An Experimental Examination of Demand-Side Preferences for Female and Male National Leaders

Murray, Gregg R.; Carroll, Bruce A.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.576278

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 127 publications

(199 reference statements)

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“…Preference for leader dominance seems to be uniquely driven by the intuitive notion that dominant leaders are better in giving an aggressive response in times of social conflict (Laustsen and Petersen, 2017). Current evidence suggests that the predominant preference for male over female political leaders could be a byproduct of the ancestral preference for physically formidable allies (Murray and Carroll, 2020). Furthermore, other aspects of the dominant male leader can also be relevant to the ingroup, such as better coordination, negotiation, and efficiency at suppressing free-riding (Lukaszewski et al, 2016; see also Varella et al, 2021;Yong and Choy, 2021).…”

Section: Sexually Dimorphic Leadership Specialization Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Pandemic Leadership: Sex Differences and Their Evolutionary–Developmental Origins

Luoto

Varella

2021

Front. Psychol.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global societal, economic, and social upheaval unseen in living memory. There have been substantial cross-national differences in the kinds of policies implemented by political decision-makers to prevent the spread of the virus, to test the population, and to manage infected patients. Among other factors, these policies vary with politicians’ sex: early findings indicate that, on average, female leaders seem more focused on minimizing direct human suffering caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, while male leaders implement riskier short-term decisions, possibly aiming to minimize economic disruptions. These sex differences are consistent with broader findings in psychology, reflecting women’s stronger empathy, higher pathogen disgust, health concern, care-taking orientation, and dislike for the suffering of other people—as well as men’s higher risk-taking, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and focus on financial indicators of success and status. This review article contextualizes sex differences in pandemic leadership in an evolutionary framework. Evolution by natural selection is the only known process in nature that organizes organisms into higher degrees of functional order, or counteracts the unavoidable disorder that would otherwise ensue, and is therefore essential for explaining the origins of human sex differences. Differential sexual selection and parental investment between males and females, together with the sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain, drive sex differences in cognition and behavioral dispositions, underlying men’s and women’s leadership styles and decision-making during a global pandemic. According to the sexually dimorphic leadership specialization hypothesis, general psychobehavioral sex differences have been exapted during human evolution to create sexually dimorphic leadership styles. They may be facultatively co-opted by societies and/or followers when facing different kinds of ecological and/or sociopolitical threats, such as disease outbreaks or intergroup aggression. Early evidence indicates that against the invisible viral foe that can bring nations to their knees, the strategic circumspection of empathic feminine health “worriers” may bring more effective and humanitarian outcomes than the devil-may-care incaution of masculine risk-taking “warriors”.

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Section: Sexually Dimorphic Leadership Specialization Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Pandemic Leadership: Sex Differences and Their Evolutionary–Developmental Origins

Luoto

Varella

2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…Preference for leader dominance seems to be uniquely driven by the intuitive notion that dominant leaders are better in giving an aggressive response in times of social conflict (Laustsen and Petersen, 2017). Current evidence suggests that the predominant preference for male over female political leaders could be a byproduct of the ancestral preference for physically formidable allies (Murray and Carroll, 2020). Furthermore, other aspects of the dominant male leader can also be relevant to the in-group, such as better coordination, negotiation, and more efficient at suppressing free-riding (Lukaszewski et al, 2016).…”

Section: Sexually Dimorphic Leadership Specialization Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Pandemic leadership: Sex differences and their evolutionary–developmental origins

Luoto¹,

Varella²

2020

Preprint

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global societal, economic, and social upheaval unseen in living memory. There have been substantial differences in the kinds of policies implemented by political decision-makers to prevent the spread of the virus, to test the population, and to manage infected patients. Among other factors, these policies vary with politicians’ sex: early findings indicate that, on average, female leaders seem more focused on minimizing direct human suffering caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, while male leaders implement riskier short-term decisions, possibly aiming to minimize economic disruptions. These sex differences are consistent with broader findings in psychology, reflecting women’s stronger empathy, higher pathogen disgust, health concern, care-taking orientation, and dislike for the suffering of other people—as well as men’s higher risk-taking, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and focus on financial indicators of success and status. This review article contextualizes sex differences in pandemic leadership in an evolutionary framework. Evolution by natural selection is the only known process in nature that organizes populations of organisms into higher degrees of functional order, or counteracts the unavoidable disorder that would otherwise ensue, and is therefore essential for explaining the origins of human sex differences. Differential sexual selection and parental investment between males and females, together with the sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain, drive sex differences in cognition and behavioral dispositions, underlying men’s and women’s leadership styles and decision-making during a global pandemic. We propose the sexually dimorphic leadership specialization hypothesis to explain how general psychobehavioral sex differences have been exapted during human evolution to create sexually dimorphic leadership styles. They may be facultatively co-opted by societies when facing different kinds of ecological and/or sociopolitical threats, such as disease outbreaks or intergroup aggression. Early evidence indicates that against the invisible viral foe that can bring nations to their knees, the strategic circumspection of empathic feminine health “worriers” may bring more effective and humanitarian outcomes than the devil-may-care incaution of masculine risk-taking “warriors”.

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Men in Positions of Power

Murray¹

2019

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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An individual or group possesses power when holding "asymmetrical control" over valued resources, while an individual or group possesses status when having "social prestige" and respect (Fiske et al. 2016, p. 11). Although conceptually distinct, power and status tend to be correlated. In this entry, "male" and "female" indicate biological characteristics and not characteristics of psychological or social identity.

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An Experimental Examination of Demand-Side Preferences for Female and Male National Leaders

Cited by 4 publications

References 127 publications

Pandemic Leadership: Sex Differences and Their Evolutionary–Developmental Origins

Pandemic Leadership: Sex Differences and Their Evolutionary–Developmental Origins

Pandemic leadership: Sex differences and their evolutionary–developmental origins

Men in Positions of Power

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