Steven Pinker Quick Facts

Steven Pinker (b. 1954) is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author.

Profile

• Birth Name: Steven Arthur Pinker
• Date of Birth: September 18, 1954
• Place of Birth: Montreal, Québec, Canada
• Zodiac Sign: Virgo
• Ethnicity: Canadian
• Nationality: Canadian, American
• Height: 5 ft 9 in
• Father: Harry Pinker
• Mother: Roslyn Pinker née Wiesenfeld
• Siblings:

1. Brother: Robert Pinker
2. Sister: Susan Pinker (b. 1957)

• Spouse(s):      

1. Nancy Etcoff  (m. 1980; div. 1992)
2. Ilavenil Subbiah (m. 1995; div. 2006)
3. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (b. 1950;  m. 2007)

• Children: None, but has two stepdaughters

1. Stepdaughter - Yael Goldstein Love (b. 1978)
2. Stepdaughter- Danielle Blau

• Alma Mater: Dawson College, McGill University, Harvard University
• Awards:

1. Troland Award (1993, National Academy of Sciences),
2. Henry Dale Prize (2004, Royal Institution),
3. Walter P. Kistler Book Award (2005),
4. Humanist of the Year award (2006, issued by the AHA),
5. George Miller Prize (2010, Cognitive Neuroscience Society)
6. Richard Dawkins Award (2013)

• Website: www.stevenpinker.com
• Steven Pinker is known for: his research-centric writings on language, mind and human nature.
• Steven Pinker is criticized for: offering insufficient empirical proof in support of many of his theories.
• Steven Pinker was influenced by: Noam Chomsky, Thomas Sowell, Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Richard Dawkins, Thomas Schelling
• Steven Pinker’s works inspired: NA

Quotes

“Just as blueprints don't necessarily specify blue buildings, selfish genes don't necessarily specify selfish organisms. As we shall see, sometimes the most selfish thing a gene can do is build a selfless brain. Genes are a play within a play, not the interior monologue of the players.” ― Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works

Major Works

• The Language Instinct (1994)
• How the Mind Works (1997)
• Words and Rules (2000)
• The Blank Slate (2002)
• The Stuff of Thought (2007)
• The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011)
• The Sense of Style (2014)

Did You Know?

• Steven Pinker grew up in Montreal’s English-speaking Jewish community.  
• His grandparents are the immigrants of Poland and Romania.
• Pinker is the oldest of three children born to Harry and Roslyn Pinker.
• His father was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife, high school vice principal, and a guidance counselor.
• Pinker’s younger sister Susan Pinker is a psychologist and writer.
• Steven Pinker married thrice. He firstly married to Psychologist Nancy Etcoff in 1980 and divorced in 1992. Afterwards, he married the Malaysian-born cognitive psychologist Ilavenil Subbiah in 1995 but again divorced in 2006. At present he is married to the American philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.
• Pinker doesn't have any children from any of his marriages.
• He has two stepdaughters from his third wife: Yael Goldstein Love, a novelist and Danielle Blau, a poet.
• Steven Pinker received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1976 from McGill University.
• Pinker earned a doctorate degree in experimental psychology at Harvard in 1979.
• He undertook research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) for about one year and subsequently became an assistant professor at both Harvard (1980–1981) and Stanford University (1981–1982).
• Pinker rejoined Harvard University in 2003, this time, however, as a full professor.
• He was a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize: in 1998 for How the Mind Works and in 2003 for The Blank Slate.
• In the year 2004, Time Magazine listed him amongst the 100 most influential thinkers and scientists in the world.
• Pinker is the Chair of the Usage Panel of The American Heritage Dictionary.
• Currently Pinker lives in Boston and in Truro with Rebecca Goldstein.

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