Neal E. Miller

{{Short description|American psychologist and academic (1909–2002)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Neal E. Miller

| image = Neal Elgar Miller.jpg

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| birth_date = August 3, 1909

| birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2002|3|23|1909|8|3}}

| death_place = Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.

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| citizenship =

| nationality = American

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| field = Psychology

| work_institutions = Yale University
Rockefeller University
Cornell University Medical College

| alma_mater = University of Washington (BS)
Stanford University (MS)
Yale University (PhD)

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| known_for = Biofeedback, Frustration–aggression hypothesis

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| prizes = Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1956)
APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (1959){{cite web|title=APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions|url=http://www.apa.org/about/awards/scientific-contributions.aspx?tab=3|publisher=American Psychological Association|access-date=26 August 2015}}
National Medal of Science {{small|(1964)}}
APA Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology (1991){{cite web|title=Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology|url=http://www.apa.org/about/governance/president/outstanding.aspx|publisher=American Psychological Association|access-date=26 August 2015}}
Wilbur Cross Medal {{small|(1967)}}

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}}

Neal Elgar Miller (August 3, 1909 – March 23, 2002) was an American experimental psychologist.{{cite book |date=2010 |chapter=Miller, Neal E. (1909–2002) |editor1-last=Weiner |editor1-first=Irving B. |editor2-last=Craighead |editor2-first=W. Edward |title=The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology |volume=3 |edition=4th |location=Hoboken, NJ |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hhGdag3Wf-YC&pg=PA997 997–999] |isbn=9780470170243 |oclc=429227903 |doi=10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0547}} Described as an energetic man with a variety of interests, including physics, biology and writing, Miller entered the field of psychology to pursue these.{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=David |date=1977 |chapter=Neal Miller |title=Psychologists on psychology |location=New York |publisher=Taplinger |pages=240–261 |isbn=978-0800865573 |oclc=2644614}} Reprinted as: {{cite book |last=Cohen |first=David |date=2015 |chapter=Neal Miller |title=Psychologists on psychology: classic edition |series=Routledge classic editions |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |pages=191–207 |isbn=9781138808492 |oclc=881146290}} With a background training in the sciences, he was inspired by professors and leading psychologists at the time to work on various areas in behavioral psychology and physiological psychology, specifically, relating visceral responses to behavior.

Miller's career in psychology started with research on "fear as a learned drive and its role in conflict".{{cite book |last=Mook |first=Douglas G. |date=2004 |chapter=Neal Miller |title=Classic experiments in psychology |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/classicexperimen0000mook/page/75 75–85] |isbn=978-0313318214 |oclc=56730032 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicexperimen0000mook/page/75 }} Work in behavioral medicine led him to his most notable work on biofeedback. Over his lifetime he lectured at Yale University, Rockefeller University, and Cornell University Medical College and was one of the youngest members of Yale's Institute of Human Relations. His accomplishments led to the establishment of two awards: the New Investigator Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and an award for distinguished lectureship from the American Psychological Association. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Miller as the eighth most cited psychologist of the 20th century.{{cite journal |last1=Haggbloom |first1=Steven J. |last2=Warnick |first2=Renee |last3=Warnick |first3=Jason E. |last4=Jones |first4=Vinessa K. |last5=Yarbrough |first5=Gary L. |last6=Russell |first6=Tenea M. |last7=Borecky |first7=Chris M. |last8=McGahhey |first8=Reagan |last9=Powell III |first9=John L. |last10=Beavers |first10=Jamie |date=June 2002 |title=The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=139–152 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139 |citeseerx=10.1.1.586.1913 |s2cid=145668721 }}{{cite journal |title=Eminent psychologists of the 20th century |journal=APA Monitor on Psychology |date=July 2002 |volume=33 |issue=7 |page=29 |url=http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug02/eminent.aspx |access-date=2014-11-07}}

Life and education

Miller was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1909. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest. His father, Irving Miller, worked at Western Washington University as chair of the Department of Education and Psychology.{{cite journal |last1=Fowler |first1=Raymond |date=May 2002 |title=Running commentary: Neal Miller: a giant in American psychology |journal=APA Monitor on Psychology |volume=33 |issue=5 |page=9 |url=http://www.apa.org/monitor/may02/rc.aspx |access-date=2014-11-07}} His father's position, in Neal Miller's words, "may have had something to do with" his interest in psychology.{{rp|244}} Originally having a curiosity for science, Miller entered the University of Washington (1931), where he studied biology and physics and also had an interest in writing. In his senior year, he decided that psychology would allow him to pursue his wide variety of interests. He graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. and a piqued interest in behavioral psychology. After baccalaureate studies, he studied at Stanford University (1932), where he received his M.S. and an interest in psychology of personality. At Stanford, he accompanied his professor, Walter Miles, to the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University as a research assistant. There he was encouraged by another professor to further study psychoanalysis. He received his Ph.D. degree in psychology from Yale University in 1935, and that same year he became a social science research fellow at the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Vienna for one year before returning to Yale as a faculty member in 1936. He spent a total of 30 years at Yale University (1936–1966), and in 1950 he was appointed professor at Yale, a position he held until 1966. In 1966 he began teaching at Rockefeller University and afterwards spent the early 1970s teaching at Cornell University Medical College. In 1985 he returned to Yale as a research associate.

Career

Miller's early work focused on experimenting with Freudian ideas on behavior in real-life situations. His most notable topic was fear. Miller came to the conclusion that fear could be learned through conditioning. Miller then decided to extend his research to other autonomic drives, such as hunger, to see if they worked in the same way.{{cite web |url=http://nealmiller.org/?p=188 |title=An Overview of Neal Miller's contributions |website=nealmiller.org |date=23 July 2009 |access-date=2016-08-18}} His unique ideas and experimental techniques to study these autonomic drives resulted in findings that changed ideas about motivations and behavior.

Miller was also one of the founding fathers behind the idea of biofeedback. Today, many of his ideas have been expanded and added to, but Miller has been credited with coming up with most of the basic ideas behind biofeedback. Miller was doing experimentation on conditioning and rats when he discovered biofeedback.{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}}

Neal Miller, along with John Dollard and O. Hobart Mowrer, helped to integrate behavioral and psychoanalytic concepts.{{cite book |last=Ewen |first=Robert B. |date=1998 |chapter=Behaviorism: controversies and emerging findings |title=Personality, a topical approach: theories, research, major controversies, and emerging findings |location=Mahwah, NJ |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lmwfc7-tPqMC&pg=PT342 230–250] |isbn=978-0805820980 |oclc=36126540}} They were able to translate psychological analytic concepts into behavioral terms that would be more easily understood. Specifically, they focused on the stimulus-response theory. These three men also recognized Sigmund Freud's understanding of anxiety as a "signal of danger" and that some things in Freud's work could be altered to fix this. Miller, Dollard and Mowrer believed that a person who was relieved of high anxiety levels would experience what is called "anxiety relief". Together with fellow psychologist O. Hobart Mowrer, Miller gives his name to the "Miller-Mowrer Shuttlebox" apparatus.{{cite book |last1=Dember |first1=William N. |last2=Jenkins |first2=James J. |author-link2=James J. Jenkins |date=1970 |title=General psychology: modeling behavior and experience |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |publisher=Prentice-Hall |page=[https://archive.org/details/generalpsycholog00demb/page/376 376] |isbn=978-0133508437 |oclc=66521 |url=https://archive.org/details/generalpsycholog00demb/page/376 }}

Over the course of his career, Miller wrote eight books and 276 papers and articles. Neal Miller worked with John Dollard and together they wrote the book Personality and Psychotherapy (1950) concerning neurosis and psychological learning concepts.{{cite web | url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1951-04608-000 | title=APA PsycNet }}

Controversy

Miller's use of laboratory animals brought criticism from the animal rights movement but he defended the practice, arguing that if people had no right to use animals in research, then they had no right to kill them for food or clothing. He nevertheless acknowledged the complexity of the issue; "there is sacredness of all life. But where do we draw the line? That's the problem. Cats kill birds and mice. Dogs exploit other animals by killing and eating them. Humans have to draw the line somewhere in animal rights, or we're dead."{{cite news |last=Nagourney |first=Eric |date=2 April 2002 |title=Neal E. Miller is dead at 92; studied brain and behavior |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/02/nyregion/neal-e-miller-is-dead-at-92-studied-brain-and-behavior.html |url-access=subscription}}

Honours

In 1958, Miller was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences.{{Cite web |title=Neal E. Miller |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/52520.html |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=www.nasonline.org}} Miller served as president of the American Psychological Association from 1960–61, and received the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 1959 and the APA Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology in 1991. In 1964 he received the National Medal of Science from President Johnson, the first psychologist to receive this honor.{{cite journal |last=Chamberlin |first=J. |date=September 2007 |title=In Brief: Psychologist wins National Medal of Science |journal=APA Monitor on Psychology |volume=38 |issue=8 |page=10 |url=http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep07/medal.aspx}} Miller is a distinguished member of PSI CHI International Honor Society for Psychology. In 1967, he received the Wilbur Cross Medal. He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.{{Cite web |title=Neal Elgar Miller |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/neal-elgar-miller |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Neal+E.+Miller&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

He was also President of the Society for Neurosciences, the Biofeedback Society of America and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

Major works

=Books=

{{cite book |last1=Dollard |first1=John |author-link1=John Dollard |last2=Doob |first2=Leonard William |author-link2=Leonard W. Doob |last3=Miller |first3=Neal E. |last4=Mowrer |first4=Orval Hobart |author-link4=Orval Hobart Mowrer |last5=Sears |first5=Robert R. |author-link5=Robert Richardson Sears |date=1939 |title=Frustration and aggression |url=https://archive.org/details/frustrationaggre00doll |url-access=registration |location=New Haven |publisher=Published for the Institute of Human Relations by Yale University Press |oclc=256003 }}
{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Neal E |last2=Dollard |first2=John |author-link2=John Dollard |date=1941 |title=Social learning and imitation |location=New Haven |publisher=Published for the Institute of Human Relations by Yale University Press |oclc=180843 }}
{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=1947 |title=Psychological research on pilot training |series=Aviation psychology program research reports |volume=8 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |oclc=1473614 }}
{{cite book |last1=Dollard |first1=John |author-link1=John Dollard |last2=Miller |first2=Neal E. |date=1950 |title=Personality and psychotherapy: an analysis in terms of learning, thinking, and culture |url=https://archive.org/details/personalitypsych00doll |url-access=registration |series=McGraw-Hill publications in psychology |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |oclc=964374 }}
{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=1957 |title=Graphic communication and the crisis in education |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Department of Audio-Visual Instruction, National Education Association |oclc=242913 }}
{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=1971 |title=Neal E. Miller: selected papers |url=https://archive.org/details/nealemillerselec0000mill |url-access=registration |series=Psychonomic perspectives |location=Chicago |publisher=Aldine, Atherton |isbn=978-0202250342 |oclc=133865 }} Republished as:
{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=2007 |orig-year=1971 |title=Learning, motivation, and their physiological mechanisms |location=New Brunswick, NJ. |publisher=AldineTransaction |isbn=9780202361437 |oclc=144328310 }}
{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=2008 |orig-year=1971 |title=Conflict, displacement, learned drives, and theory |location=New Brunswick, NJ |publisher=AldineTransaction |isbn=9780202361420 |oclc=156810019 }}
{{cite book |editor1-last=Richter-Heinrich |editor1-first=Elisabeth |editor2-last=Miller |editor2-first=Neal E. |date=1982 |title=Biofeedback: basic problems and clinical applications |series=Selected revised papers presented at the XXIInd International Congress of Psychology, Leipzig, GDR, July 6–12, 1980 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=North-Holland |isbn=978-0444863454 |oclc=10751840 }}

=Selected articles=

{{cite journal |last1=Sears |first1=Robin R. |author-link1=Robert Richardson Sears |last2=Hovland |first2=Carl I. |author-link2=Carl Hovland |last3=Miller |first3=Neal E. |date=1940 |title=Minor studies of aggression: I. Measurement of aggressive behavior |journal=The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=275–294 |doi=10.1080/00223980.1940.9917694 }}
{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Neal E. |last2=Bugelski |first2=Richard |date=1948 |title=Minor studies of aggression: II. The influence of frustrations imposed by the in-group on attitudes expressed toward out-groups |journal=The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=437–442 |doi=10.1080/00223980.1948.9917387 |pmid=18907295 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=February 1948 |title=Studies of fear as an acquirable drive: I. Fear as motivation and fear-reduction as reinforcement in the learning of new responses |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=89–101 |doi=10.1037/h0058455 |pmid=18910262 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=September 1951 |title=Comments on theoretical models: illustrated by the development of a theory of conflict behavior |journal=Journal of Personality |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=82–100 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-6494.1951.tb01514.x |pmid=14898432 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=20 December 1957 |title=Experiments on motivation: studies combining psychological, physiological, and pharmacological techniques |journal=Science |volume=126 |issue=3286 |pages=1271–1278 |doi=10.1126/science.126.3286.1271 |pmid=13495454 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=16 April 1965 |title=Chemical coding of behavior in the brain |journal=Science |volume=148 |issue=3668 |pages=328–338 |doi=10.1126/science.148.3668.328 |pmid=14261527 |bibcode=1965Sci...148..328M |s2cid=32100966 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=31 January 1969 |title=Learning of visceral and glandular responses |journal=Science |volume=163 |issue=3866 |pages=434–445 |doi=10.1126/science.163.3866.434 |pmid=5812527 |bibcode=1969Sci...163..434M }}
{{cite journal |last1=Weiss |first1=Jay M. |last2=Glazer |first2=Howard I. |last3=Pohorecky |first3=Larissa A. |last4=Brick |first4=John |last5=Miller |first5=Neal E. |date=December 1975 |title=Effects of chronic exposure to stressors on avoidance-escape behavior and on brain norepinephrine |journal=Psychosomatic Medicine |volume=37 |issue=6 |pages=522–534 |pmid=711 |doi=10.1097/00006842-197511000-00006 |s2cid=21404657 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=1978 |title=Biofeedback and visceral learning |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |volume=29 |pages=373–404 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ps.29.020178.002105 |pmid=341785 }}
{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Neal E. |date=April 1985 |title=The value of behavioral research on animals |journal=American Psychologist |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=423–440 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.40.4.423 |pmid=3890636 }}
{{cite journal |last1=Taub |first1=Edward |author-link1=Edward Taub |last2=Crago |first2=Jean E. |last3=Burgio |first3=Louis D. |last4=Groomes |first4=Thomas E. |last5=Cook |first5=Edwin W. |last6=DeLuca |first6=Stephanie C. |last7=Miller |first7=Neal E. |date=March 1994 |title=An operant approach to rehabilitation medicine: overcoming learned nonuse by shaping |journal=Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=281–293 |doi=10.1901/jeab.1994.61-281 |pmc=1334416 |pmid=8169577 }}