Gad Saad

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. He is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. He wrote a blog for Psychology Today and hosts a YouTube channel titled "The Saad Truth".

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

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. 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.

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. During this time he has also held visiting professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California, Irvine. He was an associate editor for the journal Evolutionary Psychology from 2012 to 2015. 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.

Saad writes a blog for Psychology Today titled Homo Consumericus.

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, how testosterone levels affect various forms of risk-taking, and how hormones in the menstrual cycle affect buying decisions. Another line of research has involved gift giving, including how men and women differ in why they give.

Saad has been profiled in the Toronto Star and his life story was documented by the Télévision française de l'Ontario. His views have also been mentioned in The Economist, Forbes, Chatelaine, Time, The Globe and Mail, and The New York Times.

Saad had been a contributing author for The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

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

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

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

Saad has repeatedly raised concerns of growing totalitarianism and antisemitism in Canada. 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?" and to United States, "I need to flee Canada to start a new life in the United States. Will you take us in?"

• Distinguished Teaching Award – John Molson School of Business (2000)
• Darwinism Applied Award – Applied Evolutionary Psychology Society (AEPS) (2014)

Books

• Saad, G. (2007). The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 9780805851502. Book review
• Saad, G. (ed.) (2011). Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences.Springer: Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN 9783540927839. Book review
• 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
• Saad, G. (2020). The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 9781621579595.

Selected journal articles

• "Sex Differences in the Ultimatum Game:An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective". Journal of Bioeconomics. (2001).
• "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).