The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption

Saad, Gad

doi:10.4324/9780203936993

Cited by 232 publications

(168 citation statements)

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“…In line with arguments presented here, some evolutionary theorists agree with the existence of a variety of domain-general mechanisms, in addition to evolved domain-specific motivational dispositions(Chiappe & MacDonald, 2005;MacDonald, 1991;Saad, 2007).…”

supporting

confidence: 85%

“…Most prior research has investigated the behavioral effects of women's ovulatory shifts by focusing on their increased mating motives during the fertile phase of the ovulatory cycle. Such research has mainly relied on domain-specific theories of evolutionary psychology to explain fertility effects (for excellent reviews relating research on evolutionary psychology to consumer behavior, see Saad, 2007Saad, , 2011Saad & Gill, 2000). Given appropriate assumptions, increased variety seeking in the mating domain (Study 1) by fertile women may be explained with evolutionary psychology accounts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation

2013

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We propose that women's increased generalized sensitivity to rewards during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle causes them to seek more variety in rewards when they are in the fertile phase than when they are not in the fertile phase of the cycle. In Studies 1-3, across the reward domains of mating and hedonic food, we show that women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation. Moreover, we provide support for the proposition that women's increased reward sensitivity during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle causes their greater variety seeking. Specifically, in Study 3, we show that fertile women's greater variety seeking does not extend to non-rewards, such as non-hedonic food. Our findings suggest that behavioral effects of women's hormonal shifts during the menstrual cycle are not limited to the mating domain and may extend to a wide category of reward domains.

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supporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation

2013

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“…It suggests that human behavior is the sum of environment and evolutionary adaptation (Buss, 1989). The theories and methods of evolutionary psychology are used not only in anthropology (e.g., Quinlan, 2008) and psychology (e.g., Buss, 1989), but have also recently been used in economics (Galor and Moav, 2002), sociology (Horne, 2004), business sciences (Saad, 2007), population studies (Bock, 1999), and criminology (Daly and Wilson, 1997). The evolutionary psychological approach is also emerging in political science.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Caveman Politics: Evolutionary Leadership Preferences and Physical Stature

Murray¹,

Schmitz²

2011

Social Science Quarterly

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Objective. Following evolutionary psychology, we argue that physical stature matters in preferences regarding political leadership. Particularly, a preference for physically formidable leaders evolved to promote survivability in the violent human ancestral history. Methods. We present two studies of original data to assess individual attitudes regarding the association between physical stature and political leadership. Analytical methods include ordered probit regression. Results. The findings are consistent with the evolutionary theory presented here. Study 1 indicates that individuals tend to prefer leaders with greater physical stature, while Study 2 indicates that males with greater physical stature are more likely to think of themselves as qualified to be a leader and, through this increased sense of efficacy, they are more likely to demonstrate interest in pursuing a leadership position. Conclusion. Consistent with emerging evidence from other research perspectives, political behavior, in this case preferences regarding political leadership, is shaped by both environmental and evolutionary forces.There is increasing recognition that human behavior is subject to both social and biological effects. Despite the rejection of evolutionary theory by social scientists for much of the 20th century (Degler, 1993), emerging evidence suggests that behavior is shaped by the environment as well as by evolutionary adaptation, genetic inheritance, and genotypic-environmental interaction. For example, research shows that the number of years of school completed by adoptees and their biological mothers are significantly related (Björklund, Lindahl, and Plug, 2006), that variations in sex hormones modulate spatial cognition in women (Hausmann et al., 2000), and that religiosity is substantially influenced by genetic inheritance

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“…The evolutionary consumer research project is well underway, as citations in the G&K and S articles indicate. Saad's contribution to this developing sub-discipline already includes three books on evolution, consumption, and business (e.g., Saad, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary psychology is not the only productive evolutionary approach to understanding consumer behavior

Downes

2013

J Consum Psychol

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I respond to Vladas Griskevicius and Douglas T. Kendrick (G&K) and Gad Saad's (S) defenses of the view that Consumer Studies would benefit from the appeal to evolution in all work aimed at understanding consumer behavior. I argue that G&K and S's reliance on one theoretical perspective, that of evolutionary psychology, limits their options. Further, I point out some specific problems with the theoretical perspective of evolutionary psychology. Finally, I introduce some alternative evolutionary approaches to studying human behavior that could profitably be adopted in consumer research.

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The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption

Cited by 232 publications

References 0 publications

Women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation

Women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation

Caveman Politics: Evolutionary Leadership Preferences and Physical Stature

Evolutionary psychology is not the only productive evolutionary approach to understanding consumer behavior

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