Peggy Miller

I'm interested in socialization - the processes by which children come to orient themselves within systems or meaning. I regard socialization as a classic problem in developmental cultural psychology. I approach this problem through the study of everyday talk. Over the years I have studied explicit instruction, teasing, and pretend play in families with young children. Much of my recent work has focused on personal storytelling as a medium of socialization. Another line of research focuses on parental folk theories of childrearing, especially as they pertain to self-esteem. I am strongly committed to comparative research and have studied working-class and middle-class Anglo families in the U.S. as well as Taiwanese families in Taiwan. My work relies upon ethnographic and observational approaches and micro-level analysis of talk.