Keyword search (3,940 papers available)


Sex differences in OCD symptomatology: an evolutionary perspective

Author(s): Gad Saad

Some evolutionists have construed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as the over-activation of warning systems in areas of evolutionary import. Using evolutionary theorizing, it is posited here that sex differences in the instantiation of specific obsessio...

Article GUID: 16828981
Suicide triggers as sex-specific threats in domains of evolutionary import: negative correlation between global male-to-female suicide ratios and average per capita gross national income

Author(s): Gad Saad

From an evolutionary perspective, suicide is a paradoxical phenomenon given its fatal consequences on one's reproductive fitness. That fact notwithstanding, evolutionists have typically used kin and group selection arguments in proposing that suicide mi...

Article GUID: 17011714
Munchausen by proxy: the dark side of parental investment theory?

Author(s): Gad Saad

The parental investment hypothesis provides a parsimonious explanation for a wide range of sexually dimorphic traits and behaviors across countless species. In the human context, the hypothesis posits that in light of the differentially greater parental inv...

Article GUID: 20627598
The consuming instinct. What Darwinian consumption reveals about human nature

Author(s): Gad Saad

Editor's note: In this engaging talk given last February on a particularly cold and blustery day at Texas Tech University, Professor Gad Saad of Concordia University discusses his work in the area of evolutionary consumption. In making the case for unde...

Article GUID: 24047091
The Epistemology of Evolutionary Psychology Offers a Rapprochement to Cultural Psychology

Author(s): Gad Saad

Many detractors of evolutionary psychology (EP) presume that adaptive arguments are nothing more than whimsical and unfalsifiable just-so stories. The reality though is that the epistemology of EP is precisely the opposite of this antiquated canard in that ...

Article GUID: 33224071
Title:The Epistemology of Evolutionary Psychology Offers a Rapprochement to Cultural Psychology
Authors:Gad Saad
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33224071/
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579578
Category:
PMID:33224071
Dept Affiliation: JMSB
1 John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.

Description:

Many detractors of evolutionary psychology (EP) presume that adaptive arguments are nothing more than whimsical and unfalsifiable just-so stories. The reality though is that the epistemology of EP is precisely the opposite of this antiquated canard in that it fixes the evidentiary threshold much higher than is typically achieved by most scientists. EP amasses evidence across cultures, time periods, disciplines, paradigms, methodologies, and units of analyses in validating a given scientific explanation. These nomological networks of cumulative evidence stimulate greater interdisciplinarity, lesser methodological myopia, and increased consilience (unity of knowledge). A component in building such nomological networks is to examine phenomena that are cross-culturally invariant (human universals) versus those that vary cross-culturally as adaptive responses (the domain of behavioral ecologists and gene-culture coevolution modelers). The epistemological efficacy of this unique approach is highlighted using two cases studies, the sex-specificity of toy preferences and men's preference for the hourglass figure.