Gad Saad

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Gad Saad
Saad in 2010
Born (1964-10-13) 13 October 1964 (age 59)
Beirut, Lebanon
NationalityLebanese, Canadian
EducationMcGill University (BSc, MBA)
Cornell University (MSc, PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsMarketing, consumer behaviour
InstitutionsConcordia University
ThesisThe adaptive use of stopping policies in sequential consumer choice (1994)
Doctoral advisorEdward Russo
Websitegadsaad.com

Gad Saad (/ˈɡæd ˈsæd/; Arabic: جاد سعد; born 13 October 1964) is a Canadian marketing professor at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.[1] He is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour.[2][3] He wrote a blog for Psychology Today and hosts a YouTube channel titled "The Saad Truth".

Early life and education[edit]

Saad was born in 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon, he is of Lebanese Jewish and Syrian Jewish ancestry.[4] His family fled in October 1975 to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to escape the Lebanese Civil War.[5]

He obtained a B.Sc. (mathematics and computer science) and M.B.A. from McGill University, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.[6] Saad's doctoral adviser was J. Edward Russo, the mathematical and cognitive psychologist and behavioral decision theorist.

Saad is an atheist who describes himself as culturally Jewish.[7]

Career[edit]

Saad has been a professor of marketing at Concordia University since 1994. As of 2020, he holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences and Darwinian Consumption.[8] During this time he has also held visiting professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California, Irvine.[9] He was an associate editor for the journal Evolutionary Psychology from 2012 to 2015.[10] He is an advisory fellow for the Centre for Inquiry Canada.

Saad hosts a YouTube show titled The Saad Truth. As of February 2021, his channel has received more than 22 million views.[11]

Saad writes a blog for Psychology Today titled Homo Consumericus.[12]

Research[edit]

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,[13][14] how testosterone levels affect various forms of risk-taking,[15][16][17] and how hormones in the menstrual cycle affect buying decisions.[18][19] Another line of research has involved gift giving, including how men and women differ in why they give.[20][21][22][23]

Coverage and interviews[edit]

Saad has been profiled in the Toronto Star[11] and his life story was documented by the Télévision française de l'Ontario.[24] His views have also been mentioned in The Economist,[25] Forbes,[26] Chatelaine,[27] Time,[28] The Globe and Mail,[2] and The New York Times.[29]

Saad had been a contributing author for The Huffington Post[30] and The Wall Street Journal.[31]

Saad appeared on Reason TV in November 2011.[32] In September 2015, Saad was interviewed by TJ Kirk on the Drunken Peasants Podcast.[33]

As of 2022, he had been featured on seven episodes of Joe Rogan's podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.[11] In February 2022, Spotify removed 70 episodes of the podcast, one of which featured Saad, reportedly at Rogan's own request.[34][35]

Saad has also appeared on Sam Harris's Making Sense podcast (then titled Waking Up),[11] The Adam Carolla Show,[36] Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria,[37] and The Rubin Report.

Saad has repeatedly raised concerns of growing totalitarianism and antisemitism in Canada.[38][39][40] During the Canada convoy protest, Saad tweeted to Indian PM Narendra Modi, "Dear @narendramodi, we’re looking to leave Canada to escape the dictatorship. Any room for us in India?"[38] and to United States, "I need to flee Canada to start a new life in the United States. Will you take us in?"[39]

Honours and awards[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Saad, G. (2007). The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 9780805851502. Book review[43]
  • Saad, G. (ed.) (2011). Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences. Springer: Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN 9783540927839. Book review[44][45]
  • Saad, G. (2011). The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9781616144296. Book review[46]
  • Saad, G. (2020). The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 9781621579595.

Selected journal articles[edit]

  • "Sex Differences in the Ultimatum Game: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective". Journal of Bioeconomics. (2001).[47]
  • "The Effect of Conspicuous Consumption on Men's Testosterone Levels". Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. (2009).
  • "Future of evolutionary psychology". Futures. (2011).
  • "Evolutionary consumption". Journal of Consumer Psychology. (2013).
  • "The framing effect when evaluating prospective mates: An adaptationist perspective". Evolution and Human Behavior. (2014).

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Do Great Minds Think Alike? The Impact Of Culture On Your Creative Thinking Skills". Medical Daily, 22 May 2015 By Lizette Borreli
  2. ^ a b "Do human instincts explain what we buy, and why we want it?". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 13 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Does It Feel Better To Give Or Receive A Gift?". Popular Science, By Daniel Engber. 17 November 2015
  4. ^ On Behalf of My Ancestors and Those of My Wife, Please Accept This Apology (THE SAAD TRUTH_1247), retrieved 8 February 2024
  5. ^ "Story Profile - Passages Canada". passagestocanada.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Gad Saad". leighbureau.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  7. ^ Zeitlin, Alan (26 May 2021). "Jewish author Gad Saad stares down the growing tide of antisemitism". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Gad Saad, PhD". Concordia University. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Faculty". concordia.ca.
  10. ^ "Gad Saad Ph.D. | Psychology Today".
  11. ^ a b c d "Montreal professor known as 'The Gadfather' argues against political correctness". Toronto Star, Giuseppe Valiante. Canadian Press. 30 October 2016
  12. ^ "Homo Consumericus". Psychology Today. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  13. ^ Saad, Gad; Vongas, John G. (2009). "The effect of conspicuous consumption on men's testosterone levels". Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 110 (2): 80–92. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.06.001.
  14. ^ "Testosterone drives men to buy fast cars". CBC News. 14 October 2009.
  15. ^ Stenstrom, Eric; Saad, Gad; Nepomuceno, Marcelo; Mendenhall, Zack (2011). "Testosterone and domain-specific risk: Digit ratios (2D:4D and rel2) as predictors of recreational, financial, and social risk-taking behaviours". Personality and Individual Differences. 51 (4): 412–416. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.003.
  16. ^ Stenstrom, Eric; Saad, Gad (2011). "Testosterone, Financial Risk-Taking, and Pathological Gambling". Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics. 4 (4): 254–266. doi:10.1037/a0025963.
  17. ^ "Le succès au bout de l'index - ICI.Radio-Canada.ca". Radio-Canada.ca. 9 November 2010.
  18. ^ Saad, Gad; Stenstrom, Eric (2011). "Calories, beauty, and ovulation: The effects of the menstrual cycle on food and appearance-related consumption". Journal of Consumer Psychology. 22: 102–113. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.10.001.
  19. ^ "8 Dating Lies Men And Women Tell". Huffington Post. 26 March 2013.
  20. ^ Laroche, Michel; Saad, Gad; Browne, Elizabeth; Cleveland, Mark; Kim, Chankon (2000). "Determinants of In-Store Information Search Strategies Pertaining to a Christmas Gift Purchase". Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. 17 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1111/j.1936-4490.2000.tb00203.x.
  21. ^ Laroche, Michel; Saad, Gad; Cleveland, Mark; Browne, Elizabeth (2000). "Gender Differences in Information Search Strategies for a Christmas Gift". Journal of Consumer Marketing. 17 (6): 500–522. doi:10.1108/07363760010349920.
  22. ^ Laroche, Michel; Saad, Gad; Kim, Chankon; Browne, Elizabeth (2000). "A Cross-Cultural Study of In-Store Information Search Strategies for a Christmas Gift". Journal of Business Research. 49 (2): 113–126. doi:10.1016/S0148-2963(99)00008-9.
  23. ^ Gad Saad, Tripat Gill (2003). "An evolutionary psychology perspective on gift giving among young adults". Psychology and Marketing. 20 (9): 765–784. doi:10.1002/mar.10096. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012.
  24. ^ "Gad Saad". TFO Education.
  25. ^ "Homo_Administrans". The Economist. 25 September 2010.
  26. ^ DiSalvo, David. "When It Comes To Choosing Mates, Women And Men Often Get Framed". Forbes.
  27. ^ Flannery Dean (2 August 2012). "How your period dictates your spending habits". Chatelaine.
  28. ^ "Love is Marketing: Women Reject Men Based on Hype". Time.
  29. ^ Friedman, Richard A. (7 December 2004). "This Is for You, Dear, But It's All About Me". The New York Times.
  30. ^ Saad, Gad (21 January 2015). "Should Secular Societies Accommodate Religious Beliefs?". Huffington Post.
  31. ^ Saad, Gad (21 June 2011). "The Consuming Instinct". The Wall Street Journal.
  32. ^ Weissmueller, Zach (15 November 2011). "Reason.tv: Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature". Reason. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  33. ^ Drunken Peasants (30 September 2015), Gad Saad Joins Us - Steve Shives on Feminism and Atheism - Anita Sarkeesian at the UN - DPP #159, archived from the original on 15 December 2021, retrieved 6 July 2019
  34. ^ Ropek, Lucas (4 February 2022). "Spotify Just Removed 70 Episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience—but Not That One". Gizmodo. Retrieved 6 December 2022. Notably, the most recent removed episode, #1218, is from December 2018.
  35. ^ Shaw, Lucas (5 February 2022). "Joe Rogan Apologizes for Using Racial Slur on His Podcast". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  36. ^ "Dr. Gad Saad". adamcarolla.com. 14 August 2014.
  37. ^ Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria #75. 16 August 2015.
  38. ^ a b Bhattacharyya, Anirudh (16 February 2022). "News |Indo-Canadian organizations slam Trudeau's emergency over truckers protest". Hindustan Times.
  39. ^ a b "News | Canadian author Gad Saad wants to escape from 'dictatorship'; Writes to PM Modi asking for a room in India". East Coast In. 15 February 2022.
  40. ^ Saad, Gal (15 November 2023). "Opinion | Canadian university Concordia is unsafe for Jewish students and professors like me". National Post.
  41. ^ Concordia.ca Profile at Concordia
  42. ^ Aepsociety.org Archived 19 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  43. ^ Griskevicius, Vladas (2008). "DEFINE_ME_WA". Ehbonline.org. 29 (4): 297–298. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.12.006.
  44. ^ Patrick A. Stewart (2013). "Book Review: Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences". Politics and the Life Sciences. 32 (2): 130–133. doi:10.2990/32_2_130. S2CID 145406315.
  45. ^ Jevons, Colin (2013). "The Consuming Instinct by Gad Saad. Published by Prometheus Books, 2011 in New York, NY". Psychology & Marketing. 30 (3): 293. doi:10.1002/mar.20605.
  46. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature by Gad Saad. Prometheus, $25 (340p) ISBN 978-1-61614-429-6". PublishersWeekly.com. June 2011.
  47. ^ Saad, Gad; Gill, Tripat (1 May 2001). "Sex Differences in the Ultimatum Game: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective". Journal of Bioeconomics. 3 (2): 171–193. doi:10.1023/A:1020583425623. ISSN 1573-6989.

External links[edit]