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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:Sex differences in OCD symptomatology: an evolutionary perspective
Authors:Gad Saad
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16828981/
DOI:10.1016/j.mehy.2006.05.017
Category:
PMID:16828981
Dept Affiliation: JMSB
1 John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montreal, QC, Canada H3G 1M8. gadsaad@jmsb.concordia.ca

Description:

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 obsessions and/or compulsions might correspond to sex-specific differences in the evolutionary import of the domain to which the particular symptom maps onto (e.g., mating versus parenting). Even in instances where no sex differences are found in the incidence of a particular obsession and/or compulsion (e.g., the extent to which men and women might suffer from intrusive thoughts), an evolutionary perspective might nonetheless propose that the contents of such thoughts map onto sex-specific adaptive concerns (e.g., social status and appearance-related concerns for men and women, respectively). An evolutionary approach might help not only in explaining sex differences in OCD phenomenology but also in elucidating within-sex manifestations of OCD symptoms (e.g., the shifting strength of contamination fears across a woman's menstrual cycle). The current evolutionary perspective not only provides an integrative ultimate-level meta-framework in understanding previously-found sex differences in OCD but also it permits OCD researchers to propose innovative hypotheses that otherwise might have been unlikely to be posited if one were to strictly focus on a proximate exploration of OCD. Cross-cultural clinical data, originating from a heterogeneous set of cultures and highlighting universal patterns of sex-specific OCD symptomatology, would provide a strong test of the posited hypotheses.