Ellen Winner, Professor of Psychology, Boston College

Ellen Winner is Professor of Psychology at Boston College and Senior Research Associate at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. She directs the Arts and Mind Lab, which focuses on cognition in the arts in typical and gifted children as well as adults. She received the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Research by a Senior Scholar in Psychology and the Arts from Division 10 in 2000.

"This shift from philosophical analysis to a robust empirical approach of experiment and observation is the starting point of this book, which is a fascinating account of social scientists' investigations of art through interviews, experiments, data collection, and statistical analysis. Winner touches on a variety of topics ranging from music and emotion, fiction and empathy, the Mozart effect, and perfect fakes and forgeries, to Hockney's theory of optical aids, effort bias, artistic prodigies, deliberate practice and talent, and our curious enjoyment of negative emotions. Recommended for all readers." - Choice

"In this thoughtful, judicious, and fascinating book, you'll find our best current answers to all the questions that thinking people ask about art, including what it is, what makes it great, whether it is universal, why we make and enjoy it, and whether it is good for us. How Art Works will be the place to look for knowledge on how art works for years to come. " - Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and Enlightenment Now

"Never have the links between the world of the arts and the sciences of the mind been so carefully and fruitfully drawn as they are in Winner's new book. " - David Olson, University Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto