Maria Konnikova

Early life

Dr. Konnikova was born in Moscow, Russia in 1984 to Jewish parents. Konnikova was 4 years old when her family migrated to the United States after the Soviet Union opened its borders to allow Jews to move to Israel. The Konnikovas chose to settle in the state of Massachusetts, outside Boston. Affected by the propaganda experienced in the Soviet Union, Konnikova's parents decided to live without a television.

Education

Dr. Konnikova attended Acton-Boxborough Regional High School Massachusetts.

After graduating from high school Konnikova attended Harvard University where she graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in psychology and creative writing. While studying at Harvard, Konnikova was mentored by psychologist and popular author Steven Pinker. Konnikova earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University in 2013. She chose Columbia University so that she could work with psychologist Walter Mischel; her student profile stated she was interested in...

...the effects of hot and cool emotional states on self-control ability and decision making, especially under risk and uncertainty. How do individual differences play into decision making processes? How are normal decision processes disrupted under hot conditions, and how can a better understanding of these disruptions allow us to make better decisions? She is also interested in the impact of individual and group identity on decision making.

Career

Following her graduation from Harvard, she worked as a producer for the Charlie Rose show where she helped set up the segment "Brain Series". Konnikova also wrote the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American and the psychology blog "Artful Choice" for Big Think, both of which she is no longer involved with. Her writing has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, The Paris Review and The New Republic. In April 2013 she had an article published in The New Yorker for the first time, and continues to contribute regularly with articles about psychology and science.

Konnikova's first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, was published by Viking Press/Penguin Group in January 2013, was a New York Times bestseller and was translated into 17 languages. Konnikova explained that she was first introduced to the character of Sherlock Holmes at a young age, when her father read Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories to her. She later read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories at an age that she calls "very impressionable" and states that "they certainly did change my life." Following the publication of the book, Konnikova explained her opinion on the importance of fiction in relation to psychology:

I tell this to everyone ... I think you lead an impoverished life if you only read nonfiction ... I think the best psychologists are actually fiction writers. Their understanding of the human mind is so far beyond where we've been able to get with psychology as a science ... You need the careful experimentation, but you also need to take a step back and realize that fiction writers are seeing a broader vista and are capable of providing you with insights or even ideas for studies.

Konnikova's second book "The Confidence Game" published by Viking Press/Penguin Group made the New York Times best seller list for February 2016 in the crime and punishment category, and the Canadian Best Sellers List for non fiction for the weeks ending January 26 and February 2

Konnikova makes regular appearances on The Gist podcast in her own segment called "Is that bullshit?"; and In early 2017, released her own 10 part podcast about con-artists and the lives they ruin, called The Grift.

Konnikova has taken up professional poker playing on a full-time basis, and will play in major poker tournaments around the world including the World Series of Poker. She has started at the Poker Stars tournament 2017 in Monte Carlo, and is completing the tour at the Poker Stars tournament 2018 in Monte Carlo. Konnikova will be coached by Erik Seidel. She is using the tour to conduct research for her next book which is due to be published in 2019.

Konnikova has spoken at events including the IdeaFestival, TEDx, SXSW, and CSICon.

Konnikova has identified J.D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Bulgakov and W.H. Auden as her favorite authors.

Awards

Konnikova's book, The Confidence Game was awarded the 2016 Robert P. Balles Prize by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.