Nancy Etcoff
{{Short description|American psychologist}}
Nancy Etcoff (born 1955) is an American psychologist and researcher at Harvard University. Etcoff has maintained a private practice in psychology, and taught classes about the mind, brain, behavior, and aesthetics at Harvard Medical School. Etcoff is best known for her 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest: the Science of Beauty arguing for a biological basis for beauty linked to evolutionary psychology.
Education
Etcoff earned her B.A from Brown University. She initially studied comparative literature before switching her major to psychology.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/10/neuroaesthetics-cover/|title=Beauty and the Brain: The Emerging Field of Neuroaesthetics {{!}} Arts {{!}} The Harvard Crimson|last1=Pak|first1=Faith A.|last2=Reichsman|first2=Ethan B.|website=www.thecrimson.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-19|date=November 10, 2017}} 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.
Work and research
Etcoff is an associate professor of Harvard Medical School and works as a psychologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.{{Cite web|url=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|title=Harvard Medical School Directory|last=|first=|date=|website=Harvard Medical School|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.massgeneral.org/psychiatry/research/neuroimaging_labs.aspx|title=Psychiatric Neuroimaging Division - Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA|website=www.massgeneral.org|access-date=2019-03-03}}
= Psychology of beauty and happiness =
Etcoff teaches seminars in neuroaesthetics. In her 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest: the Science of Beauty,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWqBAAAAMAAJ|title=Survival of the prettiest: the science of beauty|last=Etcoff|first=Nancy L.|date=1999-02-16|publisher=Doubleday|language=en|isbn=9780385478540}} 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 artefact derived from evolutionary genetic pressure. This book was the basis of a one-hour Discovery Channel episode.{{Cite web|url=https://www.edge.org/memberbio/nancy_etcoff|title=Nancy Etcoff {{!}} Edge.org|website=www.edge.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}} Etcoff has made many appearances in mainstream US media on the subject of beauty including the New York Times and Good Morning America.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/02/does-makeup-hurt-self-esteem/makeup-can-provide-a-fleeting-confidence-boost-to-some|title=Makeup Can Provide a Fleeting Confidence Boost to Some|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/style/mirror-mirror-biologically-speaking-isn-t-she-beautiful.html|title=MIRROR, MIRROR; Biologically Speaking, Isn't She Beautiful?|last=Green|first=Penelope|date=1999-02-28|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/21/books/the-beautiful-people.html|title=The Beautiful People|last=Lehrman|first=Karen|author-link=Karen Lehrman Bloch|date=1999-03-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111646511525037699|title=Does Reality Sell Beauty?|last1=Branch|first1=Shelly|date=2005-05-19|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2019-03-03|last2=Ball|first2=Deborah|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1999/04/30/survival-prettiest/|title=Survival of the Prettiest|website=EW.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/biology-beauty-178836|title=The Biology Of Beauty|date=1996-06-02|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/boost-your-self-esteem-an-interview-with-nancy-etcoff-phd|title=How to Love That Woman in the Mirror|work=Oprah.com|access-date=2019-03-03|language=en-us}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/news/a60373/womens-body-confidence-declining/|title=This Dove Report Reveals Shocking Results About Women's Body Confidence|last=Allen|first=Maya|date=2016-06-23|website=Cosmopolitan|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/in-living-color-a-makeup-adventure-638982|title=Adventures in Makeup|last=Gutierrez|first=Claire|date=2012-03-05|website=ELLE|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/03/the-truth-about-beauty/305620/|title=The Truth About Beauty|last=Postrel|first=Virginia|date=2007-03-01|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/new-statement-eyebrows-bushy-bleached|title=What's the New Statement Brow of the Moment? The Season's Best Options, from Bushy to Bleached|website=Vogue|date=4 February 2015 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allure.com/story/face-wash-is-the-fastest-growing-skin-care-category|title=Why Every Skin-Care Brand Is Focusing on Face Wash Right Now|website=Allure|date=3 April 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2015/04/15/why-doves-choose-beautiful-campaign-sparked-a-backlash/|title=Why Dove's 'Choose Beautiful' campaign sparked a backlash|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/04/23/for-working-women-focus-on-beauty-erodes-self-confidence/|title=For Working Women, Focus On Beauty Erodes Self Confidence|last=Jacobs|first=Deborah L.|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}} Etcoff has given a TED talk "Happiness and Its Surprises",{{Citation|last=Etcoff|first=Nancy|title=Happiness and its surprises|date=10 June 2009 |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_etcoff_on_happiness_and_why_we_want_it?language=en|language=en|access-date=2019-03-19}} and appeared on NPR's TED Radio Hour.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/06/14/177490162/are-we-hard-wired-for-beauty|title=Denis Dutton and Nancy Etcoff: Are We Hard-Wired for Beauty?|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/04/19/174724704/what-is-beauty|title=What Is Beauty?|website=NPR.org|date=19 April 2013 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-19}} Etcoff's definitions of human happiness have been reported by Harvard Medical Magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/science-emotion/contagion-happiness|title=The Contagion of Happiness {{!}} Harvard Medicine magazine|website=hms.harvard.edu|access-date=2019-03-19}}
= Scientific publications =
In 2017, Etcoff was co-author of Zen and the Art of Living Mindfully: The Health-Enhancing Potential of Zen Aesthetics.{{Cite journal|last1=Lomas|first1=T.|last2=Etcoff|first2=N.|last3=Van Gordon|first3=W.|last4=Shonin|first4=E.|date=October 2017|title=Zen and the Art of Living Mindfully: The Health-Enhancing Potential of Zen Aesthetics|journal=Journal of Religion and Health|volume=56|issue=5|pages=1720–1739|doi=10.1007/s10943-017-0446-5|issn=1573-6571|pmid=28718052|s2cid=30739871|url=http://roar.uel.ac.uk/6096/1/Lomas%20et%20al.%20%282017%29%20-%20The%20art%20of%20living%20mindfully%20%28uploadable%29.pdf}} She has 15 earlier publications, primarily on facial expressions and facial attractiveness, listed at Medline.{{Cite web|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Etcoff%20NL%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=21991328|title=Pubmed|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}
Personal life
Etcoff was born in 1955.{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n87-137366/|title=WorldCat|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} Etcoff was married to the cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker from 1980 to 1992.{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0684348/bio|title=Steven Pinker|website=IMDb|access-date=2020-01-21}}
References
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Category:Harvard Medical School faculty
Category:Boston University alumni
Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
Category:American women psychologists
Category:21st-century American psychologists
Category:American women academics
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:20th-century American psychologists