A talk I gave after doing an experiment at Naturalis Science Center.

1. Allen Grabo
allen.grabo@vu.nl

2. I. PhD Student
 VU University, Amsterdam
 Prof. Mark van Vugt
II. My focus
 Evolution of leadership
 Face perception
 Charismatic leadership
 Prosociality
 Religiosity

3. I. Independent Variables
I. Economic Context: Crisis or Prosperity?
ProsperityCrisis

4. I. Independent Variables
I. Economic Context: Crisis or Prosperity?
II. Facial Appearance: Masculine or Feminine?
Masculine Feminine

11. Feminine Masculine

12. Feminine Masculine

13. Feminine Masculine

14. I. Informed Consent
II. Independent Variables
I. Economic Context: Crisis or Prosperity?
II. Facial Appearance: Masculine or Feminine?
III. Dependent Variables
I. Leader Preference: Who do you prefer?
II. Leader Attributions: Which face looks more ___?

15. I. Leadership Preferences:
 Who do you prefer?

16. I. Attributions:
 Which face looks more _____?
 Attractive
 Competent
 Dominant
 Charismatic
 Healthy
 Leader-like

17. I. Political Orientation
II. Gender
III. Age

18. I. Evolutionary Leadership Theory
 How have leadership and followership evolved?
II. Adaptive Domains
 When do we need leaders?
III. Facial Appearance
 What can we learn from their faces?
IV. Congruency / Heuristics
 Are our preferences still being shaped by these heuristics?

19. Leader Attribute Facial Cues
Adaptive
Domains
Follower
Heuristic
Examples
Dominance
Masculinity
Conflict, War
Follow dominant
individual
Military,
CEO major
companyHeight to Width Ratio
Trustworthiness
Femininity
Cooperation,
Peace
Follow prosocial
individual
Politician,
NGO,
Hospital directorEthnicity
Competence
Age
Knowledge
(Social, Physical)
Follow informed
individual
Scientist,
Statesman,
EntrepreneurBabyfacedness
Attractiveness, Health
Symmetry / FA
Physical
Challenge
Follow healthy
individual
Sports Captain,
Explorer
Skin Coloration
Table 1. Facial Appearance and Leadership: An Evolutionary Framework

20.  Facial cues may serve as inputs
into an adaptive followership
psychology
 Domain-specific follower
mechanisms
 Example:
 “If threatened, follow a strong
individual” or
 “If don’t know, follow an
experienced individual”

21. I. A set of psychological adaptations which allow organisms
to successfully negotiate the various challenges and
opportunities of group life
II. Has allowed our increasingly larger groups to coordinate
and take collective action (for good or bad)
III. Occurs spontaneously in nearly every context
IV. Strongly influenced by both contextual factors and
biological cues

22. To gain access to greater resources

23. To allow us to migrate to new environments

24. To maintain social stability within our groups

25. To regulate intergroup relations

26. 1
• Is this person a potential leader?
• Global traits
2
• In what domain?
• Coordination Problems
3
• Who is the prototypical leader?
• Specific domain-relevant traits

27. I. Masculinity / Femininity
 Masculinized faces preferred for intergroup conflict
 Feminized for intragroup peacekeeping
II. Age
 Younger faces preferred for promoting change
 Older faces preferred for maintaining stability
III. Height
 Taller individuals seen as more dominant, healthy, intelligent