Leadership and status

Price, M., & Van Vugt, M. (2014). The evolution of leader-follower reciprocity: The theory of service-for-prestige. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Download Abstract: We describe the service-for-prestige theory of leadership, which proposes that voluntaryleader–follower relations evolved in humans via a process of reciprocal exchange that generated adaptive benefits for both leaders and followers....

Gu¨ ndemir S, Homan AC, de Dreu CKW, van Vugt M (2014) Think Leader, Think White? Capturing and Weakening an Implicit Pro-White Leadership Bias. PLoS ONE 9(1): e83915. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083915   Across four studies, we found evidence for an implicit pro-White leadership bias that helps explain the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in leadership positions. Both White-majority...

Van Vugt, M. (2013). On gazes, faces, votes and followers: Evolutionary and neuroscience approaches to leadership. In: J. Decety and Y. Christen. New frontiers in Social Neuoscience (pp. 93-110). Heidelberg: Springer. (IPSEN foundation). Download Abstract Leadership is arguably one of the most important themes in the social sciences, permeating all aspects of human social affairs, from the Euro...

Vugt, M. (2013). On faces, gazes, votes, and followers: Evolutionary and social neuroscience approaches to leadership. In J. Decety & Y. Christen (ed.), New Frontiers in Social Neuroscience (pp. 93-110). Heidelberg: Springer Download Leadership is arguably one of the most important themes in the social sciences, permeating all aspects of human social affairs, from the Euro zone...

Blaker, N. M., Rompa, I., Dessing, I. H., Vriend, A. F., Herschberg, C., & Van Vugt, M. (2013). The height leadership advantage in men and women: Testing evolutionary psychology predictions about the perceptions of tall leaders. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 16, 17-27. Download Abstract: Research suggests that tall individuals have an advantage over short individuals in terms...

Van Vugt, M., & Ronay, R. D. (2013).The Evolutionary Psychology of Leadership: Theory, Review, and Roadmap. Organizational Psychology Review, 1-22.  DOI: 10.1177/2041386613493635 Download Abstract: Evolutionary leadership theory (ELT) argues that humans possess specialized psychological mechanisms for solving coordination problems through leadership and followership. We discuss the...

Ohlsen, G., Van Zoest, W., & Van Vugt, M. (2013). Gender and facial dominance in gaze cuing: When emotional context matters in the eyes that we follow. PLOS-One. Download Abstract Gaze following is a socio-cognitive process that provides adaptive information about potential threats and opportunities in the individual’s environment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential...

Cartwright, E., Gillet, J., & Van Vugt, M. (2013). Leadership by example in the weak-link game. Economic Inquiry. Download Abstract: We investigate the effects of leadership in a four player weak-link game. A weaklink game is a coordination game with multiple Pareto-ranked Nash equilibria. Because the more efficient equilibria involve a degree of strategic uncertainty groups typically find...