Professor Pinker explores ideas drawn from his book entitled The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined.

This lecture discusses the notion that contrary to popular belief that we live in exceptionally violent times, rates of violence have been in decline over the course of history.

Professor Steven Pinker is an award-winning experimental psychologist who works at Harvard University.

He has been named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Society and has been listed among Prospect magazine's top 100 public intellectuals in the world and Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world today.

Recorded on Wednesday 29 May 2013 at The University of Edinburgh's McEwan Hall.