Neal Elgar Miller (August 3, 1909 – March 23, 2002) was an American experimental psychologist.
[3] Described as an energetic man with a variety of interests, including physics, biology and writing, Miller entered the field of psychology to pursue these.
Miller's career in psychology started with research on "fear as a learned drive and its role in conflict".
[5] A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Miller as the eighth most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
His father, Irving Miller, worked at Western Washington University as chair of the Department of Education and Psychology.
[4]: 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.
At Stanford, he accompanied his professor, Walter Miles, to the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University as a research assistant.
[5] Miller's early work focused on experimenting with Freudian ideas on behavior in real-life situations.
[citation needed] Neal Miller, along with John Dollard and O. Hobart Mowrer, helped to integrate behavioral and psychoanalytic concepts.
[9] Neal Miller worked with John Dollard and together they wrote the book Personality and Psychotherapy (1950) concerning neurosis and psychological learning concepts.
[15] Miller is a distinguished member of PSI CHI International Honor Society for Psychology.