Does a competent leader make a good friend? Conflict, ideology and the psychologies of friendship and followership

Laustsen, Lasse; Petersen, Michael Bang

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.01.001

Cited by 90 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…This runs counter to the general pattern of no differences between liberals and conservatives and Democrats and Republicans on preferences for female candidate voices across Studies 1, 2, and 3. individuals. In particular, preferences for masculine and dominant-looking leader candidates have been found to be higher among individuals' with a conservative worldview (Laustsen & Petersen, 2015). In this article, we have integrated these findings in variation in preferences for dominant leaders into the literatures on voice pitch and voting behavior.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vote Choice, Ideology, and Social Dominance Orientation Influence Preferences for Lower Pitched Voices in Political Candidates

2015

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Humans are equipped with a psychological system of followership that evolved to regulate choices of leaders based partly on would-be leaders' physiological features. One such feature is voice pitch, which is determined by the physiology of the throat. Recent studies find that political candidates in modern elections with lower-pitched voices are generally more successful. As lower-pitched voices are perceived as stronger and more dominant, these findings have been taken to indicate a general preference for dispositional abilities in leaders to protect and prevail in conflicts. Here we extend upon these findings by demonstrating that conservatives and Republicans tend to view the world as much more competitive and threatening than liberals and Democrats. We utilize two existing data sources to show that political candidates with lower-pitched voices are preferred more among conservative Republicans than among liberal Democrats. In a third study we show that preferences for lower-pitched candidate voices stem from individual differences in Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Importantly, across all three studies subjects' party affiliation, ideology, and SDO only predict preferences for male candidate voices. We conclude with a discussion of the results in relation to followership psychology and general debates on the rationality of the public with respect to elections.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vote Choice, Ideology, and Social Dominance Orientation Influence Preferences for Lower Pitched Voices in Political Candidates

2015

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“…In addition, people prefer older-looking leaders in times of stable exploitation, but prefer younger-looking leaders when exploratory change is required . Finally, conservatives prefer dominant-looking leaders more than liberals (Laustsen & Petersen, 2015).…”

Section: Physical Attributes and Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A potentially fruitful direction to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the link between physical features and leadership would be to identify the boundary conditions for these well-established relationships. Although a number of promising studies have shown that the interpretations placed on the physical features of leaders may depend on individual characteristics of leaders and followers, and on contextual factors (e.g., Laustsen & Petersen, 2015;Livingston & Pearce, 2009;Spisak et al, 2012), more research in this area is needed.…”

Section: Physical Attributes and Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences as antecedents of leader behavior: Towards an understanding of multi-level outcomes

Tunçdoğan

Acar

Stam

2017

The Leadership Quarterly

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“…These are the characteristics that people expect to find in a dominant and authoritarian leader rather than in a leader who, although respected and well admired, is less willing to be forceful in pursuing her goals and is commonly perceived as lacking conviction in making tough calls (18,21).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

When the appeal of a dominant leader is greater than a prestige leader

Kakkar

Sivanathan

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

160

164

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Across the globe we witness the rise of populist authoritarian leaders who are overbearing in their narrative, aggressive in behavior, and often exhibit questionable moral character. Drawing on evolutionary theory of leadership emergence, in which dominance and prestige are seen as dual routes to leadership, we provide a situational and psychological account for when and why dominant leaders are preferred over other respected and admired candidates. We test our hypothesis using three studies, encompassing more than 140,000 participants, across 69 countries and spanning the past two decades. We find robust support for our hypothesis that under a situational threat of economic uncertainty (as exemplified by the poverty rate, the housing vacancy rate, and the unemployment rate) people escalate their support for dominant leaders. Further, we find that this phenomenon is mediated by participants' psychological sense of a lack of personal control. Together, these results provide large-scale, globally representative evidence for the structural and psychological antecedents that increase the preference for dominant leaders over their prestigious counterparts.rom the recent Brexit vote in the United Kingdom (1), to the resurgence of nationalism in communist China (2), to the ascend of the authoritarian Narendra Modi in India (3), to the overwhelming support for Donald Trump in the US elections (4), we are witnessing a return of populist, authoritarian leaders, with rhetoric focused on nationalism and protectionism of indigenous citizens. Despite the general notion and research findings indicating that such individuals are often narcissistic, aggressive, and guided by a vague moral compass (5), their popularity remains steadfast even in the presence of other respected and admired candidates. This paper investigates when and why dominant leaders, despite the multitude of negative attributes associated with them, are often revered by a nation's citizens.We contend that the preference for a dominant leader increases with uncertainty and competitive threats in one's environment. When faced with a milieu of uncertainty and the resulting psychological lack of control, individuals favor a dominant/authoritarian leader who, they believe, has the capability to brave unfavorable winds and increase their future chances of success. We draw upon relevant literature in social psychology (6, 7), political psychology (8), and evolutionary psychology (9, 10) to develop our theoretical arguments.

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Does a competent leader make a good friend? Conflict, ideology and the psychologies of friendship and followership

Cited by 90 publications

References 63 publications

Vote Choice, Ideology, and Social Dominance Orientation Influence Preferences for Lower Pitched Voices in Political Candidates

Vote Choice, Ideology, and Social Dominance Orientation Influence Preferences for Lower Pitched Voices in Political Candidates

Individual differences as antecedents of leader behavior: Towards an understanding of multi-level outcomes

When the appeal of a dominant leader is greater than a prestige leader

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