Peggy J. Miller
Contact Information
Office: 126 Lincoln Hall
Telephone: (217) 333-4867
Email: pjm@uiuc.edu
Professor; Joint appointment in Psychology
Bio
One strand in Professor Miller's current work examines everyday narrative practices: how they are defined and organized in different cultural groups, how they are acquired, and the role they play in self construction. This work is comparative in design, involving working-class and middle-class families in the U.S. as well as Chinese families in Taiwan. A related strand of research focuses on Americans' preoccupation with self-esteem. In an effort to understand the meanings and discourses associated with this cultural ideal, Professor Miller examines mothers' and grandmothers' folk theories of child rearing and self-esteem and compares them with Taiwanese folk theories.
Curriculum Vitae
Experience
- Variation in communication within and across cultures; childhood socialization through everyday discourse, narrative, cultural psychology, ethnographic methods.
Education
- Ph.D., Columbia University
Selected Publications
Miller, P.J., Fung, H., & Koven, M. (2007). Narrative reverberations:
How participation in narrative practices co-creates persons and cultures. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.) The handbook of cultural psychology. New York: Guildford University Press.
Gaskins, S., & Miller, P.J. (in press). The cultural roles of emotion in pretend play. Play and Culture.
Shweder, R. A., Goodnow, J.J., Hitano, G., LeVine, R., Markus, H., & Miller, P.J. (2006). The cultural psychology of development: One mind, many mentalities. In W. Damon (Ed.), The handbook of child
psychology. Vol. 1 (6th ed.) New York: John Wiley.
Sandel, T., Cho, G.E., Miller, P.J., & Wang, S-H. (2006). A cross-cultural study of grandmothers and their role in Taiwanese and Euro-American families. Journal of Family Communication, 6, 255-278.
Miller, P.J., & Mangelsdorf, S. (2005). Developing selves are meaning-making selves: Recouping the social in self development. In R. A. Larson & L. Jensen (Eds.), Special issue, “New Horizons,” New Directions for Child Development. No. 109, 51-59.
Miller, P.J., Cho, G.E., & Bracey, J. (2005). Expanding the angle of vision on working-class children’s storytelling. Human Development, 48, 151-154.