On the dynamics of social hierarchy: A longitudinal investigation of the rise and fall of prestige, dominance, and social rank in naturalistic task groups

Abstract

The pursuit of social rank pervades all human societies and the position that an individual occupies within a hierarchy has important effects on their social and reproductive success. Whilst recent research has indicated that there are two distinct routes to rank attainmentdominance (through the induction of fear) and prestige (through respect and admiration)this empirical evidence has generally provided only a cross-sectional snapshot of how the two processes operate in human hierarchy. Whether dominance and prestige are potentially viable long-term strategies, rather than more effective short-term tactics, for acquiring rank in groups remains an open question. The current research addresses this gap by examining the temporal dynamics between prestige, dominance and social rank using a dynamic, evolutionary approach to understanding human social hierarchy, and thus supplies the first longitudinal empirical assessment of these variables' relationships. Using naturalistic student project groups comprised of 3-5 teammates, the present research tracks the temporal relationships between prestige, dominance and social rank-provided through round-robin teammate-ratings-from the initial formation of collaborative task groups through to the end of a 16-week long academic semester. Results indicate that, whilst dominance and prestige both promoted social rank in unacquainted groups initially and were distinct processes throughout the period examined, only prestige had a positive effect on social rank over time. Further results reveal that the temporal relationship between prestige and social rank was bidirectional, such that acquiring social rank further perpetuates future prestige. Overall, findings present a framework for the longitudinal distinction between prestige and dominance.

Representaciones del estatus social en estudiantes de último año de educación secundaria en un colegio privado de Lima Metropolitana

“…Una aproximación más contemporánea es la teoría de dominancia-prestigio, desarrollada desde la psicología evolucionista por Henrich y Gil-White (2001), y aplicada en investigaciones recientes (Cheng et al, 2013;Kakkar, Sivanathan y Gobel, 2019;Kakkar y Sivanathan, 2017;Redhead, Cheng, Driver, Foulsham y O'Gorman, 2018;Roberts, Palermo y Visser, 2019;Panchal y Gill, 2019;Witkower, Tracy, Cheng y Henrich, 2020). Esta perspectiva, que será utilizada en la presente investigación, define el estatus como el grado de deferencia, influencia, atención social y acceso a recursos valorados que recibe uno o más individuos de manera relativamente incuestionada (Cheng et al, 2013).…”

Prestige and dominance: a review of the Dual Evolutionary Model of Social Hierarchy

“…In a longitudinal study with naturally occurring small groups without formal hierarchies, Redhead, Cheng, Driver, et al (2018) predicted that the social influence attained by people initially rated as high in dominance diminishes over time (prediction (iv) in Table 1), while the social influence attained by people initially rated as high in prestige strengthen over time (prediction (v) in Table 1). Dominance, prestige and social influence were measured though peer ratings using the previously validated scales (Cheng, Tracy, Foulsham, et al, 2013;Cheng et al, 2010) described in Section 3.1.1.…”

“…These results have been found in studies that asked participants to rate themselves (Cheng et al, 2010;Conlon, 2019;Monge-López & Álvarez-Solas, 2017); unacquainted peers in a group task conducted in the laboratory (Cheng, Tracy, Foulsham, et al, 2013); peer members of an athletic team (Cheng et al, 2010) or of other naturally occurring groups such as music bands and small businesses ; and the famous footballer Lionel Messi . Furthermore, low correlations between prestige and dominance are maintained over time among undergraduate classmates (Redhead, Cheng, Driver, et al, 2018).…”

“…2.-The Standard Dual Evolutionary Model of Social Hierarchy (SDM) Figure 1 depicts the SDM (Cheng & Tracy, 2014;Cheng, Tracy, Foulsham, et al, 2013;Henrich, 2016;Henrich & Gil-White, 2001;Redhead, Cheng, Driver, Foulsham, & O'Gorman, 2018). We distinguish three levels of analysis: strategies to acquire high social rank (dominance strategy vs prestige strategy), dimensions of social rank (dominance dimension vs prestige dimension) and consequences of social rank (being influential, receiving attention, receiving deference, and having higher fitness for both the dominance dimension and the prestige dimension, and being copied only for the prestige dimension).…”

“…We also propose to integrate the SDM with research about social hierarchy in adjacent fields, mainly social psychology. (Henrich & Gil-White, 2001), 2 , 3 (Redhead et al, 2018) Predictions about dominance and prestige strategies (i) Dominance and prestige strategies are independent from each other 1 2 (ii) Both dominance and prestige strategies lead to acquiring high social rank and social influence 1 2 (iii) Dominance and prestige strategies use different means (fear vs admiration) 1 2 Predictions about the dynamics of dominance and prestige dimensions (iv) The strength of the social influence attained by people high in dominance diminishes over time 3 (v) The strength of the social influence attained by people high in prestige strengthens over time 3 Predictions about the consequences of dominance and prestige dimensions (vi) Both dominant and prestigious individuals received more attention than low social rank individuals 1 2 (vii) Prestigious individuals receive more sustained attention than dominant individuals 1 (viii) Dominant individuals receive more furtive glances than prestigious individuals 1 (ix) Both dominant and prestigious individuals received more deference than low social rank individuals 1 (x)…”