Abstract
Dominance and prestige, as two distinct status-attaining qualities, are present in modern-day leaders at various levels of social hierarchies to various degrees. From an evolutionary perspective, we speculate that individuals’ preference for dominant (prestigious) leaders can be partly predicted by “fast” (“slow”) life history–related traits. Moreover, we predict that the link between fast traits and the preference for dominance would be stronger when individuals face uncontrollable dangers resembling the evolutionary challenges faced by our ancestors in a less structured and predictable world. Two experiments tested these speculations. Experiment 1 (N = 67) used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) technique and showed that people implicitly associate dominance (prestige) with negative (positive) evaluations, and such association was stronger for individuals exhibited slow life history–related psychosocial traits. Experiment 2 (N = 95) replicated this finding using explicit leader choices in response to hypothetical scenarios. Moreover, Experiment 2 demonstrated that individuals with faster psychosocial traits showed a stronger preference for dominant leaders in the face of experimentally primed danger than in a control condition.
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Data Availability
Data for both experiments reported in the manuscript is available on Mendeley Data at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/zbgnrg5w7g/2.
Notes
We do not regard our psychometric measure of life history in this research as reflecting human life-history strategy at population or species levels. Nor do we assume that these measures capture all the variances in individuals’ life history. Because these measures are theoretically linked to the fundamental tradeoff between current and future fitness, we adopted the recommended wording of Del Giudice (in press) and named the relevant variable in our studies “life history-related traits” to avoid the misconception.
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Conceptualization: Nan Zhu, Binbin Chen, and Lei Chang; Methodology: Nan Zhu, Binbin Chen, and Hui Jing Lu; Formal analysis and investigation: Nan Zhu and Hui Jing Lu; Writing—original draft preparation: Nan Zhu; Writing—review and editing: Binbin Chen, Hui Jing Lu, and Lei Chang; Supervision: Lei Chang.
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Appendix 1: Examples of the Leadership Preference Scenario Task (Experiment 2)
Appendix 1: Examples of the Leadership Preference Scenario Task (Experiment 2)
Example Scenario and Questions:
Students attending a natural science course are asked to elect a team leader for a group research assignment. Two students, A and T, were candidates for this role.
A is admired by others for being knowledgeable and skillful but is also shame and modest. He/she sometimes let go of rewards. However, when others encounter an academic problem and ask for his/her help, he/she would always answer it patiently. He/she would never demand others to do something and would not criticize or punish others for wrongdoing.
T is known to be assertive, proactive, and enjoys expression and controlling other individuals. He/she seeks opportunities aggressively regardless of what others may want. T is good at commanding other people and can pressure others into doing what he/she wants. T is arrogant toward those who are below him/her, and would not hesitate to criticize others for their wrongdoings.
Who would you choose to be the team leader?
□ A □ T □ Don’t Know.
Who would you expect to be the team leader, given your experience of similar situations?
□ A □ T □ Don’t Know.
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Zhu, N., Chen, B., Lu, H.J. et al. Life History-related Traits Predict Preferences for Dominant or Prestigious Leaders. Evolutionary Psychological Science 7, 284–297 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-020-00274-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-020-00274-6