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Cross-cultural evidence that intergroup conflict heightens preferences for dominant leaders:A 25-country study
Title / Series / Name
Evolution and Human Behavior
Publication Volume
46
Publication Issue
3
Pages
Authors
Laustsen, Lasse
Sheng, Xiaotian
Ahmad, M. Ghufran
Al-Shawaf, Laith
Banai, Benjamin
Banai, Irena Pavela
Barlev, Michael
Bastardoz, Nicolas
Bor, Alexander
Cheng, Joey T.
Chmielińska, Anna
Cook, Alexandra
Fousiani, Kyriaki
Garfield, Zachary H.
Ghossainy, Maliki
Ha, Shang E.
Ji, Tingting
Jones, Benedict C.
Kandrik, Michal
Kanu, Catherine Chiugo
Kenrick, Douglas T.
L. Kordsmeyer, Tobias
MartÃnez, Cristhian A.
Mazepus, Honorata
Jiaqing, O.
Onyishi, Ike Ernest
Pawlowski, Boguslaw
Penke, Lars
Petersen, Michael Bang
Ronay, Richard
Sznycer, Daniel
Palomo-Vélez, Gonzalo
von Rueden, Christopher R.
Waismel-Manor, Israel
Wiezel, Adi
van Vugt, Mark
Sheng, Xiaotian
Ahmad, M. Ghufran
Al-Shawaf, Laith
Banai, Benjamin
Banai, Irena Pavela
Barlev, Michael
Bastardoz, Nicolas
Bor, Alexander
Cheng, Joey T.
Chmielińska, Anna
Cook, Alexandra
Fousiani, Kyriaki
Garfield, Zachary H.
Ghossainy, Maliki
Ha, Shang E.
Ji, Tingting
Jones, Benedict C.
Kandrik, Michal
Kanu, Catherine Chiugo
Kenrick, Douglas T.
L. Kordsmeyer, Tobias
MartÃnez, Cristhian A.
Mazepus, Honorata
Jiaqing, O.
Onyishi, Ike Ernest
Pawlowski, Boguslaw
Penke, Lars
Petersen, Michael Bang
Ronay, Richard
Sznycer, Daniel
Palomo-Vélez, Gonzalo
von Rueden, Christopher R.
Waismel-Manor, Israel
Wiezel, Adi
van Vugt, Mark
Editors
Keywords
Cross-cultural data
Dominant leaders
Followership psychology
Intergroup conflict
Leadership
Survey experiment
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Dominant leaders
Followership psychology
Intergroup conflict
Leadership
Survey experiment
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27768
Abstract
Across societies and across history, seemingly dominant, authoritarian leaders have emerged frequently, often rising to power based on widespread popular support. One prominent theory holds that evolved psychological mechanisms of followership regulate citizens' leadership preferences such that dominant individuals are intuitively attributed leadership qualities when followers face intergroup conflicts like war. A key hypothesis based on this theory is that followers across the world should upregulate their preferences for dominant leaders the more they perceive the present situation as conflict-ridden. From this conflict hypothesis, we generate and test four concrete predictions using a novel dataset including 5008 participants residing in 25 countries from different world regions (consisting of a mix of convenience and approximately representative country-specific samples). Specifically, we combine experimental techniques, validated psychological scales, and macro-level indicators of intergroup conflict to gauge people's preferences for dominant leadership. Across four independent tests, results broadly support the notion that the presence of intergroup conflict increases follower preferences for dominant leaders. Thus, our results provide robust cross-cultural support for the existence of an adaptive, tribal followership psychology, a finding that has various implications for understanding contemporary politics and international relations.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2025-05
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106674