0.648 Tw 0.021 Tc ( numbe) T3 Tc (n) T Tj -0.1527 Tw 0.115 Tc ( th) Tj 1&) Tj Tc (t)) Tj 0..431 Tw -8 Tc ( recen) Tj.j 0.541 Tw ( I) Tj 0.913 Tw -0.162 Tc363 Tw 1Tw -0.690 Ts ( and) Tj ET BT 3 Tr 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.169T Tf 0 Ts 0.041 Tc (O) Tj 0.3.000 Tc(h) Tj 0outco00 Tw -0.253 Tc lanf

316 Kunyan

cepted, while physicians state that the porphyna hypothesis is either un-proven or extremely unlikely' For example, one biographer says that theporphyna diagnosis has been questioned "by a few histonans and var-ious experts m porphyna research, but most histonans of the penod havefound It convincing" (Hibbert, 1972, p 81) A recent textbodc on por-phyna says that "It is now ten years since this hypotiiesis was first putforward and failure to find a living descendant with VP [porphyna var-legata] lends strong support to the antagonists" (Kramer, 1980, p 318)of the porphyna thesis

In short, I was hoping that a seareh of recent medical and histoncalliterature would contain a solution to the problem There has been an ex-plosion of research on porphyna m the last decade, much of it associatedwith biochemical studies of the disorder, but advances in this hteraturehave not been translated into a solution of the apparently contradictoryevidence on George III and his lineage

The Puzzle a n d Possible Resolutiotxs

The problem that we are left with as a result of the senous cnticisms ofthe porphyna hypothesis is as follows George III seemed to have had apattern and sequence of physical and psychological symptoms which fitthe diagnosis of porphyna remarkably well, including elements of in-tense abdominal pain, weakness and paralysis of muscles, discolored ur-ine, sensitivity to sunlight, and penodic manic and psychotic attacks Onthe other hand, the argument tracing its lnhentance back through GeorgeIll's ancestors to James I and Mary, Queen of Scots, is unpersuasive,and, most sigmficantly, there does not seem to be convincing evidenceof the presence of the genetic defect m current descendants In short, por-phyna has not been convmcmgly traced through George Ill's ancestors,nor through his descendants, and particularly not m living descendants

5 One reviewer (WiUcox, 1971) of George HI and the Mad Business commentedthat as a result of tte debate in the Ttmes Literary St^plement, the 'arguments proand con were inconclusive, but did make two points clear first, that the medicalspecialists, among them an outstanding authonty on porphyna, are skeptical of theMacalpine-Hunter thesis, second, that two of the leading histonans of the penod,Ian Chnstie and John Bro<^, are deeply impressed by it The authors' fellow[mifessionals find the evidence m theu- M d unccmvincmg, professional histcmans,in whose field the authors are amateurs, find it extremely persuasive "

Progress in Psychobiogiaphy 317

Thus, there is a real intellectual puzzle here George III seems to havehad porphyna or a disorder with symptoms very similar to it, yet it seemsnot to have spread m the expected genetic fashion down to a large numberof living descendants What different ways are there out of this puzzle''How might progress be made m resolving the apparent contradictions''

One strategy is to find a type of porphyna that has neurological symp-toms and IS not transmitted as a dominant gene Over the years, a numberof subtypes of porphyna have been identified, and of the six major types,two are not transmitted m this fashion (Kappas et al , 1983) One type(congenital erythropoietic porphyna) is mhented as an autosomal reces-sive, while a second type (porphyna cutanea tarda) is usually acquuedBoth of these types of porphyna will not do here, though, as they havesymptoms of skin sensitivity to light, but not of psychological distur-bance

A second possibility was to find a way of mtegratmg both metabolicand psychological explanations Just because an individual has a meta-bolic disorder does not rule out the possibility of having psychologicalproblems as well It seemed to me, and still does seem, that psycholog-ical factors were dismissed too easily by Macalpme and Hunter For ex-ample, perhaps psychological stress was one of the precipitating factorsm acute attacks of porphyna This particular form of a combined meta-bolic and psychological explanation does not hold up for two reasons,although perhaps other forms of a joint explanation could be morestrongly supported First, I could find no evidence in the porphyna lit-erature that acute porphyna attacks were precipitated by psychologicalstress, and secondly, George Ill's attacks did not come at times whichappear to be of greatest personal and political stress

A third possible resolution is that George III suffered from anothermetabolic disorder, one that has similar symptoms to porphyna, and per-haps even similar mechanisms, but is not genetically transmitted Onepossibility along these lines is lead poisoning, a disorder which has re-cently received attention m regard to studies of Roman emperors and the18th-century English anstocracy (Nnagu, 1983) The appeal of this hy-pothesis IS that lead poisoning can lead to increased porphyrin levels, andm fact, assessment of porphynn levels is one of the ways that lead poi-sonmg IS diagnosed Secondly, there is a substantial overlap between thearray of symptoms of acute intermittent porphyna and lead poisoning(Moore, Meredith, & Goldberg, 1980) In particular, lead poisoning cancause syn^toms of abdommal pain, constipation, nausea aiKi vomiting.

318 Kunyan

paralysis or paresis, motor abnormality, elevated heart beat, and psycho-logical disturbances, all of which were expenenced by George IIIThird, lead poisoning is not genetic, but exposure to lead through diet,alcohol, or utensils may explain a higher prevalence of this disorder inroyalty than m the common populace

Those are the strengths of the theory Several problems with it remainto be explored For example, why did it affect George III, who was anotonously restrained drinker'' Why did it affect him, and not othermembers of his immediate family, who, presumably, were exposed to thesame environment and contaminants'' Was there, perhaps, some differ-ential exposure to lead on his part, or possibly, a different biological sus-ceptibility to a common level of lead absorption'' These are importantquestions that will have to be resolved if lead poisonmg is to replace por-phyna as an explanation of the king's disorders

Progiess in the Stud? of George Ill's Disorders

To what extent, if any, has progress been made in our knowledge andunderstanding of the disorders of King George IIP And what processesare responsible for whatever progress has occurred'' It is evident that thedebate thus far has not resulted m any universal consensus One divisionIS between histonans, who tend to believe that George III did suffer fromporphyna, and medical experts, who generally believe that he did not.

Does a lack of consensus on these issues n^an that no progress hasbeen made'' Definitely not, as there are substantial areas withm whichprogress has been made m &>rmulatmg, supporting, and cntically eval-uatmg particular explanatory hypotheses, even when disagreement re-mams between theoretical camps I want to suggest that m spite of a con-tinuing lack of resolution of the issue, there has been significant progressm the study of George III, and further, that important aspects of thisprogress can be rej^sented m terms of the component processes identi-fied in Figure 1

To start with, there is certainly a wider variety of explanatory hy-potheses on the table than there were m the 18th century, now mcludingexplanations in terms of psychodynamics, porphyna, and peihaps leadpoisoning as well Secondly, there has been substantial progress in cnt-ically evaluating proposed mteriH-etattons Cntics of the psychodynamicinterpretation that George III was breakmg down under stress havepointed out that he did not break down under penods of greatest personal

Progress in Psychobiogiaphy 319

or political stress, and that the occurrence of disorders seems uncorre-lated with apparent stressors m his hfe Cntics of the porphyna hypoth-esis have pointed to problems with the supposedly corroborative labora-tory evidence on living descendants, and to problems in the geneticargument In fact, this process of cntical evaluation of explanatory hy-potheses IS aided by the lack of consensus, as there are a vanety of par-ties in the debate, each seeking truth from their own perspective, andeach motivated to support their own formulations as persuasively as pos-sible while finding flaws m the alternative explanations

Third, progress has been made m collecting additional relevant evi-dence, as m trying to find laboratory evidence on the existence of por-phyna m current descendants, or m trying to learn about the hentabihtyof different types of porphyna Fourth, the debate has been progressivein the development and application of new theory and backgroundknowledge not available dunng the king's lifetime, such as the utiliza-tion of psychodynamic theory, the theory of porphyna, or knowledgeabout the possible effects of lead poisoning

Finally, many steps of the argument have been influenced by socialfactors such as the political onentations of George Ill's contemporanes,with supporters favonng explanations m terms of fever or physical ill-ness, while opponents favored mental illness More recently, a physicalexplanation of the king's disturbances is argued for by Macalpine andHunter, a mother and son team of psychiatrists who had as a leadingtheme m much of their work the greater importance of physical ratherthan psychological sources of mental disturbance There is, however, nosimple determination of belief by social or professional background, asleading porphyna experts are not lmpenalistically trying to subsumeeverything under their domain, but m this case are arguing against a por-phyna explanation

Conclusion

In summary, this paper has approached the topic of progress m psycho-biography from two different perspectives TTie first section bnefly re-viewed the histoncal growth of the field, including the range of disci-plines involved, the nse of associated professional organizations andpublication outlets, and a quantitative analysis of the increase in books,articles, and dissertations m psychobiography In the second section I ar-gued that progress in psychobiographical understanding can be analyzed

320 Kunyan

into eight component processes, such as the collection of additional evi-dence, the formulation of fresh interpretations, cntical examination ofpnor explanations, and the application of new theoretical advancesThese processes were illustrated with an examination of the course ofdebate about the physical and psychological disturbances of King GeorgeIII

A single case such as that of George III does not, of course, provide aconclusive test of the model proposed here, but can only illustrate it Ihave, though, found these same eight processes useful m analyzmg thehistory of psychobiographical research on a number of other figures,such as the extensive debate about the psychological or medical interpre-tations of Woodrow Wilson, the many psychological interpretations ofAdolf Hitler's personality and behavior, and the continuing reanalysis ofFreud's case studies including the Rat Man, Little Hans, Anna O , DrSchreber, Dora, and the Wolf Man (with an extensive literature on eachof these individuals) In each of these cases as well, advances in ourknowledge can be conceptualized in terms of the processes proposed mthis model

It should be reemphasized that I am not claiming that every new psy-chobiography IS better than the earlier ones It is imperative to make adistinction between the history of inquiry into a life, and progress in ourunderstanding of that hfe Later lnqumes may be superficial, misin-formed, uncritical, or generally lnfenor to pnor studies. The history ofinquiry on a hfe is sometimes progressive, and sometimes regressive,with a particular sequence of works perhaps progressive m light of somecntena, yet not in others. Hojvever, when progress does occur (in termsof the cnteria used here of adequacy of the evidential base and persua-siveness of interpretations), the processes outhned m Figure 1 seem use-ful m understanding it

In further research, a number of other aspects of progress in psycho-biography might be examined, such as progress m the range of personsstudied, the methods used, and the handling of basic conceptual issuessuch as relating the individual to his or her social-historical context, as-sessmg the influence of childhood expenence upon adult personality, ad-dressing the psychological relationship of the author to his or her subject,and assessing the relative plausibiUty of alternative psychd>iographicalmterpretations (e.g., Anderson, 1981a, Baron & Pletsch, 1985, Runyan,1981,1982,1983, m press).

Progress in Psychobiogtaphy 321

In conclusion, the four basic tasks of personahty psychology are (a)developing general theones of personality, (b) analyzing individual andgroup differences, (c) understanding individual persons, and (d) study-ing specific processes and classes of behavior (a task overlapping withsocial, developmental, cognitive, and other areas of psychology) Psy-chobiography IS one of the major arenas in which an m-depth under-standmg of individual hves is pursued, and one in which the relation-ships between evidence, general theory, and the explanation ormterpretation of individual lives are pursued in some detail Progress mpsychobiography is closely interconnected with progress m personalitypsychology, both m testing the power of general personality theones forilluminating individual lives, and in contnbutmg to one of personalitypsychology' s ultimate objectives, that of developing a better understand-mg of individual persons.

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