nPostednon September 18, 2015
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nOoo,none of my favorite science writers!
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nActually, Steven Pinker isn’t just a science writer, he’s anscientist. He is an experimental psychologist, a cognitive scientist,nand a linguist.
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nPinkernis also a professor at Harvard University. His academicnspecializations are visual cognition and psycholinguistics.
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nUh,nhuh! You’re right – all of that DOES mean that he’s a pretty smartnguy!
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nOkayn– let’s break all of that down!
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nSciencen writer – Actually, most scientists write papers to share theirn findings and theories with other scientists, but Steven Pinker isn one of the practicing scientists who also takes the time to write upn his and others’ scientific discoveries in plain, straightforwardn language that the general public can understand.
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nExperimentaln psychologist – Someone who studies the “mental” processes ofn learning, memory, etc., using experiments – which are repeatablen tests and observations.
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nCognitiven scientist – Someone who studies thought and learning.
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nLinguistn – Someone who studies language and its structure and, sometimes,n how people learn language.
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nVisualn cognition – Topics such as face recognition, attention to sightsn and scenes, word recognition and reading, eye movement, visualn memory, and more are all part of this field.
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nPsycholinguisticsn – The study of linguistic behavior (how people talk) and othern mental processes; also, the study of learning language.
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nInlove, not just reading Pinker, but hearing Pinker talk, too! I oncengot to see a presentation by him live! It was so great.
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nTonlisten to Pinker, all you have to do is check out some TED talks:
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nPinkern on “Humann nature and the blank slate.”
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nPinkern on “What our language habits reveal.”
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nPinkern on “The surprising decline in violence.”
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nBynthe way, Pinker’s another fellow who is almost exactly the same age asnRuby Bridgesnand me! Pinker was born on this date in 1954. He was born in Quebec,nin Montreal, Canada, but he has apparently lived and worked in thenU.S. ever since he went to Harvard for his PhD in 1979.
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nAlsonon this date:
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Victory of UPRONA in Burundi
Victory of UPRONA in Burundi
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nBirthdaynof the Air Force
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nAnniversarynof the arrival of Anne Hutchinson in the New World
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nAnniversarynof the arrival of Anne Hutchinson in the New World
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nScientistnand inventor Jean Foucault’s birthday
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nChile’snIndependence Day
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nClean Up the World Weekend
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nPark(ing)nDay
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nPlannahead:
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nPark(ing)nDay
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nSeptembern holidays
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nSeptembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in September
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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