Evolution is an indispensable component of any satisfying explanation of our psychology. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
But in most cases even the possibility that the correlations reflect shared genes is taboo. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Heritability pertains to the entirety of the genome, not to a single gene. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Thinking is a physical process, the human brain is not exempt from evolution — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Of course the theory of evolution would be vacuous if it offered a glib explanation for every inexplicable act. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Today we recognize that the emotion of disgust evolved as an unconscious defense against biological contamination.” — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“A design can excel at one challenge only by compromising at others.” — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Of course, genes can't pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“If a gene could build a brain that could tell when copies of itself were sitting in another animal's gonads, it would… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Why do people believe that there are dangerous implications of the idea that the mind is a product of the brain, that… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Contrary to popular belief, the gene-centered theory of evolution does not imply that the point of all human striving is to spread… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Natural selection is not the only process that changes organisms over time. But is the only process that seemingly designs organisms over… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The way to understand how different species evolved is to think about the niches that they fill in an ecosystem - basically,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Some people think that evolutionary psychology claims to have discovered that human nature is selfish and wicked. But they are flattering the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Something about the topic of consciousness makes people, like the White Queen in Through The Looking Glass, believe six impossible things before… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
It's the old idea that the process of evolution is some push in the direction of greater complexity--in particular greater intellectual complexity.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The task of evolutionary psychology is not to weigh in on human nature, a task better left to others. It is to… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
But the 20th century suffered "two" ideologies that led to genocides. The other one, Marxism, had no use for race, didn't believe… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Space and force pervade language. Many cognitive scientists (including me) have concluded from their research on language that a handful of concepts… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
There's a misconception that survival of the fittest means survival of the most aggressive. The adjective 'Darwinian' used to refer to ruthless… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Perhaps we should rejoice that people’s emotions aren’t designed for the good of the group. Often the best way to benefit one’s… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The Darwinian approach to sex is often attacked as being antifeminist, but that is just wrong. Indeed, the accusation is baffling on… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Of course genes can’t pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Many textbooks point out that no animal has evolved wheels and cite the fact as an example of how evolution is often… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Many people think that the theory of the selfish gene says that “animals try to spread their genes.” That misstates the facts… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Thinking is computation, I claim, but that does not mean that the computer is a good metaphor for the mind. The mind… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Human evolution, at first, seems extraordinary. How could the process that gave rise to slugs and oak trees and fish produce a… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Genetically influenced behavior is not necessarily good and not necessarily unchangeable. Explanations of bad behavior that appeal to genes do not absolve… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Even evolutionary explanations of the traditional division of labor by sex do not imply that it is unchangeable, “natural” in the sense… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“It looks as if the offspring have eyes so that they can see well (bad, teleological, backward causation), but that's an illusion.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
I don't think there was a thunderclap or a divine spark that suddenly made one species smart. You can see, in our… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
You have to remember that not every creature that was evolving left behind its skull or its tools for our convenience tens… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
So no, it's not all in the genes, but what isn't in the genes isn't in the family environment either. It can't… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Just as blueprints don't necessarily specify blue buildings, selfish genes don't necessarily specify selfish organisms. As we shall see, sometimes the most… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Consistent style prevents presentation from getting in the way of content. — Steven Pinker Copy Share
The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
I've never argued that humans are massively hot-wired. What I was trying to point out was that you can't understand how we learn unless… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones. — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Since violence is largely a male pastime, cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
“The biblical story of the binding of Isaac shows that human sacrifice was far from unthinkable in the 1st millennium BCE. The Israelites boasted… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Part of the bargain of being alive is that one takes a chance at dying a premature or painful death, be it from violence,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
In fact, without a specification of a creature's goals, the very idea of intelligence is meaningless. A toadstool could be given a genius award… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
“The obvious cure for the tragic shortcomings of human intuition in a high-tech world is education. And this offers priorities for educational policy: to… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
“In some eras, self-control defines the paragon of a decent person: a grown-up, a person of dignity, a lady or a gentleman, a mensch.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Knowledge is a continuous fabric, in which ideas are connected to other ideas. Reason-free zones, in which people can assert arbitrary beliefs safe from… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
