Steven Pinker

Biography

Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He has previously taught at MIT and Stanford University.

He has been named one of the “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” by Foreign Policy Magazine & one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World Today” by Time Magazine.

Professor Pinker is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year award winner, and a recipient of nine honorary doctorates.

He has won numerous prizes for his teaching at Harvard University and MIT.

His research on vision, language, and social relations has won prizes from the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science.

Professor Pinker has also won numerous awards for his 12 books which include The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, Enlightenment Now, and Rationality.

He was Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and writes frequently for the New York Times, the Guardian, and other publications.

Professor Pinker has conducted research on a diverse array of topics in psychology, including the role of common knowledge (where two or more people know that the others know what they know) in language and other social phenomena; historical and recent trends in violence and their explanation; the psycho-linguistics of good writing; the nature of the critical period for acquiring language; the neurobiology and genetics of language; and the nature of regular and irregular phenomena in grammar.

Interviews

Steven Pinker On Enlightenment Values, Liberal Democracy, & Human Progress. November 1, 2024. Interview Conducted October 21, 2024

Academic Positions

Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University (2003 - )

Asst., Assoc., Peter de Florez Professor, Dept. of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, MIT (1982 - 2003)

Asst. Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Stanford University (1981 - 1982)

Asst. Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Harvard University (1980 - 1981)

Elected Fellowships in Scholarly Societies

National Academy of Sciences; Linguistic Society of America; The American Academy of Political and Social Science; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; American Psychological Association; Association for Psychological Science; American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Honorary Doctorates

McGill University, 1999; Tel Aviv University, 2003; University of Surrey, 2003; University of Newcastle, 2005; Albion College, 2007; University of Tromsø, 2008; Mt. Allison University, 2012; Simon Fraser University, 2014; University of Reading, 2017; University of Bucaramanga, 2021.

Selected Professional Activities

Chair, Usage Panel, American Heritage Dictionary, 2008-2018.

Jury, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Excellence in the Literature of Diversity, 2002- .

Executive Associate Editor, Cognition: International Journal of Cognitive Science, 1985-2006.

Born

1954, Montreal, Canada

Education

Post-Doctoral Fellow, MIT

PhD Experimental Psychology, Harvard University

B.A. Psychology, McGill University

Institutions

Harvard University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Stanford University

Fields

Psychology

Linguistics

Philosophy

Topics

Language Development In Children

Neurobiology & Genetics of Language

Common Knowledge

History & Psychology of Violence

Visual Cognition

Psycho-Linguistics of Good Writing

Nature of Regular & Irregular Phenomena in Grammar

Human Nature

Human Progress

Enlightenment Philosophy

Liberal Democracy

War & Peace

Morality & Moral Cognition

"Erudite, lucid, funny and dense with fascinating material . . . A pragmatic dose of measured optimism, presenting rationality as a fragile but achievable ideal in personal and civic life. . . . It’s no small achievement to make formal logic, game theory, statistics and Bayesian reasoning delightful topics full of charm and relevance."—The Washington Post

“An impassioned and zippy introduction to the tools of rational thought… Punchy, funny and invigorating.”—The Times (London)

“An engaging analysis of the highest of our faculties and perhaps (ironically) the least understood” —The Wall Street Journal

“If you’ve ever considered taking drugs to make yourself smarter, read Rationality instead.”—Jonathan Haidt, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Coddling of The American Mind.

Notable Books of 2018, New York Times Book Review

Best Books of 2018, Amazon.com, National Public Radio, Le Point, The Economist, Greater Good, Literary Hub

Best Science Books of 2018, Amazon.com

“My New Favorite Book of All Time,” - Bill Gates, 2018

New York Times Best Seller

“Brimming with surprising data and entertaining anecdotes.”—Financial Times

 “[The Sense of Style] is more contemporary and comprehensive than “The Elements of Style,” illustrated with comic strips and cartoons and lots of examples of comically bad writing. [Pinker’s] voice is calm, reasonable, benign, and you can easily see why he’s one of Harvard’s most popular lecturers.” —The New York Times
 
“Pinker's linguistical learning…is considerable. His knowledge of grammar is extensive and runs deep. He also takes a scarcely hidden delight in exploding tradition. He describes his own temperament as "both logical and rebellious." Few things give him more pleasure than popping the buttons off what he takes to be stuffed shirts.” —The Wall Street Journal

International Award, Plain English Campaign

Editors’ Picks: Best Nonfiction Books of 2014, amazon.com

Best Books of 2014, The Economist

Best Books of 2014, The Sunday Times

“Most Important Books I’ve Ever Read,” - Bill Gates, 2012

Mark Zuckerberg’s “A Year in Books” selection 2015

10 Best Books of 2020, Forbes Russia

25 Most Influential Books of the Past 25 Years, Literary Review of Canada, 2016.

Book of the Year, Conflict Research Society, 2013.

Cundill Recognition of Excellence Prize in History, 2012.

Finalist, Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, 2012.

Finalist, The Samuel Johnson Book Prize, 2012.

Finalist, Julia Ward Howe Prize, Boston Authors Club.

Editors’ Picks: Ten Best Science Books of 2007, Amazon.com

Choice Outstanding Academic Titles of 2008

100 Best Linguistics Books of All Time, Shortform, 2021 (#7)

"Pinker is a star, and the world of science is lucky to have him." -Richard Dawkins

"Curious, inventive, fearless, naughty." -New York Times Book Review

"An important and inviting book." -Science

"There's plenty of stuff to think about, but a lot of fun stuff too." -Boston Globe

"Fascinating." -Wired

"Unfailingly engaging to read." -New York Review of Books

50 Psychology Classics, T. Butler-Bowdon, Brealey Publishing, 2007

Kistler Book Award, Foundation for the Future, 2005

William James Book Prize, American Psychological Association, 2003

Eleanor Maccoby Book Award, American Psychological Association, 2003

Literary Lights, Boston Public Library, 2005.

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, 2003.

Finalist, Aventis Science Book Prize, 2003.

Book of the Year 2003, Yorkshire Post

Best Books of 2002: amazon.com, Borders Bookstores, The Evening Standard, The Globe and Mail, The Independent, The Los Angeles Times, New Statesman, New York Times (“Notable Books”), Publishers Weekly, The Spectator, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Telegraph, Times Literary Supplement

100 Best Linguistics Books of All Time, Shortform, 2021 (#61)

100 Best Linguistics Books of All Time, Shortform, 2021 (#23)

"[An excellent work of popular science."―Thomas Nagel, The New Republic

"[T]he book provides a scholarly, persuasive, enjoyable, and eminently readable account of important language phenomena."―Nature

"Compelling and revelatory."―Guardian

"An intellectual joyride."―Globe and Mail

"Not only does Pinker breathe life into the topic, he makes the reading breathtakingly exciting."―Montreal Gazette

"A fascinating voyage of discovery."―Sunday Telegraph

William James Book Prize, American Psychological Association, 1999.

Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology, 1998.

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, 1998.

Ten Best Books of the Decade / One Hundred Best Books of the Century, Amazon.com, 1999.

Good Book Guide Award: Best Science Book of 1998.

Finalist, Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize, 1999.

Finalist, National Book Critics' Circle Award, 1998.

Finalist, Winship Book Prize, PEN New England, 1998.

Literary Lights, Boston Public Library, 1998.

Books to Remember (25 best of 1997), New York Public Library, 1998.

Honored Author, Newton Public Library, 2000.

Great Brain Books, Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.

100 Best Linguistics Books of All Time, Shortform, 2021 (#73)

Public Interest Award, Linguistic Society of America, 1997.

William James Book Prize, American Psychological Association, 1995.

New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice: Ten Best Books of 1994.

Finalist, Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize, 1994.

One Hundred Best Science Books of the Century, American Scientist.

Honorable Mention, Best Books of the 1990s, Lingua Franca

Best Linguistics Book of all Time, Shortform, 2021 (#1 of 100)

""Learnability and Cognition" is theoretically a big advance, beautifully reasoned, and a goldmine of information."--Lila Gleitman

"Pinker's book is a monumental study that sets a new standard for work on learnability."--Ray Jackendoff, Brandeis University

"The author's arguments are never less than impressive, and sometimes irresistible, such is the force and panache with which they are deployed."--Paul Fletcher, Times Higher Education Supplement

The contribution of [Pinker's] book lies not just in its carefully argued section on learnability theory and acquisition, but in its detailed analysis of the empirical consequences of his assumptions. (Paul Fletcher Times Higher Education Supplement)

One of those rare books which every serious worker in the field should read, both for its stock of particular hypotheses and analyses, and for the way it forces one to re-examine basic assumptions as to how one's work should be done. Its criticisms of other approaches to language acquisition...often go to the heart of the difficulties. (Michael Maratsos Language)

[A] new edition, with a new preface from the author, of the influential monograph originally published in 1984 in which Pinker proposed one of the most detailed (and according to some, best) theories of language development based upon the sequential activation of different language-acquisition algorithms. In his new preface, the author reaches the not very modest conclusion that, despite the time elapsed, his continues to be the most complete theory of language development ever developed. A classic of the study of language acquisition, in any case. (Infancia y Aprendizaje [Italy])