Steven Pinker

Groundbreaking author of The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate and How The Mind Works, Steven Pinker emerged from the field of cognitive science to be recognised as one of the world's foremost and radical thinkers. Following his first five books exploring communication and the concept of language as an instinct, Pinker later diversified into human behaviour (The Better Angels of Our Nature) and the clarity of understanding (The Sense of Style).

18/09/1954 -

Steven Pinker biography and information

Steven Pinker, a native of Montreal, received his BA from McGill University in 1976 and his PhD in psychology from Harvard in 1979. After teaching at MIT for 21 years, he returned to Harvard in 2003 as the Johnstone Professor of Psychology. Pinker's experimental research on cognition and language won the Troland Award from the National Academy of Sciences, the Henry Dale Prize from the Royal Institute of Great Britain, and two prizes from the American Psychological Association.

Pinker has also received several honorary doctorates and numerous awards for graduate and undergraduate teaching, general achievement, and his critically acclaimed books The Language Instinct, How The Mind Works, and The Blank Slate. Pinker has also appeared in many television documentaries and writes frequently in the popular press, including in The New York Times, Time, and The New Republic.