ALLELE Lecturer to Discuss “The Consuming Instinct”

Dr. Gad Saad, an evolutionary economist and professor of marketing at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, will deliver the next lecture in the 2013-2014 ALLELE Lecture series on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Biology Building Auditorium on The University of Alabama campus. His lecture, “The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature,” is based on his book of the same title.

ALLELE lectures are coordinated by the Evolution Working Group at UA, and are free and open to the public.

Saad’s talk will offer a synopsis of his work in the area of evolutionary consumption by discussing key tenets of his book. Saad asserts that many consumption acts can be mapped onto four key Darwinian modules: survival, mating, kin selection, and reciprocal altruism. Furthermore, Saad’s book explains that cultural products such as song lyrics and movie plotlines are “fossils of the human mind” that highlight a shared biological-based human nature.

Read more about Saad on the UA News site.