Steven Pinker Mind Over Mass Media Summary

In Steven Pinker’s “Mind over Mass Media” he tries to argue that new forms of media are not detrimental to learning but in fact promote higher intellect. Through his short argumentative essay Pinker addresses his audience in a more opinionated way without almost any use of facts. At first glance, his essay sounds convincing but when it is broken down and analyzed Pinker’s whole point seems weak. First the reader should consider the context of Pinker’s essay, how and what he is trying to convince the reader of. Pinker starts his essay with a long list of negative conceptions about the effects of mass media on learning making it appear that that is what he will be arguing, how electronic technologies are harmful to gaining knowledge. However, Pinker then goes on to contradict his opening with a non-technological example of how certain media like comic books “were accused of turning juveniles into delinquents in the 1950s [as] crime was falling,” suggesting the mass media doesn’t hurt a person’s moral intellect but in fact improves it (1029). Nowhere did Pinker provide valid evidence for his …show more content…
It is suggested that Pinker is writing this essay not only to all the readers of the New York Times, where his essay was published, but also for a specific group. One on hand, his audience is the general public because anyone with basic education could read and understand what he is writing about. The more specific audience would be phycologist, like Pinker himself. The reader realizes this when Pinker cites two other phycologists, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, because everyday readers would most likely not know who these people are or the books he is referencing. Pinker’s essay is more likely geared towards his fellow physiologist because he is arguing his opinion instead of just informing, which he would be doing if it was just for the general