Cordelia Fine

Cordelia Fine
Fine in 2010
Born	1975 (age 48–49) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Philosopher, psychologist, writer
Nationality	British
Education	Oxford University (BA Hons Experimental Psychology), Cambridge University (MPhil Criminology), University College London (PhD Psychology)
Alma mater	Oxford University Cambridge University University College London
Period	2006–present
Subject	Philosophy, psychology, neuroscience
Notable works	Testosterone Rex A Mind of Its Own Delusions of Gender
Website
www.cordelia-fine.com

Cordelia Fine (born 1975) is a Canadian-born British philosopher of science, psychologist, and writer. She is a full professor in the History and Philosophy of Science programme at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Fine has written three popular science books on the topics of social cognition, neuroscience, and the popular myths of sex differences. Her latest book, Testosterone Rex, won the Royal Society Science Book Prize, 2017. She has authored several academic book chapters and numerous academic publications. Fine is also noted for coining the term 'neurosexism'.

As a science communicator, Fine has given many public and keynote lectures across the education, business, academic and public sectors.

Fine has also written for The New York Times, Scientific American, New Scientist, The Psychologist, The Guardian, and The Monthly, among others, and has reviewed books for the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.

In April 2018, Cordelia Fine was awarded the Edinburgh Medal. This medal is awarded to "men and women of science and technology whose professional achievements are judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding and well-being of humanity."

Early life and education

Cordelia Fine was born in Toronto, the daughter of writer Anne Fine and Kit Fine, a philosopher. She was educated at St George's School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was awarded a bachelor's degree in Experimental Psychology with first-class honours from Oxford University, a Master of Philosophy in Criminology from Cambridge University, and a PhD in Psychology from University College London.

Career

Since completing her PhD, Cordelia Fine has undertaken research at the School of Philosophy & Bioethics at Monash University, at the Centre for Applied Philosophy & Public Ethics at the Australian National University, and at the Centre for Agency, Values & Ethics (CAVE) at Macquarie University.

From 2012 to 2016, she was an ARC Future Fellow at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.

She was also an Associate Professor in the Melbourne Business School, at the University of Melbourne until 2016. She is currently a Professor in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia

Books

Fine's first book, A Mind of Its Own, synthesizes a large amount of cognitive research to show that the mind often gives a distorted picture of reality.

Her second book, Delusions of Gender, argues that conclusions that science has shown that men's and women's brains are intrinsically different in ways that explain the gender status quo are premature and often based on flawed methods and unexamined assumptions. She also challenges the common assumption that a gender-egalitarian society means that differences in social outcomes and interests must be due to biology. "With still such different contexts and circumstances for men and women, it's simply not possible to compare the choices they make and draw confident conclusions about the sexes' different inner natures." Fine's approach to gender has been criticised by those who think it behaviourist, and for not accounting for what psychiatry terms gender identity disorders. However, as Fine pointed out in The Psychologist, the book is concerned with scientific evidence presented as support for the idea that males and females are, on average, 'hardwired' to 'systemise' versus 'empathise', rather than the question of the extent to which core gender identity is 'hardwired'; and that she does not subscribe to a behaviourist or social determinist view of development, but rather "one in which the developmental path is constructed, step by step, out of the continuous and dynamic interaction between brain, genes and environment."

Ben Barres, a Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University, wrote in a review of the book for PLOS Biology that Fine's "analysis of this data should be required reading for every neurobiology student, if not every human being." The neuroscientists Margaret McCarthy and Gregory Ball have said that Fine presents a one-sided picture of the study of sex differences, and that Delusions of Gender threatened to "severely hamper" progress in this field. However, neuroscientists Geert de Vries and Nancy Forger of the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University cite the work of Fine and colleagues in noting that "unsubstantiated claims about the nature and function of neural sex differences continue to be made and such claims may do serious harm". Together with Barnard College sociomedical scientist Rebecca Jordan-Young, Fine has rejected the claim, based on quotations of her criticisms of popular misrepresentations of science, that she is "anti-sex differences". Fine and Jordan-Young, with other co-authors, have published recommendations and guidelines for improving the quality of scientific investigations of sex/gender differences in research.

Fine's third book, Testosterone Rex, critiques an account of sex differences and their evolutionary, neural and hormonal basis that is the prominent view in the scientific literature and research. In 2017, Testosterone Rex won the prestigious Royal Society Science Books Prize. Harriet Hall, who often critiques alternative medicine and quackery for their lack of a scientific basis, argued in the Skeptical Inquirer: "Cordelia Fine's book provides compelling evidence that men and women aren't really very different other than in their anatomy. There is no such thing as a 'male brain' or a 'female brain'. There are no essential male or female natures but rather an individualized mosaic of features. Testosterone isn't very important. Biology can't be used to explain or excuse societal inequalities."

Awards and commendations

Testosterone Rex

• The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize, 2017

Delusions of Gender

• Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for non-fiction 2011.
• Shortlisted for the Best Book of Ideas Prize 2011.
• Shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2010.
• Shortlisted by The Washington Post for 2010 Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year
• Shortlisted for the 2013 Warwick Prize for Writing.
• Evening Standard 2010 book of the year
• Guardian 2010 book of the year.
• Huffington Post "22 books women think men should read" list

A Mind of Its Own

• One of twelve books long-listed for the UK Royal Society Science Prize 2007

Selected bibliography

Books

Publication date	Title	Publisher	ISBN
17 July 2006	A Mind of Its Own	W. W. Norton & Company	ISBN 0-393-06213-9
26 June 2008	The Britannica Guide to the Brain: A Guided Tour of the Brain and All Its Functions	Constable & Robinson	ISBN 1-84529-803-9
30 August 2010	Delusions of Gender	W. W. Norton & Company	ISBN 0-393-06838-2
24 January 2017	Testosterone Rex	W. W. Norton & Company	ISBN 0-393-08208-3

Journal articles

• Fine, Cordelia; Rippon, Gina; Jordan-Young, Rebecca; Kaiser, Anelis; Joel, Daphna (July 2017). "Letter to the Editor: Journal of Neuroscience research policy on addressing sex as a biological variable: Comments, clarifications, and elaborations". Journal of Neuroscience Research. 95 (7): 1357–1359. doi:10.1002/jnr.24045. hdl:11343/292471. PMID 28225166. S2CID 45664076.
• Fine, Cordelia; Rush, Emma (February 2016). ""Why does all the girls have to buy pink stuff?" The ethics and science of the gendered toy marketing debate". Journal of Business Ethics. 149 (4): 769–784. doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3080-3. S2CID 147209519.
• Fine, Cordelia; Duke, Rebecca (May 2015). "Expanding the role of gender essentialism in the single-sex education debate: A commentary on Liben". Sex Roles. 72 (9–10): 427–433. doi:10.1007/s11199-015-0474-0. S2CID 142431798.
• Fine, Cordelia (21 November 2014). "His brain, her brain?". Science. 346 (6212): 915–916. Bibcode:2014Sci...346..915F. doi:10.1126/science.1262061. PMID 25414288. S2CID 11188482.
• Fine, Cordelia; Rippon, Gina; Jordan-Young, Rebecca; Kaiser, Anelis (28 August 2014). "Recommendations for sex/gender neuroimaging research: key principles and implications for research design, analysis and interpretation". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 8 (650): 650. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00650. PMC 4147717. PMID 25221493.
• Fine, Cordelia; Rippon, Gina; Jordan-Young, Rebecca; Kaiser, Anelis; Joel, Daphna (November–December 2014). "Reaction to "Equal ≠ The Same: Sex Differences in the Human Brain"". Cerebrum. 2014. Archived from the original on 16 February 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

See also: Cahill, Larry (March–April 2014). "Equal ≠ The Same: Sex Differences in the Human Brain". Cerebrum. 2014: 5. PMC 4087190. PMID 25009695. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

• Fine, Cordelia; Rippon, Gina; Jordan-Young, Rebecca; Kaiser, Anelis (November 2013). "Plasticity, plasticity, plasticity…and the problem of sex" (PDF). Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 17 (11): 550–551. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.08.010. PMID 24176517. S2CID 27589924.
• Fine, Cordelia (August 2013). "Is there neurosexism in functional neuroimaging investigations of sex differences?". Neuroethics. 6 (2): 369–409. doi:10.1007/s12152-012-9169-1. S2CID 144819834.
• Fine, Cordelia (December 2012). "Explaining, or sustaining, the status quo? The potentially self-fulfilling effects of 'hardwired' accounts of sex differences". Neuroethics. 5 (3): 285–294. doi:10.1007/s12152-011-9118-4. hdl:11343/283055. S2CID 144023407.
• Fine, Cordelia (12 October 2010). "From scanner to soundbite: Issues in interpreting and reporting sex differences in the brain". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 19 (5): 280–283. doi:10.1177/0963721410383248. S2CID 14187735.
• Fine, Cordelia; Kennett, Jeanette (February 2009). "Will the real moral judgment please stand up?". Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. 12 (1): 77–96. doi:10.1007/s10677-008-9136-4. JSTOR 40284273. S2CID 142769174.
• Fine, Cordelia; Nairn, Agnes (2008). "Not seeing the wood for the imaginary trees. Or, who's messing with my article? A response to Ambler". International Journal of Advertising. 27 (5): 896–908. doi:10.2501/S0265048708080402. S2CID 143556041.
• Fine, Cordelia; Nairn, Agnes (2008). "Who's messing with my mind? The implications of dual processing models for the ethics of marketing to children". International Journal of Advertising. 27 (3): 447–470. doi:10.2501/S0265048708080062. S2CID 143197555.* Fine, Cordelia (March 2008). "Will working mothers' brains explode? The popular new genre of neurosexism". Neuroethics. 1 (1): 69–72. doi:10.1007/s12152-007-9004-2.
• Fine, Cordelia; Gardner, Mark; Craigie, Jillian; Gold, Ian (January 2007). "Hopping, skipping or jumping to conclusions? Clarifying the role of the JTC bias in delusions". Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. 12 (1): 46–77. doi:10.1080/13546800600750597. PMID 17162446. S2CID 38133890.
• Fine, Cordelia (2007). "Vulnerable minds? The consumer unconscious and the ethics of marketing to children" (PDF). Res Publica. 16 (1): 14–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
• Fine, Cordelia (2006). "Is the emotional dog wagging the rational tail or chasing it? Reason in moral judgment". Philosophical Explorations. 9 (1): 83–98. doi:10.1080/13869790500492680. S2CID 142627466.
• Fine, Cordelia; Mitchell, DGV; Richell, RA; Newman, C; Lumsden, J; Blair, KS; Blair, RJR (May 2006). "Instrumental learning and relearning in individuals with psychopathy and in patients with lesions involving the amygdala or orbitofrontal cortex". Neuropsychology. 20 (3): 280–289. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.20.3.280. PMID 16719621.
• Fine, Cordelia; Craigie, Jillian; Gold, Ian (June 2005). "Damned if you do; damned if you don't: the impasse in cognitive models of the Capgras delusion". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 12 (2): 143–151.
• Fine, Cordelia; Craigie, Jillian; Gold, Ian (June 2005). "The explanation approach to delusion". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 12 (2): 159–163.
• Fine, Cordelia; Kennett, Jeanette (September–October 2004). "Mental impairment, moral understanding and criminal responsibility: Psychopathy and the purposes of punishment". International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 27 (5): 425–443. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2004.06.005. PMID 15337361.
• Fine, Cordelia; Lumsden, J.; Blair, Robert James R. (1 February 2001). "Dissociation between theory of mind and executive functions in a patient with early left amygdala damage". Brain. 124 (2): 287–298. doi:10.1093/brain/124.2.287. PMID 11157556.
• Fine, Cordelia; Blair, Robert James R. (2000). "The cognitive and emotional effects of amygdala damage". Neurocase. 6 (6): 435–438. doi:10.1080/13554790008402715. S2CID 220349993.
• Fine, Cordelia; Blair, Robert James R. (June 1999). "Computations in extraversion" (PDF). Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 22 (3): 521–523. doi:10.1017/S0140525X99262048. S2CID 144130549.

External links

• Official website
• Cordelia Fine at Library of Congress, with 4 library catalog records