Biography:Nancy Etcoff

From HandWiki
Nancy Etcoff
Born1955
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

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

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

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

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

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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pak, Faith A.; Reichsman, Ethan B. (November 10, 2017). "Beauty and the Brain: The Emerging Field of Neuroaesthetics". http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/10/neuroaesthetics-cover/. 
  2. ↑ "Harvard Medical School Directory". https://hms.harvard.edu/people-search?LastName=etcoff&FirstName=&Department=&Institution=&submit=Search&reset=Clear%20All&form_build_id=form-tRJzWTrqcTcOHgyJc-oyN5CwLARGXlO_5BSmZY2gZ0Q&form_id=hms_people_search_form&op=Search. 
  3. ↑ "Psychiatric Neuroimaging Division - Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA". https://www.massgeneral.org/psychiatry/research/neuroimaging_labs.aspx. 
  4. ↑ Etcoff, Nancy L. (1999-02-16) (in en). Survival of the prettiest: the science of beauty. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385478540. https://books.google.com/books?id=EWqBAAAAMAAJ. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Nancy Etcoff | Edge.org" (in en). https://www.edge.org/memberbio/nancy_etcoff. 
  6. ↑ "Makeup Can Provide a Fleeting Confidence Boost to Some". https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/02/does-makeup-hurt-self-esteem/makeup-can-provide-a-fleeting-confidence-boost-to-some. 
  7. ↑ Green, Penelope (1999-02-28). "MIRROR, MIRROR; Biologically Speaking, Isn't She Beautiful?" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/style/mirror-mirror-biologically-speaking-isn-t-she-beautiful.html. 
  8. ↑ Lehrman, Karen (1999-03-21). "The Beautiful People" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/21/books/the-beautiful-people.html. 
  9. ↑ Branch, Shelly; Ball, Deborah (2005-05-19). "Does Reality Sell Beauty?" (in en-US). Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111646511525037699. 
  10. ↑ "The Biology Of Beauty" (in en). 1996-06-02. https://www.newsweek.com/biology-beauty-178836. 
  11. ↑ Allen, Maya (2016-06-23). "This Dove Report Reveals Shocking Results About Women's Body Confidence" (in en-US). https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/news/a60373/womens-body-confidence-declining/. 
  12. ↑ Postrel, Virginia (2007-03-01). "The Truth About Beauty" (in en-US). https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/03/the-truth-about-beauty/305620/. 
  13. ↑ Jacobs, Deborah L.. "For Working Women, Focus On Beauty Erodes Self Confidence" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/04/23/for-working-women-focus-on-beauty-erodes-self-confidence/. 
  14. ↑ "Why Dove's 'Choose Beautiful' campaign sparked a backlash" (in en). http://fortune.com/2015/04/15/why-doves-choose-beautiful-campaign-sparked-a-backlash/. 
  15. ↑ "Survival of the Prettiest" (in en). https://ew.com/article/1999/04/30/survival-prettiest/. 
  16. ↑ "How to Love That Woman in the Mirror" (in en-us). Oprah.com. https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/boost-your-self-esteem-an-interview-with-nancy-etcoff-phd. 
  17. ↑ Gutierrez, Claire (2012-03-05). "Adventures in Makeup" (in en-US). https://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/in-living-color-a-makeup-adventure-638982. 
  18. ↑ "What's the New Statement Brow of the Moment? The Season's Best Options, from Bushy to Bleached" (in en). 4 February 2015. https://www.vogue.com/article/new-statement-eyebrows-bushy-bleached. 
  19. ↑ "Why Every Skin-Care Brand Is Focusing on Face Wash Right Now" (in en). 3 April 2018. https://www.allure.com/story/face-wash-is-the-fastest-growing-skin-care-category. 
  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. https://forward.com/schmooze/128006/look-jewish-psychologist-nancy-etcoff-explains-it/. 
  21. ↑ Etcoff, Nancy (10 June 2009) (in en), Happiness and its surprises, https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_etcoff_happiness_and_its_surprises?language=en, retrieved 2019-03-19 
  22. ↑ "Denis Dutton and Nancy Etcoff: Are We Hard-Wired for Beauty?". https://www.npr.org/2013/06/14/177490162/are-we-hard-wired-for-beauty. 
  23. ↑ "What Is Beauty?". 19 April 2013. https://www.npr.org/2013/04/19/174724704/what-is-beauty. 
  24. ↑ "The Contagion of Happiness | Harvard Medicine magazine". https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/science-emotion/contagion-happiness. 
  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". Journal of Religion and Health 56 (5): 1720–1739. doi:10.1007/s10943-017-0446-5. ISSN 1573-6571. PMID 28718052. http://roar.uel.ac.uk/6096/1/Lomas%20et%20al.%20%282017%29%20-%20The%20art%20of%20living%20mindfully%20%28uploadable%29.pdf. 
  26. ↑ "Pubmed". https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Etcoff%20NL%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=21991328. 
  27. ↑ "WorldCat". http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n87-137366/. 
  28. ↑ "Steven Pinker". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0684348/bio. 



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