Susan Pinker is a Canadian

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. She is a former weekly columnist for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', and has also written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', and '' The Times of London''. Her first book, '' The Sexual Paradox'', was awarded the William James Book Award in 2010 and was published in 17 countries. Her book ''The Village Effect'' was a Canadian bestseller and an Apple 2014 nonfiction best pick. Her work has been featured in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', and ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''.

Career

Pinker spent 25 years in clinical practice and teaching psychology, first at Dawson College, then at McGill University. Pinker writes about new findings in

behavioral science Behavioural science is the branch of science concerned with Human behavior, human behaviour.Hallsworth, M. (2023). A manifesto for applying behavioural science. ''Nature Human Behaviour'', ''7''(3), 310-322. While the term can technically be ap ...

in the Mind and Matter column, which appears Saturdays in the ''Wall Street Journal''. Her ''Globe and Mail'' columns, Problem Solving and the Business Brain, applied the latest evidence from the fields of neuroscience,

behavioral economics Behavioral economics is the study of the psychological (e.g. cognitive, behavioral, affective, social) factors involved in the decisions of individuals or institutions, and how these decisions deviate from those implied by traditional economi ...

and

social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

to the world of business. They appeared weekly in ''The Globe and Mail'' from 2003 to 2011. Pinker's book, '' The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap'', is focused on how sex differences play out in the workplace. By comparing fragile boys who later succeed, with high achieving women who opt out, Pinker turns several assumptions upside down: that the sexes are biologically equivalent, that smarts are all it takes to succeed and that men and women have identical interests and goals. After decades of women's educational coups and rising through the ranks, men still outnumber

women in business The phrase women in business refers to female businesspeople who hold positions, particularly leadership in the fields of commerce, business, and entrepreneurship. It advocates for their increased participation in business. Increased participa ...

physical science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences". Definition ...

, law, engineering, and

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

. In explaining this ratio, Pinker's stance is that

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

plays just a small part. If the majority of children with school and behavioral problems are boys, then why do so many overcome early obstacles, while rafts of high achieving women choose jobs that pay less or opt out at pivotal moments in their careers? ''The Village Effect: How Face-To-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier and Smarter'', combines narrative nonfiction with science reporting to explore how our social bonds, face-to-face contact, and networks affect our thinking, learning, happiness, resilience and

longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...

. It was published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in Canada, Spiegel and Grau in the United States, Atlantic Books in the United Kingdom, Charactery in Poland, Book21 in Korea, Cheers Media in China, and Batik Yayincilik in Turkey. It was selected as an Apple Nonfiction "Best Pick" in 2014.

Awards

Her 2008 book, '' The Sexual Paradox'', was awarded the William James Book Award by the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

in 2009. Her 2014 book, ''The Village Effect'', was selected as an Apple Nonfiction Best Pick in 2014. In 2014, Susan was given the Holden Award by the International Society for Intelligence Research. In 2015 she was a Poynter Fellow in Journalism at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Her writing has also been recognized in awards from the

Canadian Medical Association The Canadian Medical Association (CMA; ) is a national, voluntary association of physicians and medical learners that advocates on national health matters. Its primary mandate is to drive positive change in health care by advocating on key hea ...

(2000), the Professional Writing Association of Canada (2002, 2010), and she has been nominated for the John Alexander Media Award (2000), the Aventis Pasteur Medal for Excellence in Health Research Journalism (1999), the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

Woman of Distinction Award (2007), and the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction (2009).

Personal life

Pinker is married and has three children. She lives in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. She is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and attends Congregation Dorshei Emet in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. She is the sister of evolutionary psychologist

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychology, cognitive psychologist, psycholinguistics, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psycholo ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinker, Susan 1957 births Living people Canadian women non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian psychologists Canadian women psychologists McGill University alumni Academic staff of McGill University Jewish Canadian journalists Journalists from Montreal Scientists from Montreal Writers from Montreal Academic staff of Dawson College Canadian columnists Canadian women columnists 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian psychologists 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century American psychologists 21st-century Canadian women journalists