Neal E. Miller: biography of this psychologist

A summary of the life of this American psychologist known for researching personality.

Neal E. Miller was an American psychologistespecially known for having contributed significantly to the experimental field of behavioral science.

He was a multifaceted person, dedicating himself not only to the study of psychology, but also having extensive knowledge of biology and physics, which contributed to the formation of several of his theories and findings.

This researcher, who became the eighth most cited psychologist of the last century, has worked in several universities and has shown quite controversial opinions regarding the applied field of psychology. Here we will see a summary of his life through a biography of Neal E. Miller.

Biography of Neal E. Miller

We will now look at the interesting life of this American experimental psychologist.

Early years and training

Neal Elgar Miller was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, on August 13, 1909.. He was fortunate to have been born into a family that was already knowledgeable about behavioral science, since his father, Irving Miller, worked for Western Washington University, in charge of the department of education and psychology.

Miller always had a strong interest in science, and so he decided to study biology and physics at the University of Washington in 1931. Subsequently, he decided to delve into psychology, he decided to delve into psychology, especially behavioral psychology.. He would later study personality psychology at Stanford University.

Later, together with one of his professors, Walter Miles, Miller worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University. In 1935 he obtained his doctorate in psychology at the same university. That same year he would travel to Vienna, Austria, to collaborate with the Institute of Psychoanalysis, returning to Yale the following year.

He would spend the next thirty years at Yale University, going on to teach at Rockefeller University in 1966 and, in the 1970s, he would teach at Cornell University Medical College. He returned to Yale in 1985 as a research associate.

Neal E. Miller died on March 23, 2002 in Connecticut, United States, at the age of 92.

Professional career

At the beginning of his career as a psychologist, Neal E. Miller focused on experimenting on behavior in real-life situations, but still with a Freudian viewpoint.

The most recurrent theme of his research was fear, and he believed that this emotion could be acquired through conditioning.

He then decided to address other emotions and automatic sensations, he decided to address other automatic emotions and sensations, such as hungersuch as hunger, using the same techniques with which he had succeeded in conditioning a fearful response in his subjects.

Although today this may seem unquestionable, at that time it was not so clear, and that is why the new techniques and findings made by Miller resulted in a great change in the conception of behavior and motivation.

It is worth mentioning that Miller is considered to be one of the first to use the concept of biofeedbackthat is, the process of gaining greater awareness of many psychological functions using tools that provide information about those same functions.

Together with John Dollard and O. Hobart Mowrer, Neal E. Miller attempted to integrate concepts and theories from the behavioral and psychoanalytic schools of thought.. He was able to 'translate' psychoanalytic concepts into behaviorist language, making it easier to approach them experimentally.

This trio of great American psychologists focused especially on the main theory of behaviorism, i.e., the relationship between stimulus and response.

It is also important to mention that they recognized as valid Sigmund Freud's view of anxiety, who held that this emotion was an alarm signal in the face of danger, whether imagined or real.

It is important to note that Neal E. Miller's academic and professional life was very prolific, being the author of nearly 300 articles, books and other publications..

His best known work, co-authored with John Dollard, was Personality and Psychotherapy (1950). This work deals with neurosis and learning.

Honors and recognitions

Among all the honors that this American psychologist has had, he was the president of the APA between 1960 and 1961. In addition, a year earlier, he received the award for the most distinguished scientific contribution by the same association.

In 1964, he became the first psychologist he became the first psychologist to receive the U.S. National Medal of Science, awarded by then President Lyndell of the United States.awarded by then President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Other notable honors include serving as president of the Society for Neuroscience, the Biofeedback Society of America and the Academy for Research in Behavioral Medicine.

Animal rights controversy

Psychology is a science that needs to conduct experiments in order to prove and disprove its theories. Sometimes, for ethical reasons, it is not possible to carry out research with human subjects, the best alternative being animal experimentation. Miller used animals in his experiments, something that already in his time involved some debate, especially from animal rights sectors.

Although it should be said that it is not always necessary or ethical to experiment on animals, Neal E. Miller was a staunch defender of the practice.He also gave his opinion about those who criticized him for using this type of subjects in his research.

In fact, on one occasion, he commented that if scientists did not have the right to use animals in research, then no one would have the right to kill animals either for food or to make clothes from their skin.

He went on to comment that the issue was complex, saying that while all life could be considered sacred, where should the line be drawn? There are animals that kill other animals in order to feed themselves, which raises the question of how far we should talk about animal rights and how it harms human beings to be able to neither experiment with nor feed on the rest of the animal kingdom.

Theory on the learning process and the personality

Both Miller and Dollard considered that personality can be defined on the basis of habits.. Habit is understood as an association between a stimulus and a response that makes this habit occur more frequently. Habits are temporary, since they can be continued or, for one reason or another, cease to be done.

The main objective of the theory of these two authors was to to find out and specify the environmental conditions that encourage the acquisition of a particular habit..

Another interesting aspect of the theory is that personality develops to the extent that control over and reduction of impulses is achieved. In this case, an impulse is understood as an uncomfortable sensation that, if satisfied, provides relief, as would be, for example, hunger and the behavior of eating.

According to psychologist Clark Hull, learning occurs in the way in which an impulse or need of the organism is reduced, being satisfied in a convenient way.

Reducing an impulse by getting what is wanted is reinforcing.This is reinforcing, making the individual behave in such a way as to relieve the tension generated by the need.

Dollard and Miller made a distinction between primary impulses and secondary impulses. Primary drives are those associated with physiological processes necessary for the survival of the individual, such as eating and sleeping. Secondary impulses are forms of the primary impulses but more refined, such as having to eat at a certain time, or needing to sleep in a special type of bed.

At the same time, these authors also made a distinction between primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers, these authors also made a distinction between primary and secondary reinforcers.. A reinforcer is understood as the event that encourages a given response to be carried out. Primary reinforcers are those that reduce primary impulses, while secondary reinforcers reduce secondary impulses. A primary reinforcer would be food, water, and sleep, while a secondary reinforcer would be, for example, money or professional success.

Dollard and Miller indicated that the learning process can be due to four aspects.

• Impulse: what causes a person to act.
• Cue: specific stimulus that indicates when, how and where to act.
• Response: reaction of the individual to a cue.
• Reinforcement: effect produced by the response.