Steven Pinker (born 1954)
Born 1954 CE.
Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Pinker specializes in visual cognition and developmental linguistics, as well as a number of experimental topics. He has written two technical books that propose a general theory of language acquisition. In particular, his work with Alan Prince posits that children use default rules sometimes in error but are obliged to learn irregular forms one by one. Pinker is the author of nine books for general audiences. The Language Instinct (1994), How the Mind Works (1997), Words and Rules (2000), The Blank Slate (2002), and The Stuff of Thought (2007) posit that language is an innate behavior shaped by natural selection and adapted to our communication needs. The Sense of Style (2014) is a general language-oriented style guide.
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