Pinker Explains the Psychology of Writing

More than 150 people packed into the Fong Auditorium yesterday evening to listen to psychology professor Stephen Pinker explain that the process of writing is in fact an exercise in psychology.

Pinker gave his speech—“Writing as Psychology”—to celebrate the release of the 2006-2007 issue of “Exposé: Essays from the Expository Writing Program.”

Pinker stressed the importance of conciseness while highlighting former Tufts President Jean Mayer’s 1982 statement, “Men with guns never starve,” which explained a complex issue involving aid to Poland’s then-military regime.

“The monosyllabic words that conjure images immediately [have] stuck in my memory,” Pinker said.

He also explained the importance of clarity in order to break through the “needless obfuscation” found in science and humanities papers, which Pinker blamed on academics’ laziness, insularity, and compulsion to establish their identity in a privileged group.

Conciseness was particularly useful for Pinker during his February appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” When host Stephen Colbert asked him to summarize how the brain worked in five words, Pinker said, “Brain cells fire in patterns,” to thunderous applause from the audience.

The most common error made by student writers is addressing the wrong audience, Pinker said. Writers must act as better intuitive psychologists in order to anticipate readers’ mental processes, he explained.

“Considering the audience is at the core of writing,” said Gregory A. Harris, preceptor in expository writing and last year’s editor of “Exposé.”

After immersing themselves in research and academia, writers often assume that readers understand the jargon and conventions of specialists, Pinker said.

“With apologies to Yeats, I’d argue that we aren’t trying to create monuments to our own magnificence when we write—we’re trying to teach our readers to understand our ideas,” said Marlon D. Kuzmick, the editor of this year’s “Exposé.”

In order to make writing more accessible, Pinker suggested using concrete, plodding diction.

“Something to improve upon in my own writing is definitely the clarity— don’t assume that the reader is on the same terms,” said Joshua E. Martin ’11, who attended the talk.

Pinker was introduced by Interim Director of Expository Writing Thomas R. Jehn, who explained to the audience how Expository Writing has “changed my life.” Jehn met his wife after using her freshman Expos essay as a model for his students.