Nancy Etcoff (born 1955) is an American psychologist at Harvard University, where has taught classes about the mind, brain, behavior, and aesthetics. She 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. In addition, she works at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Etcoff earned her B.A from Brown University. She initially studied comparative literature before switching her major to psychology. 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 (MIT).
Etcoff is an associate professor of Harvard Medical School and works as a psychologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. 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.
Etcoff leads seminars in neuroaesthetics. In her 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest: the Science of Beauty, 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 artifact derived from evolutionary genetic pressure. This book was the basis of a one-hour Discovery Channel episode. Etcoff has made many appearances in mainstream American media on the subject of beauty including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic, Forbes, Fortune, and others. Etcoff gave a presentation titled "Happiness and Its Surprises" at TED, and appeared on National Public Radio (NPR)'s TED Radio Hour. Etcoff's definitions of human happiness have been reported by Harvard Medical Magazine.
In 2017, Etcoff was co-author of Zen and the Art of Living Mindfully: The Health-Enhancing Potential of Zen Aesthetics. She has 15 earlier publications, primarily on facial expressions and facial attractiveness, listed at Medline.
Etcoff was born in 1955. Etcoff was married to the cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker from 1980 to 1992.