Sherry Turkle

Sherry Turkle is Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a clinical psychologist. Born in New York City, she has focused her research on psychoanalysis and culture and on the psychology of people's relationship with technology, especially computer technology and computer addiction.

In The Second Self, Turkle uses mainly Jean Piaget's psychology discourse to discuss how children learn about computers and how this affects their and our minds.

In Life on the Screen, Turkle claims that misrepresenting oneself in a Multi-User Dungeon may be therapeutic. As far as women and computers are concerned, Turkle points out women's "non-linear" approach to the technology, calling it "soft mastery" and "bricolage" (as opposed to the "hard mastery" of linear, abstract thinking and computer programming). She also considers the problems that arise when using MUDs. One problem is differentiating between real life and Internet crimes that are committed. She questions the ferocity and dangers of online "rape" because of the different responses she has seen to the occurrences. Another problem she talks about is what happens when underage children present themselves as people above the age of 18. This leads to the problem of adults having relationships with children posing as older people.

Turkle also explores the psychological and societal impact of such "relational artifacts" as sociable robots, and how these and other technologies are changing attitudes about human life and concepts about what it means for something to be alive. One result may be a devaluation of authentic experience in a relationship.

Turkle has been referred to as "cybershrink" by parts of the media.

Books

 * Psychoanalytic Politics: Jacques Lacan and Freud's French Revolution (1978)
 * The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit (1984)
 * Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (1995) (paperback ISBN 0-684-83348-4)
 * Forthcoming book on Robotics

Journal papers

 * Sherry Turkle, Will Taggart, Cory D. Kidd, and Olivia Dasté. (December 2006). Relational Artifacts with Children and Elders: The Complexities of Cybercompanionship. Connection Science, 18(4).