The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

by Steven Pinker

Pollack, William, 309

  Pol Pot, 158

  Pope, Alexander, 138, 373

  Popper, Karl, 151, 287

  population, 236–37

  Population Bomb, The (Ehrlich), 237

  Posner, Richard, 287

  postmodernism, 198, 202, 208, 213, 214, 216, 285, 411–17, 426–27

  reaction against, 416–17

  Postrel, Virginia, 342

  Poussaint, Alvin, 107

  Pratto, Felicia, 342

  prejudice, 141, 145–49, 201–2, 204–7, 212–13, 214, 217, 337–39, 341, 351, 354, 355

  Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, The (Goffman), 264

  price controls, 234

  Principia Ethica (Moore), 150

  Prisoner’s Dilemma, 334–35

  probability, sense of, 220, 231–33

  Proctor, Robert, 154–55

  Pryor, Richard, 262–63, 425

  psychiatry, 181, 184

  psychoanalysis, 40

  see also Freud, Sigmund

  psychology, 6, 18–19, 20, 22, 24, 27–28, 69, 169, 181, 183, 184, 191, 214, 226, 233, 249, 302, 422–23

  arts and, 404–9, 412, 417

  of categories, 201–7

  developmental, 101, 383–90

  emotions studied in, 39–40, 107–8, 221, 243, 255, 271–75

  genetics and, 50

  of imagery, 215–16, 236, 406, 417

  neuroscience and, 45

  of perception, 199–201, 214–15, 405, 417

  social, 63, 204–5, 233–34, 241, 245, 247, 255, 256–58, 264–66, 270–75, 277–79, 281–82, 294, 303–4, 321, 327–28

  stereotypes and, 201–2

  see also associationism; behavioral genetics; behaviorism; emotions; evolutionary psychology; memory; number sense; personality; theory of mind

  psychopathy, 51, 125, 259–63, 315

  Public Enemy, 329

  public goods, 256–58, 294

  Public Opinion (Lippmann), 201

  punishment, 180–85

  Putnam, Hilary, 70, 149

  Pygmalion effect, 206

  Pylyshyn, Zenon, 80

  quantum mechanics, 239

  Quartz, Stephen, 84

  Quayle, Dan, 394

  races:

  possibility of genetic differences among, 6, 15–18, 67–69, 107, 143–44

  and violence, 313, 314, 315

  words for, 211–13

  racial profiling, 148

  racism, 15, 16–17, 108, 145, 149, 202, 205, 273

  see also prejudice

  radical science movement, 111–12, 121–39, 146–47, 153, 293, 366, 426–27

  Rage Against the Machine, 246–47, 300

  Raising Cain (Kindlon), 309

  Ramachandran, V.S., 405

  Rand, Ayn, 255

  rape, viii, 160–61, 162–63, 164, 176, 340, 346, 359–71

  evidence for sexual component of, 367–68

  reduction of, 368–71

  rational-actor theory, 303

  see also economics, human nature as seen in

  Rawls, John, 150–51

  Reagan, Ronald, 287

  Real Boys (Pollack), 309

  realism, naïve, 199

  recursion, 36–37, 79–81, 236, 336

  Redmond, Elsa, 118

  reductionism, 10, 69–72, 112, 113–14, 118, 126–27

  relativism, 23, 172, 198–201, 202, 208, 213–14, 272–73, 411, 426–27

  language and, 207–11

  see also postmodernism

  religion, 94, 128–33, 137, 154, 166, 175, 182, 186–90, 224–28, 240, 246, 247, 257, 263, 286, 287, 288

  human nature and, 1–2

  morality and, 138, 182, 186–90

  religiosity, 375

  religious right, 128–33, 163–64, 175, 250, 286, 287

  Republic (Plato), 285

  responsibility, 131–33, 166, 174–85

  retaliation, law of, 324–25

  see also revenge

  Rethinking Innateness (Bates and Elman), 34–35, 84

  Return of Beauty, 417

  revenge, 53, 54, 180–82, 322–29, 428–31

  Rhodes, Richard, 308–9

  Rice, Marnie, 263, 342

  Richards, Robert, 154

  Ridley, Matt, 256

  risk, 231–33

  Roback, Jennifer, 353, 357

  robots, 61

  see also artificial intelligence

  Rockefeller, John D., 16

  Rockwell, Norman, 402

  Roiphe, Katie, 343

  Roman Catholic Church, 186–87, 225

  romanticism, 10, 154, 159–65, 255, 263, 264, 300–301, 331, 413

  see also naturalistic fallacy; Noble Savage

  Romer, Paul, 237

  Roosevelt, Theodore, 153

  Rorty, Richard, 202

  Rose, Hilary, 255, 366

  Rose, Steven, 111, 112, 113–14, 115, 122–23, 124, 126, 127, 133, 255, 377–78

  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Stoppard), 317

  Rossi, Alice, 342

  Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 6–8, 11, 12, 56, 159, 193, 285, 287, 288, 296, 301

  Rowe, David, 381

  Rozin, Paul, 230–31, 272, 275

  Rumelhart, David, 21, 35, 74

  Rummel, R.J., 332

  Russell, Bertrand, 2, 26, 270

  Russian Revolution, 295

  Ryle, Gilbert, 9–10, 126

  Sahlins, Marshall, 108–9, 135

  St. Helena, 311

  Salmon, Catherine, 342

  Samoans, 56

  Sanger, Margaret, 153

  Sapir, Edward, 207–8

  Sargent, John Singer, 160

  Sarich, Vincent, 144

  Sartre, Jean-Paul, 180

  Satel, Sally, 342, 370

  Saturday Night Live, 343

  Saving Private Ryan, 160

  Scandinavia, 16, 47, 71, 315

  Scarr, Sandra, 381

  Scarry, Elaine, 417

  Schelling, Thomas, 322

  schizophrenia, 45–46, 215

  Schlesinger, Laura, 164

  Schwartz, Felice, 353

  Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 226

  science studies, 198

  Scopes Monkey Trial, 130

  Scott, Dred, 292

  Scott, James, 170

  Searle, John, 65, 327–28

  Segal, Nancy, 47

  Sejnowski, Terrence, 84

  self, unified, 42–43

  self-deception, 111, 128, 260–66, 280, 290, 293, 294, 295, 301, 324, 325, 330, 336, 423–29

  Selfish Gene, The (Dawkins), 112, 124, 241, 242

  selfishness, 50, 52, 161–62, 163, 169–70, 190–91, 242–45, 246–47, 255–63

  Sen, Amartya, 237, 272

  Serrano, Andres, 414

  Seville Statement, 307–8

  sex differences, 142, 144–45, 171–72, 178–79, 205, 251–54, 337–71, 422, 433

  in brain, 347

  discomfort about, 351

  gender gap and, 351–61

  in parenting, 252–54, 350

  in violence, 309–11, 316–17

  women as researchers on, 342

  sex discrimination, 16–17, 145, 148, 149, 202, 205, 273, 337–39, 341, 351, 354, 355, 357

  sexual assault, see rape

  sexual behavior, 20, 54, 56, 60, 89, 112, 132, 148, 160, 178–79, 211, 236, 252–54, 267–68, 271, 273, 276, 338, 344, 348, 356, 360–63, 367–68, 370–71

  sexual competition, 319, 346, 347

  arts and, 407–8

  sexual orientation, 44, 46, 93–94, 154, 164, 201–2

  Shakespeare, William, 197, 224, 418

  Shalit, Wendy, 339

  Shastri, Lokendra, 80

  Shatz, Carla, 91–92

  Shaw, George Bernard, 153, 181, 287–88, 423

  Shaywitz, Sally, 342

  Shepard, Roger, 199, 200, 405

  Sherman, Cindy, 411

  Shockley, William, 153

  Shosha (Singer), 251

  Shweder, Ric
hard, 26, 272

  sibling conflict, 248–250, 266–70, 389–90

  sickle cell anemia, 144

  sign language, 95–96, 391

  Silk, Joan, 342

  Silver, Ron, 432

  Simon, Herbert, 105, 302

  Simon, Julian, 237

  Simon, Paul, 22

  Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 251, 431–34

  Singer, Peter, 166–67, 298, 320

  Skinner, B. F., 20, 169, 177, 207, 246

  slavery, 6, 15, 109, 144, 145, 155, 156, 292, 298, 329, 338

  Slavs, 154

  Sledgehammer, 403

  slippery slopes, 228–29

  Slovic, Paul, 231, 302

  Small, Meredith, 342

  smell (olfactory) system, 93

  Smith, Adam, 161, 233, 285, 287, 288, 290, 302

  Smith, Edgar, 262

  Smith, John Maynard, 108, 167, 284

  Smith, Susan, 189

  smoking, 275, 373, 391, 393

  Smolensky, Paul, 80

  Smothers Brothers, 250

  Smuts, Barbara, 342

  Sober, Elliot, 259

  social constructionism, 6, 17, 22–29, 31, 38, 40, 134, 198, 327, 341, 393

  social contract, 8, 150–51, 193, 285–86, 296, 330

  Social Contract, The (Rousseau), 8

  Social Darwinism, 16, 103, 109, 134, 141, 149, 150, 152, 157, 162, 425

  Hitler’s belief in, 153, 157

  social engineering, 158, 169–73

  socialism, 257

  see also Marxism

  socialization, personality vs., 395

  social psychology, see psychology, social

  social reality, 64–65, 327

  social sciences, 6

  sociobiology, 6, 17, 22–29, 31, 53, 60, 67, 109, 124, 135, 201, 207, 249, 284–85, 301, 307–8, 342, 354, 419

  Sociobiology (Wilson), 108–11, 115, 124,

  284, 285

  sociology, 23, 27, 284–85, 286

  Socrates, 23

  Sokal, Alan, 410

  Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 157

  Sommers, Christina Hoff, 172, 341, 342

  Sontag, Susan, 343

  soul, 8–9, 10, 28–29, 31, 133, 186–87, 224–27, 243, 293

  see also Ghost in the Machine

  South Africa, 321

  Southerners, 328, 428–31

  Soviet Union, 152, 155, 158, 246, 286–87, 310, 331, 334, 410

  Sowell, Thomas, 287, 295

  Spanish Civil War, 321

  spatial sense, 220

  Specter, Arlen, 312

  speech-recognition software, 106

  Spencer, Herbert, 15–16, 150

  Sperber, Dan, 65

  Sperry, Roger, 43

  Spock, Benjamin, 20

  Sponsel, Leslie, 115–19

  sports, 317

  Springsteen, Bruce, 179

  Stalin, Joseph, 152, 158, 295

  Standard Social Science Model, 67, 69

  see also social constructionism; social sciences

  Stardust Memories, 49

  statistics, 231–32

  status, 21, 39, 52, 65, 106–7, 110, 128, 217, 223, 250, 273–74, 293, 302–5, 319, 326–29, 345, 355, 356, 358, 386, 390, 405, 406–8, 416

  Stein, Gertrude, 417–18

  Steinem, Gloria, 171, 343, 353

  Steiner, George, 266, 415, 431

  Steiner, Wendy, 417

  stem cell research, 12, 224, 226

  Stephen, James, 182

  stepparenting, 164–65

  stereotypes, 201–7

  Stevens, Wallace, 236

  Stich, Stephen, 38

  Stills, Stephen, 253

  Sting, 253

  Stockhausen, Karlheinz, 416

  Stoicism, 193

  Stolba, Christine, 353

  Stoppard, Tom, 317, 321–22

  Storey, Robert, 417, 420

  strict constructionism, 291

  Strossen, Nadine, 342

  Sullivan, Andrew, 348

  Sullivan, Arthur, 283

  Sulloway, Frank, 381, 389

  Summerhill (Neill), 222

  Superfund Act (1980), 278

  superorganism (group mind), 26, 108, 158, 172, 244, 255, 284, 296, 309, 427

  supervisory attention system, 40

  Supreme Court, U.S., 129, 291

  Sur, Mriganka, 85, 95

  Switzerland, 311

  symbiosis, 242

  Symons, Donald, 114–15, 252, 267–68, 272–73

  Szathmáry, Eörs, 167

  Take Our Daughters to Work Day, 339, 352

  Taliban, 254

  Tasmania, 69

  Taylor, Joan Kennedy, 342

  Tay-Sachs, 144

  technology, 68–69, 221, 237–39, 338

  Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 242

  testosterone, 316, 328, 347–48

  see also androgens

  Tetlock, Philip, 277, 278

  thalamus, 44, 87, 92, 95–96, 98

  Thaler, Richard, 302

  Thatcher, Margaret, 286, 287, 293

  theory of mind, 61–63, 220, 223–24, 228

  art and, 412, 417

  chimpanzees and, 61–62

  culture learning and, 61–63

  Theory of Moral Sentiments, The (Smith), 288

  Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall, 56

  Thornhill, Nancy Wilmsen, 342

  Thornhill, Randy, viii, 161, 176, 359–69

  thought, language and, 207–11

  “Thousand and One Nights, The,” 419

  Thucydides, 322

  Tierney, Patrick, 115–19

  Tiger, Lionel, 111

  Tilghman, Shirley, 358

  Tinbergen, Niko, 70

  tobacco industry, 275, 393

  Todorov, Tzvetan, 134

  Tolstoy, Leo, 247–48

  Tooby, John, 134, 233–34, 238, 365

  toolmaking, 220, 238, 323

  Tootsie, 403

  totalitarianism, 152, 155, 158, 169–70, 296, 425–28

  trade, 167–69, 233–36, 255–56, 290–91, 297, 320

  Traffic, 276

  Tragic Vision, 287–305

  traits:

  emergenic, 152–53

  heritability of, 45–47, 49–51, 373–78

  Machiavellian, 259–60

  Trivers, Robert, 108, 111, 241, 244, 248, 251–52, 263–64, 266, 271, 301, 319, 343, 389

  Trudeau, Pierre, 286

  Truman, Harry S., 175

  Tuchman, Barbara, 324

  Turkheimer, Eric, 372, 379

  Turner, Frederick, 410–11, 417

  Turner, Mark, 417

  Turner, Terence, 115–19

  Turner’s syndrome, 349

  Tversky, Amos, 302

  Twain, Mark, 428–31

  twin studies, 46–48, 98, 102, 142, 146,

  374–77, 378–79, 396, 397

  2001: A Space Odyssey, 337

  Ultimatum game, 256

  United Nations, 27, 307, 308, 360

  United States, 2, 16, 57, 144, 153, 205, 257, 306, 307, 311, 330, 333, 334, 338

  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 167

  Universal Grammar, 37–38, 55

  Universal People, 55

  universals, human, 37–38, 55, 435–39

  see also specific topics

  Updike, John, 431

  urban renewal, 170–71

  usury, 235

  utopianism, 169–70

  Utopian Vision, 287–305

  Valian, Virginia, 206

  Vanatinai, 339

  van Buren, Abigail, 47

  van Gogh, Vincent, 407, 409–10

  Vasquez, John, 323–24

  Veblen, Thorstein, 406, 407, 414

  vegetarianism, 227–28, 275, 320

  Venter, Craig, 75–76

  Verbal Behavior (Skinner), 207

  Vietnam War, 160, 298, 326

  violence, 44, 56–58, 294, 306–36

  fear and, 322–26

  feuds and, 430–31

  honor an
d, 326–29

  morality and, 318–22

  prevention of, 330–32

  as public health problem, 312

  Violence Initiative, 314

  visual illusions, 199–201

  visual system, 51–52, 87–97, 99, 199–201, 214–15

  arts and, 405, 412, 417–18

  Vonnegut, Kurt, 424–25

  Waddington, C.H., 109

  Wald, George, 153

  Walker, Rebecca, 343

  Wallace, Alfred Russel, 28, 42

  War Against Boys, The (Sommers), 172

  Ward, Elizabeth, 383

  warfare, 125, 160, 306–7, 321, 322, 324, 326, 333–36

  Warhol, Andy, 411

  Warren, Earl, 181, 288, 291

  Watson, John B., 19, 20, 24, 30, 77, 123–24, 207

  Wealth of Nations, The (Smith), 233

  Webb, Beatrice, 153, 301

  Webb, Sidney, 153, 301

  Weber, Max, 284

  Weizenbaum, Joseph, 105–6, 279

  welfare, 290, 304

  Wells, H. G., 153

  Wertheim, Margaret, 366, 393

  West, John, 129

  West Side Story, 179

  White, Leslie, 25, 26

  Whitney Museum, 217, 411, 417

  Who, The, 209, 295

  Whole Language, 222

  Whorf, Benjamin, 207–8

  Who Stole Feminism (Sommers), 341

  “Who Will Bell the Cat?” (Aesop), 256

  Wiesel, Torsten, 97, 108

  Wilkinson, Milton J., 335–36

  Wilkinson, Richard, 304

  Williams, George, 108, 163, 244, 255, 258

  Wilson, David Sloan, 259

  Wilson, E. O., 30, 108–12, 113, 114, 124, 132, 134, 284, 285, 293, 296, 405

  Wilson, Margo, 164–65, 182, 254, 304, 313, 319, 325, 327, 342

  Wilson, Woodrow, 201

  “Wisdom of Repugnance, The” (Kass), 274

  Witelson, Sandra, 342

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 207

  Wöhler, Friedrich, 30

  Wolfe, Tom, 131–33, 407, 414

  women:

  biblical view of, 2

  interests of, 172, 337–38, 357–59, 361, 363, 365, 370–71

  Taliban and, 254

  U.S. Constitution and, 298

  see also feminism; sex differences

  Wooldridge, Adrian, 301, 302

  Woolf, Virginia, 404, 409, 413

  Words and Rules (Pinker), 81

  Wordsworth, William, 159, 170, 295, 373

  World War I, 160, 201, 323, 324, 334, 335

  World War II, 27, 37, 57, 153, 155, 205, 235, 322, 333, 334

  World Wide Web, 71, 402

  Wrangham, Richard, 324

  Wright, Robert, 133–34, 167, 168, 245, 320

  Yanomamö, 115–19, 314, 323, 334, 431

  Yeats, William Butler, 167

  Young, Cathy, 342, 353, 360

  Yugoslavia, 331

  Zahavi, Amotz, 406

  Zimbardo, Philip, 321

  Zing Yang Kuo, 20

  Zippy, 351

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