Leadership and status

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...

Spisak, B., Dekker, P., Kruger, M., & Van Vugt, M. (2012). Warriors and peacekeepers: Testing a biosocial implict leadership hypothesis of intergroup relations using masculine and feminine faces. PloS ONE (7)1: e30399. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030399 Download Abstract This paper examines the impact of facial cues on leadership emergence. Using evolutionary social psychology, we expand...

Spsiak, B., Homan, A., Grabo, A., & Van Vugt, M. (2011). Facing the situation: Testing a biosocial contingency model of leadership in intergroup relations using masculine and feminine faces,  The Leadership Quarterly,  23, 273-280. Download Abstract Using an evolutionary psychology framework we propose that leadership and followership are evolved traits to solve recurrent group...

Spsiak, B.R., Nicholson, N., Van Vugt, M. (2011). Leadership in organizations: An evolutionary perspective. In G. Saad (Ed).) Evolutiuonary Psychology in the Business Sciences, pp. 165-190.  Springer DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-92784-6_7 Download Abstract In this chapter we discuss the potential of evolution to serve as a frame work for unifying our understanding of leadership....

Gillet, J., Cartwright, E., & Van Vugt, M. (2011). Selfish or servant leadership? Evidence for leadership personalites in coordination games. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 231-236. Download Abstract We study the personalities of emergent leaders in two coordination games in groups of four players each with monetary incentives. Our results support the evolutionary hypothesis...

King, A.J., Johnson, D. D. P., & Van Vugt, M. (2009). The origins and evolution of leadership. Current Biology, 19, R911-R916. Download Abstract How groups of individuals achieve coordination and collective action is a hot topic for researchers in the natural sciences, but until recently the role of leadership in this process has been largely overlooked. In contrast, leadership is arguably...

Van Vugt, M. (2009). Despotism, democracy and the evolutionary dynamics of leadership and followership. American Psychologist, 64, 54-56.  

Van Vugt, M. (2008). Follow me: The origins of leadership. New Scientist, 14 June, 2660. Download