Ellen Markman is IBM Provostial Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.
Related topics that Markman has studied include categorization and inductive reasoning in children and infants.
Markman subscribes to the innatist school of developmental psychologists, which asserts that children possess innate knowledge that they draw upon in the process of language acquisition.
Her contribution to cognitive and developmental psychology has had significant impact in the field and has been recognized by awards such as the American Psychological Society's William James Fellow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Basic Research and the American Psychological Association’s Division 7 Outstanding Mentoring Award.
She has been employed as a tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Psychology since 1975, for which she served as Chair 1994-1997.