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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 consuming instinct. What Darwinian consumption reveals about human nature
Authors:Gad Saad
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24047091/
DOI:10.2990/32_1_58
Category:
PMID:24047091
Dept Affiliation: JMSB
1 Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montreal, Canada H3G 1M8, gadsaad@jmsb.concordia.ca.

Description:

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 understanding consumerism from a Darwinian perspective, Saad addresses several key tenets from his books The Consuming Instinct (1) and The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption. (2) In particular, Saad argues that: (1) many consumption acts can be mapped onto four key Darwinian modules (survival, mating, kin selection, and reciprocal altruism); and, (2) cultural products such as song lyrics and movie plotlines are fossils of the human mind that highlight a shared, biologically based human nature. In this wide-ranging inquiry, Saad summarizes several of his other empirical works, including the effects of conspicuous consumption on men's testosterone levels (3) and how the ovulatory cycle in the human female influences consumption. (4) Overall, Professor Saad contends that an infusion of evolutionary and biologically based perspectives into the discipline of consumer behavior and related government regulatory policies yields myriad benefits, notably greater consilience, more effective practices, an ethos of interdisciplinarity, and methodological pluralism.