Gad Saad

Gad Saad (/ɡæd sæd/; born October 13, 1964) is a Lebanese-Canadian evolutionary behavioural scientist at the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)^[1] who is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour.^[2][3] He holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences and Darwinian Consumption (2008–2018)^[4] and has a blog at Psychology Today titled Homo Consumericus.^[5]

Biography

Early life and education

Saad was born in 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon, to a Jewish family. His family fled to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in October 1975 to escape the Lebanese Civil War and antisemitism.^[6] He obtained a B.Sc. (Mathematics and Computer Science) and M.B.A. from McGill University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.^[7] Saad's doctoral adviser was the mathematical/cognitive psychologist and behavioural decision theorist Edward Russo. He is now an atheist and critical towards religions in general.^[8]

Career and research

Saad has been a professor of marketing at Concordia University since 1994. During this time he has also held visiting professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California, Irvine.^[9] He is associate editor for the journal Evolutionary Psychology, and an advisory fellow for the Centre for Inquiry Canada.

One line of research that Saad has been exploring is how hormones affect consumers and the decisions they make. Examples of this research include how showy products affect testosterone levels,^[10][11] how testosterone levels affect various forms of risk-taking,^[12][13][14] and how hormones in the menstrual cycle affect buying decisions.^[15][16] Another line of research has involved gift giving, including how men and women differ in why they give.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Media presence

Saad also has a YouTube series titled The Saad Truth in which he makes videos critiquing political correctness, the ideology of multiculturalism, postmodernism, third-wave feminism, the ideology of Islam, safe-spaces and trigger warnings.^[21][22] His guests have included Hamed Abdel-Samad, Jerry Coyne, Steven Crowder, Daniel Dennett, Hazem Farraj, Tarek Fatah, Sarah Haider, Sam Harris, Gavin McInnes, Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson,^[23] Tommy Robinson, Carl Benjamin, Dave Rubin, Anthony Scaramucci, Christina Hoff Sommers, Robert Spencer, David Wood, Milo Yiannopoulos and Bret Weinstein^[24].

Honours and awards

• Distinguished Teaching Award—John Molson School of Business (2000)^[25]
• Hot Professor—Maclean's (2001 and 2002)^[25]
• Darwinism Applied Award—AEPS (2014)^[26]

Bibliography

Books

• Saad, G. (2011). The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Book review^[27]
• Saad, G. (ed.) (2011). Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences. Springer: Heidelberg, Germany. Book review^[28][29]
• Saad, G. (2007). The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Book review^[30]

Selected journal articles

• "The framing effect when evaluating prospective mates: An adaptationist perspective". Evolution and Human Behavior. (2014).
• "Evolutionary consumption". Journal of Consumer Psychology. (2013).
• "Future of evolutionary psychology". Futures. (2011).
• "The Effect of Conspicuous Consumption on Men’s Testosterone Levels". Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. (2009).^[10]
• "Sex Differences in the Ultimatum Game: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective". Journal of Bioeconomics. (2001).

Articles and interviews

Saad has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal^[31] and The Huffington Post.^[32] His views have also been mentioned in The Economist,^[33] Forbes,^[34] Chatelaine,^[35] Time,^[36] and The New York Times.^[37]

Saad's life story was documented by the Télévision française de l'Ontario.^[38] He appeared on #WeThePeople Podcast with Josh Zepps and the Waking Up Podcast with Sam Harris. He was interviewed by Adam Carolla^[39] in Kill Mag and on Reason TV. He was featured on four episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience and on Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria.^[40] He was interviewed on The Rubin Report^[41] and on the Drunken Peasants Podcast^[42]. On July 10 2017, Saad appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.

On May 10, 2017, Saad testified against Bill C-16 (An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code) which was broadcast and then later publicized in the popular news. In his testimony, he claimed that the bill will limit his rights to teach evolutionary psychology in his classroom.

References

External links

• Saad's website
• Homo Consumericus, Psychology Today blog
• Saad's YouTube channel