Pinker, Steven (1954– )

Canadian-born US physiologist and popular science writer. He is widely known for his work on how children acquire language and his advancement of the principles that language is an innate ability linked directly with the evolutionary process. He has written widely about language and the cognitive process both in scientific journals and in popular science books, including The Language Instinct (1994), How the Mind Works (1996), and The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (2002), in which he discusses the emotional, political, and moral influences that affect our perception of human nature.

Pinker was awarded his Bachelor of Arts by McGill University in 1976 and received his Doctor of Psychology degree in experimental psychology from Harvard University, Massachusetts, in 1979. From 1982 to 2003 he was a member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1989 Pinker became Professor of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and from 1994 to 1999 he held the position Director of the Donnell-Pew Centre for cognitive neuroscience at MIT. He was Peter de Florez Professor at MIT 2000–03 and (from 2003) Johnson Family Professor at the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.