Lera Boroditsky

Language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experience of being human. Appreciating its role in constructing our mental lives brings us one step closer to understanding the very nature of humanity. — Lera Boroditsky

In her talks, speaker Lera Boroditsky leads audiences on a mind-expanding tour of human cognition, asking and answering the question of how we get so smart. “Language guides our reasoning,” says Boroditsky, an associate professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego. She previously served on the faculty at MIT and at Stanford, and is the Editor in Chief of Frontiers in Cultural Psychology. The crux of her talks is to encourage audiences in thinking  about how this knowledge of language applies to their own lives—from work culture, to habits of creativity and innovation, to how we parse our daily interactions with friends and strangers alike. Language affects how we understand each other interpersonally and collaboratively—the bridge from one mind to another. With dry wit and fun, memorable examples, Boroditsky teaches us to see that language, like intelligence, is a living thing “that we can hone and change to suit our needs.”

Boroditsky’s research, which combines aspects of linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology, has been covered in the popular press, and she is a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences, like TED, and for corporate and educational gatherings. She is also a Searle Scholar, a McDonnell scholar, recipient of an NSF Career award, and an APA Distinguished Scientist lecturer. She went to graduate school at Stanford University, where she obtained her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology.