Habits Quotes by Steven Pinker

All our behaviours are a result of neurophysiological activity in the brain. There is no reason to believe there is any magic…

— Steven Pinker

Aggression, like every other part of human behavior we take for granted, is a challenging engineering problem!

— Steven Pinker

All our behaviours are a result of neurophysiological activity in the brain.

— Steven Pinker

“As always, the challenge is to find an exogenous change that precedes the change in sensibilities and behavior so we can avoid…

— Steven Pinker

The moral, then, is that familiar categories of behavior - marriage customs, food taboos, folk superstitions, and so on - certainly do…

— Steven Pinker

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

Plants can't very well defend themselves by their behavior, so they resort to chemical warfare, and plants are saturated with toxins and…

— Steven Pinker

“Everyone has a theory of human nature. Everyone has to anticipate the behavior of others, and that means we all need theories…

— Steven Pinker

“Attempts to explain behavior in mechanistic terms are commonly denounced as “reductionist” or “determinist.” The denouncers rarely know exactly what they mean…

— Steven Pinker

The actual organization of behavior goes on the level of the individual nerve cells and their connections, and we have a hundred…

— Steven Pinker

Genetically influenced behavior is not necessarily good and not necessarily unchangeable. Explanations of bad behavior that appeal to genes do not absolve…

— Steven Pinker

When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power…

— Steven Pinker

“Institutionalized torture in Christendom was not just an unthinking habit; it had a moral rationale. If you really believe that failing to…

— Steven Pinker

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

“Cas Wouters, inspired by conversations with Elias late in his life, suggests that we are living through a new phase in the…

— Steven Pinker

“In behaviorism, an infant's talents and abilities didn't matter because there was no such thing as a talent or an ability. Watson…

— Steven Pinker