Community | November 16, 2011 | 4 comments

Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QI2oJYsjeQ&sns=fb

itchywolf
"The Ferrari is exactly the same in the human context," says evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad, "as the peacock's tail is on the peacock."

Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist at Concordia University and author of the book The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal about Human Nature, in which he argues that most consumer behavior can be explained by evolutionary psychology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QI2oJYsjeQ&sns=fb
  1. groups:
    Community,   Current Cultural Issues,   Psychology
  2. tags:
    Evolution,  Consumerism,  Behavioral Studies,  Evolutionary Psychology,  2 more
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4 comments // Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature // Video

  • artemis6
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  

    • Which is why the idea we can continue to try and placate the relentless desires of billions of avaricious monkeys is planetary suicide.

      This is a good reminder of how many on both the right and the left often use ideology to deny the facts on the ground.

      We bemoan the insane devastation caused by every other monkey we see, or hear about, but none of us seem to be able to resist finishing that tempting pint of Ben & Jerry's, or grabbing the first shiny red rump within reach.

      (I'm amazingly blameless myself, of course--(!) : )
      I did put away my flashy sports car, and I do garden organically, but I still flirt with every pretty girl in sight, and (with shamelessly weak justification) use jet airplanes to carry my sweetie and myself to other hemispheres in the sun...
      Ah, humanity!...

      My closing thought in that vein is to recommend the film "In Time"
      It's a well-wrought little mirror to the our intrinsically bent economic world of economic determinism.

      No wait, another thought,--do you think if we'd stayed in the ocean--dolphins being the example of a high IQ social species-- things might be better off all around?
      I'd vote for that. I like to swim.

    • 6 months ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • Incredulous
    • +2
      Incredulous  

    • seems like these rituals were a lot less damaging to the ecosystem when men just put feathers on their heads and paint on their faces....

    • 6 months ago
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