Patricia Hackney Miller (born 1945) is a

developmental psychologist Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...

known for her research on

cognitive development Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult bra ...

during early childhood. She holds the position of Professor of Psychology at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. Miller is a Fellow of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

(APA), Division 1 (General) and Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) and a Fellow the

Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

. She served as President of APA Division 7 from 2008-2010.

Biography

Miller was raised in rural Kansas and, as a child, attended a

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

. Her interest in psychology began as an undergraduate at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

taking Introductory Psychology in her first semester. At first she aspired to be a clinical psychologist but turned to

experimental psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

under the mentorship of Frances Degen Horowitz. After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1966, Miller attended the Institute of Child Development at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

where she studied social cognitive development (

theory of mind In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fro ...

) with John Flavell. As a graduate student, Miller worked as a research assistant with

Eleanor Gibson Eleanor Jack Gibson (7 December 1910 – 30 December 2002) was an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her first ...

and conducted experiments on rabbits and kittens on the

visual cliff The visual cliff is an apparatus created by psychologists Eleanor J. Gibson and Richard D. Walk at Cornell University to investigate depth perception in human and other animal species. It consists of a sturdy surface that is flat but has the appe ...

. She received her Ph.D from University of Minnesota in 1970. Miller joined the faculty of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1970 and remained there until 1977. She moved to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 1977 and was Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1995–1999). Her research at the University of Florida on

memory development The development of memory is a lifelong process that continues through adulthood. Development etymologically refers to a progressive unfolding. Memory development tends to focus on periods of infancy, toddlers, children, and adolescents, yet the d ...

was supported by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

. Miller joined the faculty of the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in 2001 where she was also Director of the Institute of Women's Studies (2001–2005). She moved to San Francisco State University in 2010. Miller is the author of the popular textbook ''Theories of Developmental Psychology.'' She also co-authored the textbook ''Cognitive Development'' (with

John Flavell John H. Flavell (born August 9, 1928 in Rockland, Massachusetts) is an American developmental psychologist specializing in children's cognitive development. Education After serving in The United States Army for two years from 1945 to 1947, John ...

and Scott Miller) and co-edited ''Toward a Feminist Developmental Psychology'' (with Ellin Kofsky Scholnick) and ''Conceptual Development: Piaget's Legacy'' (with Scholnick, Katherine Nelson, and Susan Gelman).

Representative work

* Best, J. R., Miller, P. H., & Jones, L. L. (2009). Executive functions after age 5: Changes and correlates. ''Developmental Review'', ''29''(3), 180-200. *Best, J. R., & Miller, P. H. (2010). A developmental perspective on executive function. ''Child Development'', ''81''(6), 1641-1660. * Best, J. R., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2011). Relations between executive function and academic achievement from ages 5 to 17 in a large, representative national sample. ''Learning and Individual Differences'', ''21''(4), 327-336. *Miller, P. H., & Aloise, P. A. (1989). Young children's understanding of the psychological causes of behavior: A review. ''Child Development, 60''(2), 257-285. * Miller, P. H., Kessel, F. S., & Flavell, J. H. (1970). Thinking about people thinking about people thinking about...: A study of social cognitive development. ''Child Development, 41''(3), 613-623. *Miller, P. H., Blessing, J. S., & Schwartz, S. (2006). Gender differences in high‐school students’ views about science. ''International Journal of Science Education'', ''28''(4), 363-381.

References

External links

Faculty Homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Patricia H. American developmental psychologists American cognitive psychologists American women psychologists San Francisco State University faculty University of Kansas alumni University of Minnesota alumni Living people 1945 births 21st-century American women