Charleen R Case

• PhD in Social Psychology
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Michigan

Some group leaders exhibit hypervigilance to signs of social disapproval and that vigilance manifests at basic levels of social information processing such as visual attention and face perception. The current research tests hypotheses about when, why, and in whom such vigilance occurs. Across two pilot studies and five experiments (N=1,667) we find...

Leaders often are faced with making difficult decisions for their group, such as when a course of action preferred by group members conflicts with one that is likely to optimize group success. Across five experiments (N=1110), we provide evidence that a psychological orientation toward prestige (but not dominance) causes leaders to adhere publicly...

Cohesion, cooperation, and the formation of positive bonds among group members are key processes that facilitate effective group functioning. Consequently, group leaders usually work to enhance the positive social bonds among group members to facilitate cooperation and group cohesion. The present research suggests, however, that leaders sometimes a...

The presence of hierarchy is a ubiquitous feature of human social groups. An evolutionary perspective provides novel insight into the nature of hierarchy, including its causes and consequences. When integrated with theory and data from social psychology, an evolutionary approach provides a conceptual framework for understanding the strategies that...

Although it is well known that many people possess fundamental desires for both social affiliation and power, research has only begun to investigate the interplay between these two core social motives. The current research tested the hypothesis that an individual's level of power would influence that person's level of social affiliative motivation....

Throughout human evolutionary history, women have faced significant adaptive challenges during pregnancy. Natural selection may therefore have favored psychological mechanisms to help women prepare for birth and motherhood. Previous researchers have conceptualized such mechanisms as comprising a form of “nesting,” consisting of selectivity in one's...

Sexual selection in human evolution is well-established. Females are relatively more inclined than males to prefer mates that exhibit physical and social dominance (e.g., muscular, financially successful men); whereas males are relatively more inclined than females to seek mates displaying signs of high reproductive potential (e.g., young, attracti...

Social groups often are organized hierarchically, such that higher-ranking group members have greater control over valued group resources than other group members. Higher-ranking individuals also enjoy relatively more freedom to act in accordance with their own goals and desires and have greater capacity to exert their will over lower-ranking group...

Maximising your organisation's effectiveness requires leaders who tailor their leadership approach based on the organisational culture, their team's dynamics, and the specific task at hand. This article describes two distinct leadership approaches – dominance and prestige – each with their own advantages and drawbacks. To help your organisation rea...

Leaders play a critical role in helping their groups achieve important goals. Sometimes, however, leaders are more interested in their own personal capacity for power than they are in helping their groups succeed. This chapter describes recent evolutionary theories and research aimed at elucidating the situational and motivational factors that infl...

There is extensive evidence for an early vertebrate origin of lateralized motor behavior and of related asymmetries in underlying brain systems. We investigate human lateralized motor functioning in a broad comparative context of evolutionary neural reorganization. We quantify evolutionary trends in the fronto-cerebellar system (involved in motor l...

http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2013/10/leadership-power.aspx

The prefrontal cortex is commonly associated with cognitive capacities related to human uniqueness: purposeful actions towards higher-level goals, complex social information processing, introspection, and language. Comparative investigations of the prefrontal cortex may thus shed more light on the neural underpinnings of what makes us human. Using...