Steven Pinker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Steven Pinker
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Pinker in 2023
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Steven Arthur Pinker
September 18, 1954 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Notable work
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Nancy Etcoff
(m. 1980; div. 1992)Ilavenil Subbiah
(m. 1995; div. 2006) |
| Relatives | Susan Pinker (sister) |
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| Thesis | The Representation of Three-dimensional Space in Mental Images (1979) |
| Doctoral advisor | Stephen Kosslyn |
Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a well-known Canadian-American scientist. He studies how our minds work and how we use language. He's also a popular author who writes about science for everyone.
Pinker is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. He studies how we see things and how children learn language. His research looks into how we imagine things, recognize shapes, and pay attention. He also studies how language works in our brains and how kids learn words and grammar.
Pinker has written many books for the general public. These books explore how language and the mind work. He suggests that language is something we are born with, shaped by how humans have changed over time to communicate better. His books also discuss how violence in the world has decreased over time. He argues that reason, science, and kindness have made human lives better.
Pinker has received many awards for his work. He was named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World." He has also been listed as a "Top Global Thinker" by Foreign Policy magazine.
Contents
About Steven Pinker
Pinker was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1954. He grew up in a family that was Jewish but not very religious. His grandparents moved to Canada from Poland and Romania. His father worked in real estate, and his mother was a guidance counselor and high school vice-principal. Pinker has a brother and a sister, Susan Pinker, who is also a psychologist and writer.
Pinker went to McGill University and earned a degree in psychology. He then went to Harvard University for his PhD in experimental psychology. After that, he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University.
From 1982 to 2003, Pinker taught at MIT. He also led centers that studied how the brain and mind work. Since 2003, he has been a professor at Harvard University. He also teaches as a visiting professor in London.
Pinker's Work on Language
Pinker's early research looked at how we see and understand objects. He showed that our minds see things from a certain angle, like a quick sketch.
In his studies of language, Pinker became known for explaining how children learn language. He wrote books like Language Learnability and Language Development (1984). This book explained how children learn words and grammar. He also studied how children learn to use different types of verbs.
Pinker also looked at how people learn the past tense of verbs. For example, why do we say "walked" (regular) but "brought" (irregular)? He argued that we remember irregular words individually. But for regular words, we use a rule, like adding "-ed." Children sometimes make mistakes, saying "breaked" instead of "broke." This shows they are trying to apply the rule. Pinker believes this proves that language uses both memory and rules.
In 1990, Pinker and another scientist, Paul Bloom, wrote a paper. They argued that the human ability for language developed over time through natural selection. This means language helped humans survive and communicate better. Their paper helped scientists think more about how language evolved.
Understanding the Human Mind
Pinker's book The Language Instinct (1994) explains the science of language. He suggests that language is something we are born with, like an instinct. He argues that it's an adaptation for communication, similar to how spiders instinctively weave webs. Pinker believes language is unique to humans. He also challenges ideas that language needs to be taught or that our grammar is getting worse.
His books How the Mind Works (1997) and The Blank Slate (2002) explore the human mind. They suggest that humans have a complex nature with many mental abilities that are passed down through genes. Pinker believes our minds work by combining symbols, not just by linking sensory experiences.
In The Stuff of Thought (2007), Pinker examines how words relate to our thoughts and the world. He explores how our intelligent minds, adapted to ancient times, work in the modern world.
Pinker has also discussed how children learn to read. He believes that reading is not an instinct like spoken language. He argues that children need to be taught how to connect sounds with letters, which is often called "phonics."
Decline of Violence
In his book The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011), Pinker argues that violence has decreased over a long time. This includes tribal wars, harsh punishments, and even domestic violence. He believes that human nature itself hasn't changed. Instead, he suggests that certain parts of human nature, like our ability to be kind, have become stronger. He points to historical changes and the growth of reason as reasons for this decline in violence.
Writing Style in the 21st Century
Pinker's book The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (2014) is a guide to writing. He wrote it to update older style guides using modern science and psychology.
Pinker's Ideas and Opinions
Pinker identifies as a liberal. He supports ideas like same-sex marriage, a basic income for everyone, and taxing carbon emissions. He is also against the death penalty. Pinker has spoken out about what he sees as a lack of open discussion on college campuses. He believes that people are sometimes afraid to share different ideas.
Pinker often takes part in public discussions about how science helps society. He is known for being willing to discuss difficult topics. For example, in The Blank Slate, he challenged the idea that humans are born as a "blank slate" with no natural tendencies.
In his 2018 book Enlightenment Now, Pinker argues that the ideas of the Enlightenment (like reason and science) should be defended. He believes these ideas have greatly improved human lives. He states that things like poverty and disease were the natural state of humanity. It is knowledge and science that help us overcome these challenges.
Awards and Achievements
Pinker has received many awards for his work. He was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2004. He was also listed as a top public intellectual by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines multiple times. In 2016, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
His research has earned him awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Academy of Sciences. He has also received honorary degrees from several universities around the world. Pinker was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize twice. In 2006, he received the Humanist of the Year award.
From 2008 to 2018, Pinker led the Usage Panel for the American Heritage Dictionary. He also wrote an essay on language usage for the dictionary's fifth edition.
Images for kids
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Pinker in 2023
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Pinker in 2011
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Pinker at CSICon in 2018
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Pinker lecturing to humanists in the United Kingdom (2018)
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Pinker and Nils Brose speaking at a neuroscience conference
See also
In Spanish: Steven Pinker para niños
