Harvard To Hire MIT Psych Professor

In a major coup for the psychology department, psychologist Steven Pinker has decided to leave MIT for an appointment at Harvard, according to two Harvard professors.

Pinker is the second MIT professor whom the Harvard psychology department has successfully recruited in the last two years.

Pinker has written several successful popular science books, most recently The Blank Slate. In that book, he argued against the idea that humans are born as “blank slates.”

“He is one of the great writers of our time,” said Professor of Psychology Marc D. Hauser.

Pinker has accepted an endowed Mind, Brain, Behavior (MBB) chair in the Psychology Department, according to Hauser, who is a personal friend.

Pinker is a cognitive psychologist and works in language acquisition and conceptual development.

He joins several other leaders in language development research at Harvard, making it a major center for language studies, according to Hauser.

Professors at Harvard and MIT have been talking about Harvard’s offer since February.

There has been no official announcement, but Pinker notified Professor of Psychology Elizabeth S. Spelke and Hauser of his decision to accept Harvard’s offer yesterday morning, according to Hauser and Spelke.

Professor of Psychology Susan E. Carey alluded to his acceptance yesterday morning in her Science B-60: “Origins of Knowledge” lecture, according to students in the class. Carey co-teaches the course with Spelke.

Pinker, who could not be reached yesterday for comment last night, received his doctorate from Harvard and taught at the University for a year in 1979.

Spelke was Pinker’s colleague at MIT before she left for Harvard two years ago.

She said there was no “wrong decision” for Pinker, but she suggested that Harvard’s strong MBB initiative and faculty were a strong draw.

“MIT’s strength is in brain science, while Harvard’s is in cognitive science, so we have a stronger group working in his area of interest than MIT,” Hauser said.

In February, the head of MIT’s department of brain and cognitive science Mriganka Sur said MIT would fight to keep Pinker.

“I am certain MIT will do all it can to keep him here,” Sur said in February.

Hauser said Harvard’s students as well as its resources likely contributed to Pinker’s decision.

“The students at MIT, who are superb, are much more narrow,” Hauser said. “At Harvard, you get a diversity of interests.”

According to Spelke, Pinker’s arrival will forge stronger connections between MIT and Harvard.

“Since coming to Harvard, one of the things that has been most important to me has been maintaining ties with MIT,” Spelke said. “Steve will make a lot of links across the universities.”

According to Hauser, Pinker’s time will be divided among three main activities: teaching, continuing his research, and writing the popular scientific books and articles that have made him a well-known figure outside his field.

Hauser lauds Pinker’s qualities as a teacher.

“He’s a fantastic teacher who will inspire undergraduates,” Hauser said.

Hauser and Pinker have co-taught seminars at MIT, and Hauser raised the possibility of teaching—and working—together again.

According to Hauser, they may end up “linking forces” to research issues of human morality.

Pinker’s current research touches on how people learn to speak, and how vision works in a three-dimensional world.

He also supervises the MIT Twins Study, which examines how different upbringings affect twins, testing the importance of environment compared to genes.

—Staff writer Ben A. Black can be reached at bblack@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Ella A. Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@fas.harvard.edu.