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Nancy Etcoff

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Nancy Etcoff
Born1955 (age 70–71)
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma mater
  • Brown University
  • Harvard University
  • Boston University
  • MIT
Known forSurvival of the Prettiest (1999)
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
Institutions
  • Harvard University
  • Massachusetts General Hospital

Nancy Etcoff (born 1955) is an American psychologist at Harvard University, where she has taught classes about the mind, brain, behavior, and aesthetics. Etcoff is best known for her 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest: the Science of Beauty, which argues for a biological basis for human beauty linked to evolutionary psychology. In addition, she works at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Education

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Etcoff earned her B.A from Brown University. She initially studied comparative literature before switching her major to psychology.[1] She received an M.Ed. from Harvard University and earned her Ph.D. in psychology at Boston University. After this, she completed her postdoctoral fellowship in brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Work and research

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Etcoff is an associate professor of Harvard Medical School and works as a psychologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.[2] Etcoff serves as the director of the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Laboratories Program in Aesthetics and Well-Being, and is on the advisory board of the Peabody Essex Museum.[3]

Psychology of beauty and happiness

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Etcoff leads seminars in neuroaesthetics.[1] In her 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest: the Science of Beauty,[4] she rejects the notion of beauty as a cultural construct, an invention of the fashion industry, or a backlash against feminism. Instead Etcoff argues that human beauty perception is a biological artifact derived from evolutionary genetic pressure. This book was the basis of a one-hour Discovery Channel episode.[5]

Etcoff's work on the subject of beauty has been discussed in many major news outlets, including The New York Times,[6][7][8] The Wall Street Journal,[9] Newsweek,[10] Cosmopolitan,[11] The Atlantic,[12] Forbes,[13] Fortune,[14] and others.[15][16][17][18][19][5]

Etcoff has given public presentations in forums ranging from the New York Academy of Sciences[20] to a TED talk titled "Happiness and Its Surprises",[21] and has appeared on National Public Radio's TED Radio Hour.[22][23]

Etcoff's definitions of human happiness have been reported by Harvard Medical Magazine.[24]

Scientific publications

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In 2017, Etcoff was co-author of Zen and the Art of Living Mindfully: The Health-Enhancing Potential of Zen Aesthetics.[25] She has 15 earlier publications, primarily on facial expressions and facial attractiveness, listed at Medline.[26]

Personal life

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Etcoff was born in 1955.[27] She was married to the cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker from 1980 to 1992.[28]

References

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  1. 1 2 Pak, Faith A.; Reichsman, Ethan B. (November 10, 2017). "Beauty and the Brain: The Emerging Field of Neuroaesthetics". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Harvard Medical School Directory". Harvard Medical School.
  3. ↑ "Psychiatric Neuroimaging Division - Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA". www.massgeneral.org. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  4. ↑ Etcoff, Nancy L. (February 16, 1999). Survival of the prettiest: the science of beauty. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385478540.
  5. 1 2 "Nancy Etcoff | Edge.org". www.edge.org. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Makeup Can Provide a Fleeting Confidence Boost to Some". The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  7. ↑ Green, Penelope (February 28, 1999). "MIRROR, MIRROR; Biologically Speaking, Isn't She Beautiful?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  8. ↑ Lehrman, Karen (March 21, 1999). "The Beautiful People". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  9. ↑ Branch, Shelly; Ball, Deborah (May 19, 2005). "Does Reality Sell Beauty?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  10. ↑ "The Biology Of Beauty". Newsweek. June 2, 1996. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  11. ↑ Allen, Maya (June 23, 2016). "This Dove Report Reveals Shocking Results About Women's Body Confidence". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  12. ↑ Postrel, Virginia (March 1, 2007). "The Truth About Beauty". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  13. ↑ Jacobs, Deborah L. "For Working Women, Focus On Beauty Erodes Self Confidence". Forbes. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Why Dove's 'Choose Beautiful' campaign sparked a backlash". Fortune. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Survival of the Prettiest". EW.com. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  16. ↑ "How to Love That Woman in the Mirror". Oprah.com. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  17. ↑ Gutierrez, Claire (March 5, 2012). "Adventures in Makeup". ELLE. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  18. ↑ "What's the New Statement Brow of the Moment? The Season's Best Options, from Bushy to Bleached". Vogue. February 4, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Why Every Skin-Care Brand Is Focusing on Face Wash Right Now". Allure. April 3, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Survival of the Prettiest: An Evening with Nancy Etcoff"
    Benjamin Ivry (May 13, 2010). "Look Jewish? Psychologist Nancy Etcoff Explains It For You". The Jewish Daily Forward.
  21. ↑ Etcoff, Nancy (June 10, 2009), Happiness and its surprises, retrieved March 19, 2019
  22. ↑ "Denis Dutton and Nancy Etcoff: Are We Hard-Wired for Beauty?". NPR. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  23. ↑ "What Is Beauty?". NPR. April 19, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  24. ↑ "The Contagion of Happiness | Harvard Medicine magazine". hms.harvard.edu. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  25. ↑ Lomas, T.; Etcoff, N.; Van Gordon, W.; Shonin, E. (October 2017). "Zen and the Art of Living Mindfully: The Health-Enhancing Potential of Zen Aesthetics" (PDF). Journal of Religion and Health. 56 (5): 1720–1739. doi:10.1007/s10943-017-0446-5. ISSN 1573-6571. PMID 28718052. S2CID 30739871.
  26. ↑ "Pubmed".
  27. ↑ "WorldCat".
  28. ↑ "Steven Pinker". IMDb. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
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