Customer Reviews

The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dr. Saad has been a pioneer in bringing evolutionary ideas to the field of business. An overwhelming body of literature has now demonstrated that human decision-making is influenced by adaptively motivated biases we inherited from our ancestors. It follows that those motivated biases will influence how we allocate our scarce economic resources. This has profound implications for consumer behavior, as Geoffrey Miller and others (Jill Sundie at UT, Vlad Griskevicius at Minnesota, and Josh Ackerman at MIT) have been arguing. These researchers have also been providing ample empirical demonstrations of the power of that viewpoint. Gad Saad has been been advancing an evolutionary approach to business for years, sometimes encountering opposition from colleagues in his field (who labor under a set of false Blank Slate assumptions that Saad reviews in the first chapter, along with brief rebuttals).

The consumer goods in Saad's clever title are not chosen randomly, but are matched to what he views as four overriding Darwinian pursuits:

1. Survival: We are here because our ancestors were inclined to eat fatty cooked meats and other calorie-dense foods scorned by all California vegans today. Transported into the present, our ancestors would have lined up at McDonald's for those juicy burgers in his title. In the modern world, Saad notes that the top ten restaurants are McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Starbuck's, Subway, Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Domino's Pizza, and Dunkin' Donuts. That diet does not help us live to 90, but the inclinations that drive those choices probably helped our ancestors survive until reproductive age.

2. Reproduction: As Saad notes, men are overwhelmingly the consumers of pornography, and this sex difference is just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, flashy overpowered sports cars are also overwhelmingly a male purchase, and, Saad argues, mainly used as a sexual signal (and indeed the media from Fox News to the Belfast Telegraph is abuzz this week with a series of studies by Jill Sundie and colleagues that demonstrates the links between Porsches and mating displays). In Saad's own research, he finds that simply driving an expensive sports car triggers a boost in men's testosterone levels.

3. Kin Selection: Saad notes that many of our purchases are made for direct kin. This month, I've shelled out money for Legos, art supplies, summer recreational programs, as well as a number of special foods aimed to please my seven-year-old son. I just got back from lunch with him, his older brother, and my two grandchildren, and to test your knowledge of marketing behavior and inclusive fitness, guess who paid?

4. Reciprocity: We not only buy gifts and lunches for our kin, we buy gifts for friends, pick up the tab at the restaurant when we're with close friends, and so on. We do so not because we're economically "irrational," but because it feels good to make our close associates feel good. Indeed, gift-giving is linked not only to friends and kin, it is used to woo mates and to maintain relationships with them (think Valentine's day and anniversary presents). I enjoy Saad's abundant use of statistics to bolster the points. He informs us that fully 10 percent of retail purchases in North America are for gifts, which boils down to $1,215 per person, which starts to add up after a while (to a whopping $253 billion per year in the economy, in fact).

One could quibble with Saad's list of motivational forces, but I will instead simply agree with something that David Buss says in the foreward to the Consuming Instinct: This is a book that should be required reading at business schools. Besides a broad-ranging overview of research on marketing, psychology, economics, anthropology, and biology, Saad peppers the book with lots of take-home messages for consumers, policy-makers, and business people (this is an appealing feature of books aimed at the business crowd -- a la Heath and Heath's Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die and Goldstein, Martin, and Cialdini's Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive- practical bottom-line suggestions of how the science can be used).

If you are either a professional businessperson or simply a consumer, I would challenge you read this book and Geoffrey Miller's Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior -- and not come away thinking very differently about people's motives for buying the many, many, things they buy.

Doug Kenrick is author of Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity are Revolutionizing our View of Human Nature

This is basically a tour of the evolutionary psychology (EP) space, with a particular emphasis on consumer behavior. It's got all the standard theories and studies and authors, presented in a pretty engaging style.

There were two sections that were a little different and that I particularly liked. In one, at the beginning, the author takes on several arguments that are typically made against EP. Valuable stuff. In the other, at the end of the book, Saad argues for EP as a basis for all social science research. It's a bit of a stretch, but a very interesting idea.

So, why only 3 stars? There are a number of reasons:

- There's not a lot that's new here. If you read Geoffrey Miller's Spent, you probably don't need to read this one.
- The author forgets to tie in consumer behavior at points, focusing more on straight EP. The things he has to say are invariably very interesting, but he really can leave the reader hanging.
- The author jumps around quite a bit. He does typically end one section with a transition to the next, but some of these are very jarring and artificial.
- Saad likes to engage the reader by sharing some personal stories. Some of these are great. Some, though, are shaggy dog stories.
- His treatment of religion is quite negative ("Bronze Age superstitions that are antithetical to every rational tenet"). I don't really mind that much personally, but I just kept wondering why that tone was necessary. That's especially the case when you consider that there is some EP thought out there that basically says we evolved to believe.

I am not a blogger or an author of any sort...just a curious person:) I am about a third into this book and I have learned sooooooooo much already. It def makes you see the world differently...in a good way. The author's writing is very clear and engaging. He clearly is passionate about this topic and this passion is infectious!!! I will def read another one of his books after this one.

The Consuming Instinct is a solid, well-written, and well-researched book that summarizes most of the social science findings regarding evolutionary psychology as it relates to consumer buyer behavior. We would all like to behave in a certain way (e.g., eat healthier, exercise, etc.), and this book does a wonderful job of explaining why our best intentions and our actual results are quite varied. If you ever wondered why you "want" to eat a salad and go for a run, but instead end up ordering a burger while watching a movie, this book is for you. It ends the ever-changing notion of how consumers "should" behave, and offers compelling evidence for how they actually "do" behave. Further, the ideas posited in this book have held true over time; and from the wealth of evidence presented, they will likely hold true for the foreseeable future. Anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the underlying forces that drive human behavior, particularly as it relates to marketing and consumption, should consume The Consuming Instinct!

I thought this book was really interesting and well-written. It has a lot of good information on the fundamental role that evolution plays in human behavior. A must-read for understanding modern society.

You get what the book says it will give no doubt about it, but you need to stay focused if u skim you will miss many important sophisticated details and words. But when he talks about the darwinism aspects of the consumer that's when the fun and games begins...its ok to skip to those middle chapters for the juicy comment although the book keeps you intrigued throughout the read

Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

There are 293 pages of text in this book and 45 pages of excellent notes (462 total). This means that there are approximately 1.6 footnotes per page. Most of the notes, incidentally, are academic (credible, highly reliable, and easy to trace). Saad has done his homework!

In addition to the wide variety of superb sources, Gad Saad has an excellent, competent, and credible background to write such a book as this. Quoting from the inside flyleaf of the cover: "[He is] a popular blogger for Psychology Today, is a professor of marketing at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. He holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption and is the author of The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption, as well as numerous scientific papers."

Saad's explanation for why he carefully chose the words in his subtitle (pages 12-13) was terrific. They relate to the four key Darwiian drives: 1) our penchant for fatty foods, 2) the sexual signals in the mating arena, 3) the evolutionary forces that shape human sexuality, and 4) gift giving--linked, says Saad, "to all four Darwinian overriding drives" (p. 13).

To give you a flavor of Saad's writing, and what's in store for readers with respect to subjects and vocabulary, note this excerpt from page 15: " . . . I provide an overview of evolutionary psychology and contrast it with the socialization perspective. I tackle some of the fallacies that persist with regard to evolutionary theory. I address the infamous nature-versus-nurture debate, as it helps in understanding which elements of consumption are learned, which are innate, and which are shaped by an inextricable melange of both forces" (p. 15).

If you are looking for a relevant learning experience, this book will serve that purpose in spades. Not only is it well-written, but the way Saad incorporates the research into his writing is exemplary. It makes for smooth reading along with the education. There is so much information in this book you cannot help but be impressed.

Saad's examination of contemporary musical song lyrics -- "some of the most powerful cultural fossils for those wishing to understand the evolution of the human mind" (p. 152) -- is truly outstanding (pp. 152-158). He looks at television storylines, movies, and literature and proves to readers he is a pop culture junkie. This is an outstanding chapter: Cahpter 6, "Cultural Products: Fossils of the Human Mind" (pp. 149-176). But, you will find that it is outstanding along with most other chapters in the book. That is, depending on your own expertise or interests, you will have no trouble finding specific material that is immediate, relevant, and fascinating.

Whether you are highly educated or lack a degree in higher education, you will come away from this book "with a deep appreciation of the power of evolutionary theory in helping [us] navigate through [our] daily lives" (p. 293). It is truly astounding how much of our consuming instinct is guided by our biological heritages, and if you did not believe it before reading this book, the sheer weight of the evidence and the incredible number of examples throughout the book will not just leave you convinced, it will leave you overwhelmed. What a terrific book! Brilliant!

This is a fine book. It made me think. It does a good job of breaking down social constructionist theory about how everything is about nature and not nurture - those were some of the highlights. I think the author makes some big leaps about how we have evolved and what we consume, many of which are probably accurate. He does seem to be quite angst about organized religion and the existence of God. I could do without the overt antagonistic elite atheism.

I appreciate his thinking, scholarship and for looking at this issue in a new way.

In this book, Gad Saad approaches human consumption preferences in the most sensible way possible: he sees them as products of evolved psychological adaptation. Because he takes this evolutionary, "bottom-up" approach--concerned with the ultimate foundations of consumption--Professor Saad is able to achieve a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of consumption, and of effective marketing techniques, than most other works on these topics. Moreover, Prof. Saad is deeply and widely knowledgeable about research in evolutionary psychology, and so the book is filled with numerous example of relevant studies, including many that were conducted by Prof Saad himself. Plus the book is written in an engaging and entertaining style that makes it a pleasure to read. Highly recommended to anyone interested in consumption, marketing, or psychology in general.

Coming from a business and liberal arts educational background while growing up in a family of natural scientists, I always wondered why evolutionary theory was completely absent in the realm of business academia. Before this book was released, I came across Saad's academic book, 'The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption.' According to a review by economist Joseph Vogel, "What he has synthesized in a mere 264 pages of text is much more than The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption. As an economist, I would say that Saad has achieved "The Evolution of Human Preferences."

'The Consuming Instinct' achieves the same end, but in a more accessible, entertaining way. Put frankly, this book will challenge everything you thought you knew about business and enhance your decision making in the marketplace. If anything, I would say this is more of a treatise than a trade book, ushering in a new era of thought in which biology and evolutionary theory "take their rightful place at the business round table" via four Darwinian modules: survival, reproduction, kin selection and reciprocity.

More specifically, in an age of globalization, digitization and deregulation, it's crucial to be able to understand human universals when it comes to topics such as Local vs. Global Advertising, Product Development, Sales Strategy and a host of other issues. My personal "hope" is that business people lean less toward "marketing hope by selling lies" (chapter 8) and more toward "developing products and services with 1) nature as model, 2) nature as measure, 3) nature as mentor." (chapter 10)

I'm sure many readers may find the author's approach to science vs. religion contentious and perhaps unnecessary. It's true that practitioners usually have to adopt a more diplomatic stance on the issues, yet Saad's role as an academic looking to make an impact on the fresh pool of students burdened by previous generations' uninformed intellectual frameworks reminds me of a famous Max Planck quote: "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

Definitely looking forward to checking out 'Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences," an academic book edited by the author. Also, check out Saad's blog on Psychology Today for fun-filled posts on a wide range of topics through an evolutionary lens.