psychology

The Long Shadow Cast by Lily Bart’s Cosmetic Morality

The Long Shadow Cast by Lily Bart’s Cosmetic Morality

Lily Bart is nothing if not a master of self-denial, supremely talented at self-deception and shameless rationalization, which inevitably bleeds into her distinctive brand of morality. At the beginning of House of Mirth, Wharton is careful to clarify that Lily is not “scrupulous” in the traditional sense, but that she maintains the illusion of moral…

The Evolution of the Style Guide: An Interview with Psycholinguist Steven Pinker

The Evolution of the Style Guide: An Interview with Psycholinguist Steven Pinker

  Steven Pinker is a cognitive scientist and psychologist whose work focuses on language–how it works and how it breaks down. Drawing upon his nearly forty years of research, as well as his experiences on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, Pinker has developed a new guide to writing good prose called The…