Dominant individuals are often most influential in their social groups, affecting movement, opinion, and performance across species and contexts. Yet, behavioral traits like aggression, intimidation, and coercion, which are associated with and in many cases define dominance, can be socially aversive. The traits that make dominant individuals influential in one context may therefore reduce their influence in other contexts. Here, we examine this association between dominance and influence using the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni, comparing the influence of dominant and subordinate males during normal social interactions and in a more complex group consensus association task. We find that phenotypically dominant males are aggressive, socially central, and that these males have a strong influence over normal group movement, whereas subordinate males are passive, socially peripheral, and have little influence over normal movement. However, subordinate males have the greatest influence in generating group consensus during the association task. Dominant males are spatially distant and have lower signal-to-noise ratios of informative behavior in the association task, potentially interfering with their ability to generate group consensus. In contrast, subordinate males are physically close to other group members, have a high signal-to-noise ratio of informative behavior, and equivalent visual connectedness to their group as dominant males. The behavioral traits that define effective social influence are thus highly context specific and can be dissociated with social dominance. Thus, processes of hierarchical ascension in which the most aggressive, competitive, or coercive individuals rise to positions of dominance may be counterproductive in contexts where group performance is prioritized.

主导个人通常在其社会群体中最具影响力，影响跨物种和环境的运动，观点和表现。然而，与侵略性，恐吓性和胁迫性相关的行为特征，在许多情况下与主导地位相关，在许多情况下，它们可以在社会上令人反感。因此，使优势个人在一种情况下具有影响力的特征可能会降低他们在其他情况下的影响力。在这里，我们使用丽鱼科鱼类Astatotilapia burtoni研究优势与影响之间的这种关联，比较在正常的社交互动中以及在更复杂的群体共识协会任务中优势男性和下属男性的影响。我们发现，表型上占优势的雄性具有攻击性，在社会上处于中心地位，而这些雄性对正常的群体运动具有很强的影响力，而下属的雄性则是被动的，在社会上处于外围地位，对正常的运动影响很小。但是，在交往任务中，下属男性在产生群体共识方面的影响最大。雄性雄性在空间上较远，在交往任务中信息行为的信噪比较低，这可能会干扰其产生群体共识的能力。相比之下，下属男性在身体上与其他小组成员关系密切，信息行为的信噪比高，并与他们作为主要男性的人群具有同等的视觉联系。因此，定义有效的社会影响力的行为特征是高度特定于上下文的，并且可以与社会支配力分离。因此，在优先考虑团队绩效的情况下，最积极，最竞争或最具压制性的人上升到主导地位的等级提升过程可能适得其反。