Steven Pinker author photo
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Steven Pinker

Nascido: September 18, 1954 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Steven Pinker is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and public intellectual best known for his research on language, mind, and human nature. Notable for works such as "The Language Instinct," "How the Mind Works," and "Enlightenment Now," his books have received critical acclaim and advanced public understanding of psychology, cognition, and rational thought.

Biografia e Jornada do Autor

Steven Arthur Pinker was born on September 18, 1954, in Montreal, Quebec, to an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family that valued intellectual curiosity and debate. His parents—a lawyer and a high-school vice-principal—nurtured an environment of critical thinking, which Pinker credits with shaping his appetite for rigorous argument and exploration. He attended Dawson College before earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from McGill University in 1976, then pursued doctoral studies at Harvard University, completing his PhD in experimental psychology in 1979. From early on, Pinker’s academic focus was split between visual cognition—how humans perceive and imagine objects, faces, and spatial relations—and language acquisition. His doctoral work and early years as a professor at Stanford, MIT, and Harvard saw him grappling with foundational questions about the mind, eventually leading him to shift his focus decisively toward the science of language and cognitive development.

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Citações

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Abundance is better than poverty. Peace is better than war. Safety is better than danger. Freedom is better than tyranny. Equal rights are better than bigotry
-Enlightenment Now
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Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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The main cause of violence is not that we have evil urges that must be tamed by the forces of good, but that we often see violence as the best way to advance our interests
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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Our brains were shaped by natural selection to solve problems that were life-and-death matters to our ancestors, not to commune with correctness
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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We will never have a perfect world, but it’s not overly romantic or naïve to work towards a better one
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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Groups are not moral patients, only individuals are
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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Language is an extraordinary gift: the ability to dispatch an infinite number of precisely structured thoughts from head to head by modulating exhaled breath
-Top 20 Steven Pinker Quotes
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Parental love is not like bread that can be broken into pieces and split among many children. It’s more like a safety pin: it is either fastened or not
-21 Steven Pinker Quotes
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Whatever its causes, the decline of violence, I think, has profound implications. It should force us to ask not just, 'Why is there war?' but also, 'Why is there peace?' Not just, 'What are we doing wrong?' but also, 'What have we been doing right?' Because we have been doing something right, and it sure would be good to find out what it is
-TED Talk: The surprising decline in violence

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Vozes da Comunidade

"Steven Pinker is a Canadian cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, and public intellectual known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology"

Wikipedia

"Steven Pinker was listed among Foreign Policy’s '100 Global Thinkers' in 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2011"

Foreign Policy

"Steven Pinker has been described as one of the world’s most celebrated intellectuals"

Simon & Schuster

"Steven Pinker was included in Prospect Magazine's list of top 10 'World Thinkers' in 2013"

Wikipedia

"Steven Pinker specializes in visual cognition and developmental linguistics, with influential theories on language acquisition"

Wikipedia

"Steven Pinker won prizes from the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Institution, and the American Psychological Association"

Harvard Department of Psychology

"Steven Pinker’s research and books have received numerous prizes, including eight honorary doctorates and several teaching awards"

Harvard Department of Psychology

"Steven Pinker was named by Time as one of 'The 100 Most Influential People in the World Today' in 2004"

Time

"Steven Pinker is Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary"

Harvard Department of Psychology

"Steven Pinker is a popular writer on language, mind, and human nature, earning wide recognition for his contributions"

Harvard Department of Psychology

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