Miller’s Law is a principle in psychology that was formulated by cognitive psychologist George A. Miller in his 1956 paper “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” It states that the average number of objects an individual can hold in working memory is about seven, plus or minus two. This finding highlights a limitation in human information processing capacity.
According to Miller’s Law, people can store between 5 and 9 (typically 7) chunks of information at once in their short-term memory. A chunk is defined as any meaningful unit of information, which can be a number, letter, word, or another unit. The exact number depends on the individual and the context, but it’s typically around this range.
Miller’s Law has significant implications in various fields such as psychology, education, user interface design, and communication. For instance, it suggests that presenting information in small chunks can be more effective than offering large amounts of data at once. In user interface design, it informs the best practices for menu options, phone numbers, and other instances where information memorability is critical.
It’s important to note that Miller’s Law doesn’t mean people can’t process more than 7±2 items of information; rather, it refers to the number of items that can be held in active memory at once. Techniques like chunking can help in extending this capacity by grouping information into meaningful units.