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‘Big’ men: Male leaders’ height positively relates to followers’ perception of charisma
Abstract
Physical height is associated with beneficial outcomes for the tall individual (e.g., higher salary and likelihood of occupying a leadership position), presumably because being tall constituted an adaptive characteristic in ancestral societies. Although this account hinges on the presence of an evolved positive social-perceptual bias toward tall people, little direct evidence exists for this claim. Physical height literally implies the ability to reach higher, see further, and have greater overview; it also affords dominance, which others may equate with ability as well. Hence, leaders' physical height may be positively related to followers' belief that a leader has extraordinary talents, that is, charisma. However, because leadership positions were, in ancestral societies, occupied by males, an evolutionary perspective might further suggest that height is less relevant to followers' perceptions of female leaders. In line with this reasoning, the current study found a positive relationship between male leaders' height and their followers' perceptions of charisma, while no such relationship was found for female leaders.
... Height and size continue to matter through puberty and post puberty. In this connection, taller individuals are often viewed in ways that encourage interpersonal status (Hamstra, 2014). In fact, taller adults, and particularly males, are more likely to be chosen for leadership roles, achieving higher levels of salary as a result (Judge & Cable, 2004). ...
... In fact, taller adults, and particularly males, are more likely to be chosen for leadership roles, achieving higher levels of salary as a result (Judge & Cable, 2004). Some of the relevant mechanisms are social cognitive in nature, in that taller heights seem to trigger perceptions of greater capacity, which has included attributions of charisma (Hamstra, 2014). Through mechanisms of this type, taller individuals, like physically attractive individuals, seem to enjoy somewhat greater social status and success, including within the workplace (Hamstra, 2014;Judge & Cable, 2004). ...
... Some of the relevant mechanisms are social cognitive in nature, in that taller heights seem to trigger perceptions of greater capacity, which has included attributions of charisma (Hamstra, 2014). Through mechanisms of this type, taller individuals, like physically attractive individuals, seem to enjoy somewhat greater social status and success, including within the workplace (Hamstra, 2014;Judge & Cable, 2004). ...
Most theories of embodiment emphasize processes that are thought to be normative in nature. However, a consideration of the relevant processes (e.g., perception, awareness of afferent inputs, simulation abilities, metaphor usage) suggests that substantial individual differences could constitute the rule rather than the exception. The present chapter focuses on such sources of variability and does so in relation to four themes or lines of enquiry—how bodily factors shape personality, whether embodiment processes link personality to perception, how normative tendencies toward metaphoric thinking could give rise to variance across individuals, and how embodiment itself could be an individual difference. Although the reviewed literatures tend to be somewhat isolated from each other, juxtaposing them highlights many points of convergence. Ideas about embodiment could therefore contribute to new, process-oriented views of personality. In addition, individual differences can be leveraged to show that embodied representational processes matter with respect to everyday functioning.
... These data provide no support for the view that leaders are selected on the basis of their physical staturethe so-called 'Big Man' model of leadership that purports a link between human leadership and physical stature (Blaker et al., 2013;Gladwell, 2005;Kramer, 2006;Murray & Schmitz, 2011;Spisak et al., 2011) and, in a modified form, attempts to explain the preponderance of male leaders in political and business organizations ; see also Hamstra, 2014). It is possible that the null hypothesis was not rejected because the relatively simple analysis failed to account for considerable variation that ultimately masks the signal. ...
... Several contextual, methodological, and sampling factors may help explain why the present results contrast with others that reveal a preference for taller or larger leaders (e.g. Blaker et al., 2013;Hamstra, 2014;Stulp et al., 2013). For example, physical stature may be relevant in some, but not other leadership contextsalthough this is not predicted by the 'evolutionary perspective' that claims an intrinsic, generalized preference for physically large leaders (e.g. . ...
... Such accountability, a significant and critical component in 'real-life' decisions about leadership appointments, does not necessarily feature in questionnaire-based studies that examine preferences for particular leadership traits (e.g. Blaker et al., 2013;Hamstra, 2014;Pillemer, Graham, & Burke, 2014;Stulp et al., 2013). Age is apparently a reliable signaling effect (after Spence, 1973;Connelly et al., 2011) for those selecting team captains, presumably acting as a proxy for a range of leadership characteristics that improve with age (see also Spisak et al., 2014). ...
There is emerging interest in drawing insights from evolutionary biology to understand the nature of human leadership as a position within a social system. This perspective assumes that natural selection favors individuals who recognize leadership qualities that will benefit both leaders and followers. Physical stature, in particular, is frequently mentioned as a preferred human leadership trait. The present study documents and analyses the choice of leaders and its consequences for organization outcomes, using a model sporting system – the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Team captains were no taller than their teammates, but they were consistently older, which had significant implications for team outcomes. The age of the captain was not correlated with team success, but it did influence team discipline: the frequency of serious infringements per game was negatively correlated with captain age. These results contradict the view that physical stature is a favored leadership trait, but nevertheless suggest that for human organizations, the search for leadership qualities might be profitably confined to those attributes that are likely to change with age and/or experience. Further, the evidence-based methodological approach highlights the value of examining directly the link between leadership attributes and real-life organization outcomes.
... Berscheid & Walster, 1974;Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972;reviewed in Langlois et al., 2000), the role of appearance-driven judgements in our social lives also applies in the workplace (reviewed in . For example, height is positively correlated with workplace success and income (see Judge & Cable, 2004 for a meta-analytic review) and is positively associated with judgements of charisma and perceived competency in leaders (Blaker et al., 2013;Hamstra, 2014). In addition, measures of physical attractiveness are positively linked with performance in mock and real job interviews (Chiu & Babcock, 2002;Marlowe, Schneider, & Nelson, 1996), salesperson performance (Ahearne, Gruen, & Jarvis, 1999) and income (Frieze, Olson, & Russell, 1991;Judge, Hurst, & Simon, 2009). ...
... Consistent with this proposal, facial cues to dominance correlate with progression into higher ranks in the military and have been described as a signal of dominant behaviour (e.g., Mueller & Mazur, 1996). It has been theorised that today's dominant individuals still benefit from their historical advantage when it comes to resource distribution (Hamstra, 2014). Thus, in addition to dominance being beneficial in leaders, dominant individuals will also be more effective in gaining resources such as salary increases and thus are likely to be awarded higher pay by others. ...
... Previous work in the social perception literature suggests that aspects of physical appearance influence social judgements differently for men and women. For example, height influences perception of leadership ability in men but not women (Hamstra, 2014). In the face perception literature, computergraphic manipulations of masculinity-femininity demonstrate that in women, feminine faces are reliably perceived as more trustworthy (Perrett et al., 1998), attractive (Rhodes, 2006) and more socially dominant (i.e. ...
Positive associations between physical attractiveness and employee reward are well-documented within the organisational literature. Although the impact of facial cues to trustworthiness and dominance on a number of social outcomes has been established outside of the workplace, the extent to which they, in addition to attractiveness, affect pay at different managerial levels is yet to be investigated. This paper presents research into this issue using a face payment task for shop floor managers (Retail Managers) and senior managers (Heads of Retail Operations). Evaluations indicated that all three facial cues were positively associated with awarded pay at both managerial levels. Moreover, attractiveness had a significantly stronger link with shop-floor managers' than senior managers' pay, whereas perceived trustworthiness and perceived dominance had significantly stronger links with pay for senior managers than shop-floor managers. It further emerged that women were paid more in this experimental task where pay was awarded solely based on facial features and that the facial features were more predictive of women's than men's pay. Awareness of the role of physical cues in pay awards can be considered by organisations to reduce biases in remuneration.
... Specifically, it seemed that participants tended to display behaviors that were congruent with the features of their virtual representations. Indeed, we know from the literature that people commonly believe attractive individuals to be more confident (Dion et al., 1972), and taller people to be more likely to be leaders (Hamstra, 2014). These commonly held stereotypes could explain why participants with attractive and tall avatars acted more self-confident and self-serving in the tasks. ...
... In Yee and Bailenson (2007) experiment, SPT would posit that, because people tend to perceive taller individuals as more likely to be leaders and competent (Hamstra, 2014), a participant embodying a taller avatar would adopt attitudes commonly associated with these traits (confidence, dominance, etc.). This ...
Humans' inherent fascination for stories can be observed throughout most of our documented history. If, for a long time, narratives were told through paintings, songs, or literature, recent technological advances such as immersive virtual reality have made it possible for us to interact with storylines and characters in a completely new manner. With these new technologies came the need to study how people interact with them and how they affect their users. Notably, research in this area has revealed that users of virtual environments tend to display behaviors/attitudes that are congruent with the appearance of the avatars they embody; a phenomenon termed the Proteus effect. Since its introduction in the literature, many studies have demonstrated the Proteus effect in various contexts, attesting to the robustness of the effect. However, beyond the first articles on the subject, very few studies have sought to investigate the social, affective, and cognitive mechanisms underlying the effect. Furthermore, the current literature appears somewhat disjointed with different schools of thought, using different methodologies, contributing to this research topic. Therefore, this work aims to give an overview of the current state of the literature and its shortcomings. It also presents a critical analysis of multiple theoretical frameworks that may help explain the Proteus effect. Notably, this work challenges the use of self-perception theory to explain the Proteus effect and considers other approaches from social psychology. Finally, we present new perspectives for upcoming research that seeks to investigate the effect of avatars on user behavior. All in all, this work aims to bring more clarity to an increasingly popular research subject and, more generally, to contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between humans and virtual environments.
... The same is true for famous personalities: as soon as they are disgraced due to any kind of crime or misbehavior, they are usually pictured from above in media coverage, which might be a mechanism to lower their former status, for instance, after having been convicted by court (Dörner, 2018). Some pieces of research do actually support this effort by leaders to avoid others looking down on them: not only is the height of leaders related to their perceived charisma (Hamstra, 2014), people are perceived as more powerful and dominant when photographed from below (Mandell & Shaw, 1973), thus making them appear fearless, courageous, aggressive, and strong (Kraft, 1987). ...
... Rather than looking up or looking at eye-level at the leader in photographs makes them more appealing to their audience, looking down steeply from above seems to diminish their appearance as prototypical for their leadership role. Findings show that the embodiment of leadership through verticality in the photography of leaders actually shapes the charismatic effect leaders have on their audience (e.g., Hamstra, 2014;Reh et al., 2017). However, interestingly, the vertical dimension had no effect on audiences' ascriptions of dominance to the leaders (Hall et al., , 2015. ...
Although politicians, top managers, or informal leaders like influencers have millions of followers, they are mostly known through photographs or videos. Especially in photographs, it is important to make a leader-like impression-both figuratively and physically. However, the role of camera angles on impression formation of leaders has not been studied so far. Across four experimental studies (N = 2,474), we examined the effect of camera angles on the perception of leaders' charisma, prototyp-ical leader attributes and approval. Results showed that the perception of a male leader is influenced by the camera angle along the vertical axis. When leaders are viewed from above, compared to a perspective where followers look at them at eye-level, they are perceived as less charismatic and prototypical of their position, accompanied by a loss of approval, while the effect of the steep from below photographs were less clear (study 1 and 3). Moreover, we also point out boundary conditions such as eye-contact (study 1) and sex (study 2 and 3). When the leader's photograph was combined with a message of change for their organization, participants were less likely to support the leader specifically when they looked down on him (study 4). Our findings support the idea that camera angles shape an audience's perception of leaders, with steep high or low angle shots associated with lower approval. These results have implications for an embodiment approach to leaders' charisma as well as applications for how leaders can effectively present themselves in the media and real-life settings.
... Taller men also obtain power and leadership roles and are deferred to in social situations. Male height is associated with high social status, leadership attainment and social mobility, with weaker (Judge & Cable, 2004;Stulp, Buunk, Verhulst, & Pollet, 2013) or null results (Bielicki & Charzewski, 1983;Case & Paxson, 2008;Gawley, Perks, & Curtis, 2009;Hamstra, 2014) for women. Taller men are judged as more dominant by others, and we overestimate the height of more dominant men (Stulp et al., 2013;Stulp, Buunk, Verhulst, & Pollet, 2012). ...
... In the environments where we evolved, being more formidable would not have provided women with more status and resources as they did not engage in significant amounts of violent contest competition. Similarly, increased female height is not consistently associated with authority and status in modern societies (Bielicki & Charzewski, 1983;Case & Paxson, 2008;Gawley et al., 2009;Hamstra, 2014). Given the large and diverse sample size of the present study, it is highly unlikely the lack of result is due to low statistical power. ...
People vary widely in their attitudes towards how much their government should redistribute wealth. Evolutionary theory may shed light on why this variation occurs. Numerous studies have established an association between upper body strength and attitudes towards equality and wealth redistribution in males, showing that physically stronger men are more likely to hold self-serving beliefs on these issues. This effect is typically weaker or absent in women. A question that has received little attention is whether there are similar associations between other aspects of formidability and attitudes towards wealth redistribution. One such aspect is height. I tested this prediction using data from the European Social Survey, in a sample of 27031 people from 20 European countries. Results show that taller people are more likely to have self-serving attitudes towards government redistribution of wealth. The result was robust to numerous control variables and alternative model specifications, but the direct effects of height were small. Taller individuals were less supportive of government wealth redistribution overall, but were especially averse if they were also wealthier. Post-hoc analyses suggested that for lower income deciles, the association was reversed. For these people, there was a positive association between height and support for wealth redistribution. However, effects were equally strong in males and females, and so are not fully consistent with current evolutionary psychological theories of resource distribution.
... More intriguingly, why is it observed even in labor markets where height is unlikely to be a crucial productive factor, say, sedentary white-collar jobs in industrialized countries? This question has led many researchers to interpret the observed height premium as evidence of labor-market discrimination by employers who stigmatize shorter people [11][12]. However, this interpretation has recently been challenged on the ground that the observed link between height and better labor-market performance may reflect the influence of unobserved factors (that affect one's labor-market performance). ...
... Finally, the observed height premium may simply reflect pure discrimination against shorter employees in the labor market [11][12]43]. Under pure discrimination, taller employees are paid more for reasons that are not related to their productivity, whether actual or perceived. ...
This study uses a Mendelian randomization approach to resolve the difficulties of identifying the causal relationship between height and earnings by using a unique sample of 3,427 respondents from mainland China with sociodemographic information linked to individual genotyping data. Exploiting genetic variations to create instrumental variables for observed height, we find that while OLS regressions yield that an additional centimeter in height is associated with a 10–13% increase in one’s annual earnings, IV estimates reveal only an insubstantial causal effect of height. Further analyses suggest that the observed height premium is likely to pick up the impacts of several cognitive/noncognitive skills on earnings confounded in previous studies, such as mental health, risk preference, and personality factors. Our study is the first empirical study that employs genetic IVs in developing countries, and our results contribute to the recent debate on the mechanism of height premium.
... Psychological mechanisms related to leadership include preferences for leaders based on physical characteristics and reputations for fairness and prosociality. Across diverse organizations, male leaders are often taller than non-leaders (Hamstra, 2014;McCann, 2001;Stulp, Buunk, Verhulst, & Pollet, 2013), suggesting that physical height has been an adaptive characteristic of male leaders across evolutionary history. Biases towards physically formidable leaders may stem from dominance-based leadership, or the ability of taller, stronger leaders to promote within group cooperation (Lukaszewski, Simmons, Anderson, & Roney, 2016;von Rueden et al., 2014). ...
... The relationships between leadership, physical formidability, and mating provide particularly clear examples. Leaders are often tall (Hamstra, 2014;Stulp et al., 2013), for instance, which suggests that physical formidability is a desirable leader quality even in organizations in which physical fighting plays no role and leader-follower relationships are rarely faceto-face. There also is likely an evolved male psychology that seeks to take advantage of leadership roles to pursue mating opportunities (Barkow, 1989;Schmitt, 2015;Tiger & Fox, 1971). ...
Existing approaches within leadership studies often share a bias towards industrialized societies and lack broader cross-cultural and ethological reference. Meanwhile, cross-cultural and evolutionary approaches within anthropology are actively working to unify research on leadership and followership across the biological and social sciences. This review provides a novel and thorough view of political leadership as investigated by evolutionary anthropologists and highlights the benefits of incorporating findings from the evolutionary social sciences into leadership studies generally. We introduce the anthropological approach to leadership; describe evolutionary anthropology, its subdisciplines (including primatology, paleoanthropology, paleogenetics, human behavioral ecology, and gene-culture coevolution), and its complementary disciplines (particularly evolutionary psychology); review leadership and hierarchy in nonhumans, including our extinct hominid ancestors; review female leadership and sex-differences; and, primarily, discuss the relationships between evolution, ecology, and culture as they relate to the observed patterns of political leadership and followership across human societies. Through evolutionary anthropology's diverse toolkit, a deeper insight into the evolution and cross-cultural patterning of leadership is realized.
... Because even preverbal infants associate relative size with such social dominance (Thomsen et al., 2011), we also combined bestowing a benefit (a ball) upon the group with having greater physical size. Note, however, that respected authorities, high priests, and religious deities are also represented as being bigger and higher across cultures (Fiske, 1991(Fiske, , 1992(Fiske, , 2004; that taller people are more likely to be chosen as leaders (Lindqvist, 2012;Schubert et al., 2008;Stogdill, 1948) and even presidents (Persico et al., 2004); and that the height of a leader also relates to adult perceptions of their intelligence and charisma, as well as their perceived dominance (Blaker et al., 2013;Blaker & Van Vugt, 2014;Hamstra, 2014). Hence, in principle relative physical size might suffice in cueing respected leadership in the infant mind. ...
Research has shown that infants represent legitimate leadership and predict continued obedience to authority, but which cues they use to do so remains unknown. Across eight pre-registered experiments varying the cue provided, we tested if Norwegian 21-month-olds (N = 128) expected three protagonists to obey a character even in her absence. We assessed whether bowing for the character, receiving a tribute from or conferring a benefit to the protagonists, imposing a cost on them (forcefully taking a resource or hitting them), or relative physical size were used as cues to generate the expectation of continued obedience that marks legitimate leadership. Whereas bowing sufficed in generating such an expectation, we found positive Bayesian evidence that all the other cues did not. Norwegian infants unlikely have witnessed bowing in their everyday life. Hence, bowing/prostration as cue for continued obedience may form part of an early-developing capacity to represent leadership built by evolution.
... Taller individuals may be seen as more competent, enjoying higher social status (Judge & Cable, 2004), as more authoritative and competent (Case & Paxson, 2008), and possessing leader-like qualities (Blaker et al., 2013). Research has demonstrated a positive relationship between the height of male leaders and their followers' perceptions of charisma (Hamstra, 2014), and taller referees in the German Football League were perceived as more competent and authoritative, maintaining better control of the game by awarding fewer fouls (Stulp et al., 2016). Similarly, a Canadian study showed that height is a strong predictor of authority status in males (Gawley et al., 2008). ...
In the context of interactions between humans and robots at work, this research examines the dynamics of obedience and power. We replicated and extended the previous studies by comparing the responses of participants to a humanoid robot, which acts as an authoritative figure, against those to a human in a similar role. While the humanoid robot commanded a significant level of obedience (63%), it was notably lower than that for its human counterpart (75%). Moreover, work under the robot's supervision was performed more slowly and less effectively. The results give a good insight into the practical implications of using humanoid robots in official roles, especially for repeated and tedious tasks or challenging work activities.
... In short, this would mean that smiling can best be perceived in contrast to not smiling (like all perceptible properties in hearing and vision rely on contrasts [26]); and it could mean that speakers who permanently smile and lack such a contrast are at a certain point in time no longer perceived as smiling, but only as shorter (due to the increases in f0 and the dispersion and levels of formants [2,3,5,8,11]). Shorter speakers are perceived as less charismatic [27,28,29]; in this way, permanent smiling couldat least in the auditory domainreduce rather than support speaker charisma. ...
... Age and body size (i.e., height) are both basically voice-external factors, i.e. visual cues that are known to be positively correlated with speaker charisma. That is, we tend to perceive taller and/or older people per se as more charismatic (see Grabo et al. 2017, Hamstra 2014). However, both age and body size are also reflected in the speaker's voice, see, for example, Schötz (2006) for age and Chuenwattanapranithi et al. (2008) for body size. ...
The present study investigates acoustic features of charismatic speech using a case study. There is an ongoing myth regarding the first ever televised presidential debate on September 26, 1960, between John F. Kennedy (who emerged as the winner of the debate) and Richard M. Nixon. The myth states that while Kennedy clearly won amongst the TV audience, Nixon was actually the winner among radio listeners. The question that appears is if the debate had only been broadcast over the radio (as in previous years), would Nixon's tone of voice have helped him to victory over Kennedy? In a nutshell, based on current research on speaker charisma, this myth turns out to be plausible with certain reservations: Our results indicate that Nixon's tone of voice corresponds more closely to what is nowadays known about charismatic voices as opposed to Kennedy's tone of voice.
... This finding, which is known as the "Gender Gap" in entrepreneurship research, need not have phonetic reasons. Psychological factors and visual factors such as height (see Hamstra 2014) can also play an important role here. However, our finding that women relied more on belly breathing than men could be related to the Gender Gap phenomenon, if chest breathing indeed has a persuasion-enhancing effect. ...
An oral presentation was given in L2 English by 18 speakers based on a constant text, a so-called "elevator pitch". The presentation was performed in four conditions: sitting, standing and, in both posture conditions, once with an emotionally neutral newsreader attitude and once with an emotionally expressive onstage attitude aimed at persuading the audience of the presented content. Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (RIP) was used to record, time-aligned with the acoustic speech signal, the speakers' breathing signals in the two key areas of their body, chest and abdomen. Combined analyses of prosody and breathing patterns show, firstly, expectable physiological sex differences for f0 parameters as well as for chest and abdomen inhalation amplitudes. Furthermore, higher chest-breathing amplitudes were found in the persuasive presentation condition, along with increases in prosodic parameters related to perceived speaker persuasiveness. Body posture had significant effects neither on breathing nor on prosodic patterns. These results challenge common claims of rhetoric that a speaker's voice-related persuasive power critically depends on abdominal "belly breathing" and a standing posture.
... Perhaps the most comprehensive body of research exists in social psychology, where researchers have applied both embodiment (e.g., Schubert & Semin, 2009) and conceptual metaphor theory to study perceived power effects (e.g., Giessner & Schubert, 2007;Lakens, Semin, & Foroni, 2011;Meier & Dionne, 2009), and close correlates of power such as strength (Schubert, 2005), dominance (Burgoon & Dunbar, 2006), charisma (Hamstra, 2014), and divinity (Meier, Hauser, Robinson, Friesen, & Schjeldahl, 2007). Power is thus at least partially conceptualized and understood in terms of sensorimotor experiences and conceptual metaphors created based on attributions related to those experiences. ...
Integrating the embodied cognition framework with research on the self, this study shows that head canting (the vertical tilt of the head to look up vs. down) interacts with a viewer's physical height to influence perceived brand power and behavioral intentions. Three studies use a variety of brand cues in both laboratory and field contexts to test the effect of head canting on brand power evaluations, the role of a person's physical height as a moderator and boundary condition, and the mediating role of consumer–brand identification. Study 1, an experiment, showed that tall, but not short individuals, evaluate a brand as more powerful when looking up (rather than down) at a brand story from a standing position, with differences in brand power impacting brand attitudes and choice. Study 2 replicates these findings with 30 brands, consumers positioned in a seated position, and brand logos. Both studies rule out the construal level as a process mediator. Study 3 further examines the process and demonstrates that the interaction of head canting with a person's height impacts consumer–brand identification, which mediates brand evaluations. These findings add a brand management and physical‐self perspective to previous embodiment research by specifically examining the effects of sensorimotor experiences.
... Social perceptions of faces influence a variety of important social outcomes (e.g., Fiske et al., 2007;Little et al., 2011;Vernon et al., 2014;Todorov et al., 2015) and are made rapidly (e.g., Todorov et al., 2005;Willis and Todorov, 2006;Engell et al., 2007;Carre et al., 2009;Olivola and Todorov, 2010), even, on some dimensions, when irrelevant to the task at hand (Ritchie et al., 2017). Complementing work on the role of social and physical dominance in leadership emergence and effectiveness (e.g., Rule and Ambady, 2008;Wong et al., 2011;Blaker et al., 2013;Hamstra, 2014;Pillemer et al., 2014;Rule and Tskhay, 2014;, see Watkins, 2018 for a recent review), first impressions of dominance and competence can guide leadership choice based on facial cues alone (Todorov et al., 2005;Ballew and Todorov, 2007;Little et al., 2007;Antonakis and Dalgas, 2009;Re et al., 2012Re et al., , 2013Olivola et al., 2014;Re and Perrett, 2014). Preferences for such traits in leaders may function to accrue fitness benefits for group members, if dominant, prestigious and/or intelligent leaders have the necessary leverage to represent or protect their group in exchanges with out-groups (see, e.g., Van Vugt et al., 2007;MacDonald et al., 2012;Spisak et al., 2012; for discussion), or to maintain cohesion, resolve conflict and/or enforce punishment within groups (see Watkins, 2018 for discussion). ...
While first impressions of dominance and competence can influence leadership preference, social transmission of leadership preference has received little attention. The capacity to transmit, store and compute information has increased greatly over recent history, and the new media environment may encourage partisanship (i.e., “echo chambers”), misinformation and rumor spreading to support political and social causes and be conducive both to emotive writing and emotional contagion, which may shape voting behavior. In our pre-registered experiment, we examined whether implicit associations between facial cues to dominance and competence (intelligence) and leadership ability are strengthened by partisan media and knowledge that leaders support or oppose us on a socio-political issue of personal importance. Social information, in general, reduced well-established implicit associations between facial cues and leadership ability. However, as predicted, social knowledge of group membership reduced preferences for facial cues to high dominance and intelligence in out-group leaders. In the opposite-direction to our original prediction, this “in-group bias” was greater under less partisan versus partisan media, with partisan writing eliciting greater state anxiety across the sample. Partisanship also altered the salience of women’s facial appearance (i.e., cues to high dominance and intelligence) in out-group versus in-group leaders. Independent of the media environment, men and women displayed an in-group bias toward facial cues of dominance in same-sex leaders. Our findings reveal effects of minimal social information (facial appearance, group membership, media reporting) on leadership judgments, which may have implications for patterns of voting or socio-political behavior at the local or national level.
... Bigger is stronger. Taller men are perceived as better leaders, more intelligent, and as having higher levels of self-confidence than their shorter counterparts (Hamstra 2014). The height-status relationship in terms of body size still exists when controlling the factors of intelligence and nutrient level (Silventoinen et al. 1999). ...
Height-power relationship has been commonly found in architecture and interior designs. The earliest experience of the positive relationship between height and power may be found in the stage of infancy. Based on the rationale of embodied cognition in the context of this height-power relationship, the present research speculates that the effect of head movements can affect an individual’s judgment about personal status. Participants in Study 1 did not show this positional effect through upward/downward eyeball movements. Supportive evidence, however, was yielded in Study 2, in which participants wearing VR headsets were required to move their heads to look at stimuli. A synchronized relationship between the viewer and the agent being watched was proposed, which potentially explains a shortcut in the processing of social relationships.
... In addition, the perceptual association between body size and social status can be explained in terms of prestige (Lukaszewski et al., 2016): Research shows that taller individuals are perceived as more competent (Hensley & Cooper, 1987;Young & French, 1996), charismatic (Hamstra, 2014), and as better leadership material overall (Blaker et al., 2013;Re et al., 2013) than shorter individuals are. Lukaszewski, Simmons, Anderson, and Roney (2016) argue that the higher social status attained by physically formidable men is more likely due to "their perceived benefit generation capacity (prestige) than to their aggressive intimidation of rivals and subordinates (dominance)" (p. ...
Research has shown a positive association between cues of physical formidability and perceptions of status, supporting a generic “bigger-is-better” heuristic. However, does better also lead to appraisals as bigger? Recent research suggests that the perceptual association between body size and social status can also be explained in terms of prestige. To test whether perceptions of prestige lead to higher appraisals of body size, we examined whether people apply a “better is bigger bias” (BBB) in football, where performance and body size tend to be uncorrelated. In two studies, we examined real coalitional sports groups on a national (Study 1) and team level (Study 2), and we manipulated target performance in an experimental third study. Results suggest that perceived performance significantly predicted both the perceived height (Studies 2 and 3) and perceived weight (Studies 1 and 2) of professional football players, supporting the BBB. Support for the team had a positive effect on body size estimations of the players; however, we did not find any support for winner or loser effects. We discuss these results in light of individual versus team performance and coalitional affiliation.
... This led to debate as to whether good leaders were "born" or could acquire needed skills and behaviours [109]. Further research into the genetics of leadership has explored the relationship between genetically inherited physical characteristics, such as height [110] and facies [111,112], and the success of leaders. There are also studies that research the genetic involvement in leadership role occupancy as well as leadership approaches [20,113]. ...
We are living in the Anthropocene period, where human activity has become the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Addressing the question of how nature and societies will evolve in the Anthropocene is one of the grand challenges of our time. This challenge requires a new form of leadership, one capable of transmuting the eroding relationship between business, society and nature. Yet at this critical time, leadership theory is at a crossroads, with many arguing that leadership, as a field of study, should be abandoned. Operating in parallel to this Anthropocene challenge is an increasing understanding of the complexity of the genome, including the inherent plasticity of our genomic hierarchies, and the influence of the genome on health, disease and evolution. This has demanded a change in thinking to view the genome from an evolutionary systems perspective. To address the imbalance presented by the Anthropocene, we propose using a genomic lens as the basis for thinking about leadership evolution. In arguing this, we aim to provide the pathway for an improved synergistic relationship between business, society and nature, one that can guide the future of humanity in the unstable world we have created.
... Research also shows that gender-based differences exist in the transmission and decoding of nonverbal cues. In addition, there exist gender-based biases toward female leaders and politicians regarding attire (Armstrong, 2016), height (Hamstra, 2014), tone (Mooney, 2008), and looks (Franke-Ruta, 2013), as well as other nonverbal cues. The medium with which these nonverbal cues are transmitted is also important. ...
This case study analyzed nonverbal cues during the 2016 town hall debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Variables were facial expressions, posture, eye contact, and spatial distance. Clinton was friendlier, took more expansive postures, and maintained more eye contact. The candidates largely kept within social distance, except for an instance that created postdebate controversy. Whereas some of Clinton's nonverbal behavior conformed to established gendered cues, her nonverbal behavior largely transcended gender norms. Also addressed are the media's shortcomings in contextualizing debate visuals.
... However, the ability to dominate physically also seems to transfer to the ability to gain socioeconomic status. In humans just to give a few examplesbody height is positively related to leadership perception (Blaker et al., 2013), perceptions of charisma (Hamstra, 2014), income (Case & Paxson, 2008;Judge & Cable, 2004), and attributions of authority to professional referees (Stulp, Buunk, & Verhulst, 2012). ...
Body height and expansiveness of body motion both affect perceived dominance and status. We investigated whether expansiveness of body motion also has a direct impact on perceptions of height. For two independent rating experiments we turned the body movements of politicians giving a speech into short clips of animated stick-figures. In experiment one, participants judged these stimuli on dominance, trustworthiness, and competence. In experiment two participants assessed the stick-figures’ heights. Perceptions of stick-figure heights were related to ratings of dominance even after controlling for actual stimulus height. We concluded that perceived height was influenced by motion cues. Detailed analyses of hand and torso movements revealed that expansive vertical arm movements made our stimuli appear taller. In conclusion, our findings indicate that motion cues do not only affect attributions of personality traits but also distort perceptions of physiognomic features such as body height.
... Likewise, adults generally tend to see taller individuals as more dominant, intelligent, competent, persuasive, and as better leadership material overall than they do shorter individuals [15,16,30,31]. Furthermore, tall leaders are perceived as more charismatic than shorter leaders are [32], and taller US presidents are rated as having more 'presidential greatness' than their shorter counterparts [12]. Lastly, people tend to estimate a man's height as greater when they are told he has a higher status as opposed to a lower status [33,34] or when he acts more dominantly instead of submissively [35]. ...
Research shows that perception of physical size and status are positively associated. The current study was developed to replicate and extend earlier research on height perceptions of political leaders, indicating that supporters perceive their leaders as taller than non-supporters do, and winners are perceived as taller after the elections, while losers are perceived as shorter after the elections (winner/loser effects). Individuals use greater height and strength as indications of greater physical formidability. We hypothesized that in-group leaders’ height and strength, but not weight, would be overestimated more compared to out-group leaders’, and that this status-size association is not only driven by dominance, but also by prestige. We also tested whether previously found gender effects in estimates were due to using one’s own height as an anchor, and we used an improved methodological approach by relying on multiple measurements of physical formidability and a within-subject design for testing winner/loser effects. The results of a two-part longitudinal study (self-selected sample via voting advice website; NWave1 = 2,011; NWave2 = 322) suggest that estimated physical formidability of political leaders is affected by motivated perception, as prestige was positively associated with estimated formidability, and in-group leaders were estimated more formidable than out-group leaders. We conclude that distortions in judged formidability related to social status are the result of motivated social perception in order to promote group functioning and leadership. Although we did not replicate a winner-effect (greater estimations of formidability after winning the elections), we did find some evidence for a loser-effect. Earlier suggestions that men make larger estimations than women because of their own larger body size are not supported. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.
... Formidability Individuals who are taller and physically stronger than their peers, for example, may have a higher leader index because they are expected to have greater success in physical combat, in punishing defectors, and attracting the attention of followers – these are all important leader characteristics in ancestral environments (seeBlaker et al., 2013;Von Rueden & van Vugt, 2016for extensive reviews). Interestingly, there is evidence taller leaders are deemed more charismatic by followers (Hamstra, 2014).appearance Much of the research in this area suggests that followers pay particular attention to information signaled through facial features (Little, Jones, & DeBruine, 2011) and expressions (e.g.Masters, Sullivan, Lanzetta, McHugo, & Englis, 1986;Trichas & Schyns, 2012). ...
We present an evolutionary perspective on charismatic leadership, arguing that charisma has evolved as a credible signal of a person's ability to solve a coordination challenge requiring urgent collective action from group members. We suggest that a better understanding of charisma's evolutionary and biological origins and functions can provide a broader perspective in which to situate current debates surrounding the utility and validity of charismatic leadership as a construct in the social sciences. We outline several key challenges which have shaped our followership psychology, and argue that the benefits of successful coordination in ancestral environments has led to the evolution of context-dependent psychological mechanisms which are especially attuned to cues and signals of outstanding personal leadership qualities. We elaborate on several implications of this signaling hypothesis of charismatic leadership, including opportunities for deception (dishonest signaling) and for large-scale coordination.
... Most commercialized telepresence robots are limited in full reflecting the variety of life-size heights of adults in a robotmediated communication environment. If the heightauthority relationship proven in human communication [1][2] [3] applies to robot-mediated communication, a telepresence robot platform shorter than adult height is useful for stimulating communication and enhancing the friendship between the robot-assisted teacher and the students. ...
For humans, a taller height is an advantage in expressing one's dominant strictness to others. To this point, robotic telepresence has preferred low-height robotic platforms for reasons such as operational stability, user convenience and psychological comfort. We examined whether the height of the robot had an effect on an instructor connected to a telepresence robot in robot-assisted learning with regard to controlling a large number of students. The experiment showed that the use of a taller robot, compared to a shorter robot, did not make a meaningful difference in the instructors' authority being accepted by the students. Though, students felt a shorter robot friendly than a life-size taller robot.
... Thus, we are not the first to note the influence of nonverbal cues in the domain of leadership (Bryman, 1992;Hall et al., 2005;Hamstra, 2014;Little, 2014;Todorov, Mandisodza, Goren, & Hall, 2005), nor the first to try to systemize the respective cues (Awamleh & Gardner, 1999;Carney, Hall, & LeBeau, 2005;Schubert & Giessner, 2008); however, previous efforts were solely focused on the person and did not account for environmental factors. More generally, all of them lacked a unifying theoretical lens, such as embodiment. ...
Charismatic leaders have consistently been shown to affect followers' performance, motivation, and satisfaction. Yet, what precisely constitutes charisma still remains somewhat enigmatic. So far, research has mainly focused on leader traits, leader behaviors, or the leader follower-relationship, and the subsequent consequences of each on followers' self-concepts. All of these approaches share the notion that leader charisma depends on an explicit interaction between leader and follower. With the present review paper, we extend extant theorizing by arguing that charisma is additionally informed by embodied signals that flow directly from either the leader or the immediate environment. We introduce the embodiment perspective on human perception and describe its utility for theoretically understanding the charismatic effect. Correspondingly, we review studies that show which concrete embodied cues can support the charismatic effect. Finally, we discuss the variety of new theoretical and practical implications that arise from this research and how they can complement existing approaches to charismatic leadership.
... Finally, other interesting avenues to explore would be linking perceptual measures of charisma to biological individual differences such as facial appearance (Todorov et al. 2005, Trichas & Schyns 2012, height (Hamstra 2014) or other factors (e.g., hormones), as well as looking at neuroscientific correlates (Waldman et al. 2011). As concerns the latter, there is some very interesting research showing how charismatic rhetorical strategies such as storytelling affect neuroendocrinological functioning (Barraza et al. 2015, Barraza & Zak 2009, Speer et al. 2009). ...
We take historical stock of charisma, tracing its origins and how it has been conceptualized in the sociological and organizational sciences literatures. Although charisma has been intensely studied, the concept is still not well understood and much of the research undertaken cannot inform policy. We show that the major obstacles to advancing our understanding of charisma
have included issues with its definition, its confusion with transformational leadership, the use of questionnaire measures, and that it has not been studied using correctly specified causal models. To help spawn a new genre of research on charisma, we use signaling theory to provide a general definition of charisma, and make suggestions about how charisma should be conceptualized, operationalized, and modeled. We also describe trends and patterns
in articles we reviewed, using cocitation as well as bibliometric analyses, and discuss the practical implications of our findings.
... The aforementioned "power posture" is an example of a nonverbal cue representing power. Other nonverbal behaviors associated with power include talking time and interruption (Mast, 2002), eye contact (Kleinke, 1986), vocal pitch (Stel, van Dijk, Smith, van Dijk, & Djalal, 2012), facial appearance (Olivola, Eubanks, & Lovelace, 2014;Spisak, Grabo, Arvey, & van Vugt, 2014), and size and strength (Hamstra, 2014). Consistent with the biological perspective, results show that certain nonverbal markers of power and status are universal across cultures (Tracy et al., 2013). ...
Nonverbal behavior is a hot topic in the popular management press. However, management scholars have lagged behind in understanding this important form of communication. Although some theories discuss limited aspects of nonverbal behavior, there has yet to be a comprehensive review of nonverbal behavior geared toward organizational scholars. Furthermore, the extant literature is scattered across several areas of inquiry, making the field appear disjointed and challenging to access. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on nonverbal behavior with an eye towards applying it to organizational phenomena. We begin by defining nonverbal behavior and its components. We review and discuss several areas in the organizational sciences that are ripe for further explorations of nonverbal behavior. Throughout the paper, we offer ideas for future research as well as information on methods to study nonverbal behavior in lab and field contexts. We hope our review will encourage organizational scholars to develop a deeper understanding of how nonverbal behavior influences the social world of organizations.
... Other research indicates that traits like competence, likability, and trustworthiness, which are important for leader evaluation, can be judged from a person's face (Todorov, Mandisodza, Goren, & Hall, 2005). Moreover, smiling and a leader's height are positively associated with followers' perceptions of charisma (Avamleh & Gardner, 1999;Hamstra, 2014). To explain first impressions of leader charisma, it is crucial to take an embodied perspective that includes nonverbal aspects of leader categorization. ...
Charismatic leaders have positive effects on followers' performance, motivation, and satisfaction So far, theories seeking to explain what makes a leader charismatic have focused on leader traits, leader behaviors, and the leader follower-relationship. Other approaches claim that leader charisma can be at least to some extent explained by an attribution process and follower self-concept activation. These existing theories start explaining leader charisma at a behavioral level. However, we argue that charisma perception starts even before leader and follower interact with each other. In other words, followers ascribe charisma in a precognitive attribution process as part of their first impression formation of the leader. Complementary to attribution theories of charisma, we propose that charisma is ascribed through embodied (physical) cues. These cues can refer directly to the leader or be present in the environment. In this paper, we provide an overview of empirical evidence demonstrating how physical cues influence the perception of leader charisma. As our perspective complements existing approaches to charismatic leadership, we will discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this extension.
... Research on height and person perception suggests that people (in Western countries) tend to attribute several positive traits to taller individuals. These include competence (Young and French 1996), charisma (Hamstra 2013), and intelligence; such traits are desirable qualities that may give individuals more prestige. Most research has been focused on perceptions of men, but positive traits are also attributed to tall women, such as being assertive, affluent, and ambitious (Chu and Geary 2005). ...
The current chapter investigates the relationship between someone's physical size and assessments of their social status. Physical size is related to status in many species-including humans- and may affect both real and perceived status. We refer to this as the status-size hypothesis, the automatic association between physical size and position in a status hierarchy. We review the evidence for this hypothesis, drawing on both human and non-human data. Furthermore, we distinguish between different aspects of physical size and pathways to obtain status in groups with implications for the status-size effect. We find that height and muscularity differently affect status perception, and that status obtained through coercion (dominance) differently affects size perception than status obtained through voluntary deference (prestige). Furthermore, contextual cues of competition versus cooperation moderate the status-size relationship. A review of results from various studies, including our own, supports various predictions from the hypothesis: (a) high status dominant and prestigious individuals are estimated taller, and (b) taller individuals are estimated higher in prestige and dominance-based status; (c) dominant high-status individuals are perceived as more muscular than prestigious high-status individuals, (d) more muscular individuals are perceived as dominant but not necessarily prestigious; finally (e) unlike adults, primary school-aged children associate size with dominance but not with prestige, suggesting that though dominance may be universally linked to increased size, the relationship between height and prestige is culturally learned. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014. All rights are reserved.
... By an embodied cognition perspective, some studies have argued that the attribution of charismatic qualities is influenced by some physical traits, such as physical height in the case of male leaders (Hamstra, 2013). In fact, as the common language testifies ("to be high in the hierarchy"), power seems to correlate with a vertical location in space schemas (Pecher et al., 2012;Schubert, Giessner, 2007). ...
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of existing scientific research and theoretical studies concerning the category of the sacred. The essay takes an interdisciplinary point of view and covers the literature published in the years between 2000 and 2013.This review is theoretically oriented by an approach to the sacred that conceives it as an immanent character of social life that is not constrained by the boundaries of religious institutions. In the first part of the paper, we present this perspective through both classic and recent theories. In the second and third section, we discuss the most recent sociological, anthropological, psychological, neuroscientific, and evolutionary research concerning the sacred, organizing the information into two classic key issues: the sacred as a social and a moral cohesive force, and the sacred in its relation to power. We close the paper by providing some hints for future research in this area.
Political leadership plays a vital role in shaping the trajectory of political systems, addressing societal issues, fostering inclusive governance, and contributing to sustainable development. It has undergone a major facelift, propelled by the relentless march of technology. Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into political processes and decision-making occupies a vital space in shaping the future of political leadership and democratic processes.
Leadership is defined as “a process whereby intentional influence is exerted over other people to guide, structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization” (Yukl GA, Leadership in organizations. Pearson, p. 2, 2013). As “[l]eading people effectively is a tremendous challenge, a great opportunity, and a serious responsibility” (Nahavandi A, The art and science of leadership. Pearson, p. xv, 2006), leadership is one of the most heavily researched phenomena in social sciences. Over the years, the leadership field has evolved with incorporating a range of concepts and theories from different disciplines (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, organizational and political sciences), painting a clearer picture of the leadership paradigms and allowing us to explain the antecedents, outcomes, circumstances, and mechanisms of leadership. This chapter will provide a thorough overview of leadership theories and research. Specifically, this chapter begins by introducing early leadership theories (the trait, behavioral, and contingency approach to leadership). The chapter then turns to reviewing existing research on new leadership models (LMX, transformational leadership, ethical leadership, shared leadership, and abusive supervision), followed by a discussion of gender and cultural differences in existing leadership research. Finally, this chapter provides a brief overview of power, influence tactics, and organizational politics.KeywordsTrait approachBehavior approachSituational contingencyLeader-member exchange (LMX)Transformational leadershipEthical leadershipShared leadershipAbusive supervisionGenderCross-culturePowerInfluencePolitics
Research has shown that infants represent legitimate leadership and predict continued obedience to authority, but which cues they use to do so remains unknown. Across eight pre-registered experiments that varied the cue provided, we tested if Norwegian 21-month-olds (N=128) expected three protagonists to obey a character even in her absence. We assessed whether bowing for the character, receiving a tribute from, or conferring a benefit to, the protagonists, imposing a cost on them (forcefully taking a resource or hitting them), or relative physical size were used as cues to generate the expectation of continued obedience that marks legitimate leadership. Whereas bowing sufficed in generating such an expectation, we found positive Bayesian evidence that all the other cues did not. Norwegian infants unlikely have witnessed bowing in their everyday life. Hence, bowing/prostration as cue for continued obedience may form part of an early-developing capacity to represent leadership built by evolution.
Research has demonstrated the existence of weight and gender bias targeting women and overweight individuals, which may result in barriers to advancement and poor emotional well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction effect of weight status and gender on the evaluation of politicians. A total of 184 undergraduate students (65.8% women) participated in this study in exchange for course credit. Upon informed consent, they were randomly assigned into one of two conditions and accordingly shown pictures of politicians with an overweight or a non-overweight status. Each politician was then rated on a 10-point Likert scale for the following characteristics: attractiveness, likelihood to be voted, physical health, intelligence, mental health, leadership, and trustworthiness. A mixed factorial ANOVA revealed an interaction effect of sex and weight status on six of the seven traits: attractiveness, likelihood to be voted, physical health, intelligence, mental health, and leadership (range of ps ≤ 0.001 to .043). Contrary to expectations, overweight male politicians were rated lowest on these characteristics. Findings provided insights in understanding the impact of weight and gender on how politicians are evaluated. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The Routledge International Handbook of Charisma provides an unprecedented multidimensional and multidisciplinary comparative analysis of the phenomenon of charisma – first defined by Max Weber as the irrational bond between deified leader and submissive follower. It includes broad overviews of foundational theories and experiences of charisma and of associated key issues and themes. Contributors include 45 influential international scholars who approach the topic from different disciplinary perspectives and utilize examples from an array of historical and cultural settings. The Handbook presents up-to-date, concise, thought-provoking, innovative, and informative perspectives on charisma as it has been expressed in the past and as it continues to be manifested in the contemporary world by leaders ranging from shamans to presidents. It is designed to be essential reading for all students, researchers, and general readers interested in achieving a comprehensive understanding of the power and potential of charismatic authority in all its varieties, subtleties, dynamics, and current and potential directions.
This study explores the link between height and earnings, using data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for the year 2015 (24th wave). The dependent variable was average monthly income and the key independent variable was self-reported height, measured in centimetres. The empirical model also included a rich vector of personal and job-related factors that have been shown to be associated with earnings in the relevant literature. Sequential multiple regression and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the data. The results suggest that height is a significant predictor of earnings in Russia. The results were found to be robust for a set of controls and tests.
In today’s democracies, disempowered group members are no longer formally barred from the political arena. However, there is a concern that the historical memory of political inequality and exclusion remains as internalized cognitive dispositions, shaping behavior even after laws are changed. Focusing on the legacy of women’s political exclusion from the public sphere, I consider whether internal exclusions undermine women’s ability to influence political discourse even under conditions of formal political equality. All else being equal, do women and men in Western democracies have the same discursive influence? Are women particularly sensitive to men’s discursive authority? I help answer these questions using an experimental research design. The results of my study offer evidence that people are more willing to revise their opinions after hearing a man’s counterargument than after hearing a woman’s identical counterargument. This pattern appears to be driven by the way women respond to a man’s counterclaim. I discuss how gendered discursive inequities reinforce existing patriarchal structures, and the role that women inadvertently play in their own subjugation. I conclude by offering suggestions for better approximating the ideal of discursive gender equality.
Much has been said about Hillary Clinton’s lack of charisma, based on anecdote. This study examined her charismatic rhetoric as a major party candidate in comparison with male candidates during the last four presidential races. Overall, Clinton was third most charismatic and her rhetorical patterns do not differ from those of the male candidates. Most gender-based charisma patterns in literature did not manifest either. Clinton’s rhetoric is more charismatic than commonly perceived in the media, and this mischaracterization is a symptom of the gender-based biases exhibited towards female politicians. I discuss remedies for gender bias regarding charisma and elections.
The influence of a candidate’s physical appearance on interview evaluations is well documented. However, few models exist that explain how and why specific components of physical appearance influence interviewer perceptions. We address this discrepancy by identifying the primary components of appearance and integrating findings from the appearance literature to explain the relationship between candidate appearance and interview evaluations. We propose that interviewers compare traits inferred from a candidate’s physical appearance with traits associated with their prototype for the job position. Interviewers perceive a strong person-job fit when these traits align, which is indicated by a prototype match. By detailing this progression in the proposed conceptual model, this paper answers calls from recent research and provides new directions for future inquiry.
Background:
The effects of orthognathic surgery go beyond objective cephalometric correction of facial and dental disproportion and malocclusion, respectively. The authors hypothesized that there is tangible improvement following surgery that alters publicly perceived personality traits and emotions.
Methods:
The authors used Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a crowdsourcing tool, to determine how preoperative and postoperative images of orthognathic surgery patients were perceived on six personality traits and six emotional expressions based on posteroanterior and lateral photographs. Blinded respondents provided demographic information and were randomly assigned to one of two sets of 20 photographs (10 subjects before and after surgery).
Results:
Data on 20 orthognathic surgery patients were collected from 476 individuals. The majority of participants were female (52.6 percent), 18 to 39 years old (67.9 percent), Caucasian (76.6 percent), had some college or technical training or graduated college (72.7 percent), and had an annual income between 99,999 (74.6 percent). A paired t test analysis found that subjects were perceived significantly more favorably after orthognathic surgery in 12 countenance categories: more dominant, trustworthy, friendly, intelligent, attractive, and happy; and also less threatening, angry, surprised, sad, afraid, and disgusted (p < 0.05). Raters with the highest annual income perceived a greater magnitude of dominance after surgery than those earning less (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
There is significant improvement in the countenance of patients after orthognathic surgery, with both perceived personality traits and emotions deemed more favorable. Additional work is needed to better understand the physiologic underpinnings of such findings. Crowdsourcing technology offers a unique opportunity for surgeons to gather data regarding laypeople's perceptions of surgical outcomes in areas such as orthognathic surgery.
We use the Young Finns Study (N = ∼2000) on the measured height linked to register-based long-term labor market outcomes. The data contain six age cohorts (ages 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18, in 1980) with the average age of 31.7, in 2001, and with the female share of 54.7. We find that taller people earn higher earnings according to the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation. The OLS models show that 10 cm of extra height is associated with 13% higher earnings. We use Mendelian randomization, with the genetic score as an instrumental variable (IV) for height to account for potential confounders that are related to socioeconomic background, early life conditions and parental investments, which are otherwise very difficult to fully account for when using covariates in observational studies. The IV point estimate is much lower and not statistically significant, suggesting that the OLS estimation provides an upward biased estimate for the height premium. Our results show the potential value of using genetic information to gain new insights into the determinants of long-term labor market success.
Reflective and reflexive practice has become an integral component of practitioner professional training, particularly within professions associated with psychology and nursing. One way of facilitating reflective and reflexive practice is to integrate sensitivity of social interrelated constructs and social differences in relation to Gender, Race, Religion, Age, Abilities, Class, Culture, Ethnicity, Education, Sexual orientation and Spirituality as outlined in the GRRAACCEESS acronym. Inspired from the eighteen-century sailing vessel replica ‘La Grace’, this paper extends Burnham’s original GRRAACCEESS acronym by adding ‘Language’ and ‘Anatomy’ to form the ‘LA GRRAACCEESS’ model. This paper explores the merits and implications of the LA GRRAACCEESS model in order to assist practitioners with unravelling or deconstructing reflective practice and encourage ongoing mindful reflective practice.
Two studies examine complementarity (vs. mimicry) of dominant and submissive nonverbal behaviors. In the first study, participants interacted with a confederate who displayed either dominance (through postural expansion) or submission (through postural constriction). On average. participants exposed to a dominant confederate decreased their postural stance, whereas participants exposed to a submissive confederate increased their stance. Further, participants with complementing response,, (dominance in response to submission and submission in response to dominance) liked their partner more and were more comfortable than those who mimicked. In the second study, complementarity and mimicry were manipulated, and complementarity resulted in more liking and comfort than mimicry. The findings speak to the likelihood of hierarchical differentiation.
Throughout the animal kingdom, larger males are more likely to attain social dominance. Several lines of evidence suggest that this relationship extends to humans, as height is positively related to dominance, status and authority. We hypothesized that height is also a determinant of authority in professional refereeing. According to the International Football Association Board, FIFA, football ("soccer") referees have full authority to enforce the laws of the game and should use their body language to show authority and to help control the match. We show that height is indeed positively related to authority status: referees were taller than their assistants (who merely have an advisory role) in both a national (French League) and an international (World Cup 2010) tournament. Furthermore, using data from the German League, we found that height was positively associated with authoritative behavior. Taller referees were better able to maintain control of the game by giving fewer fouls, thereby increasing the "flow of the game". Referee height was also positively associated with perceived referee competence, as taller referees were assigned to matches in which the visiting team had a higher ranking. Thus, height appears to be positively related to authority in professional refereeing.
Human male height is associated with mate choice and intra-sexual competition, and therefore potentially with reproductive success. A literature review (n = 18) on the relationship between male height and reproductive success revealed a variety of relationships ranging from negative to curvilinear to positive. Some of the variation in results may stem from methodological issues, such as low power, including men in the sample who have not yet ended their reproductive career, or not controlling for important potential confounders (e.g. education and income). We investigated the associations between height, education, income and the number of surviving children in a large longitudinal sample of men (n = 3,578; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study), who likely had ended their reproductive careers (e.g. > 64 years). There was a curvilinear association between height and number of children, with men of average height attaining the highest reproductive success. This curvilinear relationship remained after controlling for education and income, which were associated with both reproductive success and height. Average height men also married at a younger age than shorter and taller men, and the effect of height diminished after controlling for this association. Thus, average height men partly achieved higher reproductive success by marrying at a younger age. On the basis of our literature review and our data, we conclude that men of average height most likely have higher reproductive success than either short or tall men.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00265-011-1283-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
In three experiments, we tested the prediction that individuals' experience of power influences their perceptions of their own height. High power, relative to low power, was associated with smaller estimates of a pole's height relative to the self (Experiment 1), with larger estimates of one's own height (Experiment 2), and with choice of a taller avatar to represent the self in a second-life game (Experiment 3). These results emerged regardless of whether power was experientially primed (Experiments 1 and 3) or manipulated through assigned roles (Experiment 2). Although a great deal of research has shown that more physically imposing individuals are more likely to acquire power, this work is the first to show that powerful people feel taller than they are. The discussion considers the implications for existing and future research on the physical experience of power.
Social dominance and physical size are closely linked. Nonverbal dominance displays in many non-human species are known to increase the displayer's apparent size. Humans also employ a variety of nonverbal cues that increase apparent status, but it is not yet known whether these cues function via a similar mechanism: by increasing the displayer's apparent size.
We generated stimuli in which actors displayed high status, neutral, or low status cues that were drawn from the findings of a recent meta-analysis. We then conducted four studies that indicated that nonverbal cues that increase apparent status do so by increasing the perceived size of the displayer. Experiment 1 demonstrated that nonverbal status cues affect perceivers' judgments of physical size. The results of Experiment 2 showed that altering simple perceptual cues can affect judgments of both size and perceived status. Experiment 3 used objective measurements to demonstrate that status cues change targets' apparent size in the two-dimensional plane visible to a perceiver, and Experiment 4 showed that changes in perceived size mediate changes in perceived status, and that the cue most associated with this phenomenon is postural openness.
We conclude that nonverbal cues associated with social dominance also affect the perceived size of the displayer. This suggests that certain nonverbal dominance cues in humans may function as they do in other species: by creating the appearance of changes in physical size.
In this article, the authors propose a theoretical model of the relationship between physical height and career success. We then test several linkages in the model based on a meta-analysis of the literature, with results indicating that physical height is significantly related to measures of social esteem (rho =.41), leader emergence (rho =.24), and performance (rho =.18). Height was somewhat more strongly related to success for men (rho =.29) than for women (rho =.21), although this difference was not significant. Finally, given that almost no research has examined the relationship between individuals' physical height and their incomes, we present four large-sample studies (total N = 8,590) showing that height is positively related to income (beta =.26) after controlling for sex, age, and weight. Overall, this article presents the most comprehensive analysis of the relationship of height to workplace success to date, and the results suggest that tall individuals have advantages in several important aspects of their careers and organizational lives.
This study provided a comprehensive examination of the full range of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. Results (based on 626 correlations from 87 sources) revealed an overall validity of .44 for transformational leadership, and this validity generalized over longitudinal and multisource designs. Contingent reward (.39) and laissez-faire (-.37) leadership had the next highest overall relations; management by exception (active and passive) was inconsistently related to the criteria. Surprisingly, there were several criteria for which contingent reward leadership had stronger relations than did transformational leadership. Furthermore, transformational leadership was strongly correlated with contingent reward (.80) and laissez-faire (-.65) leadership. Transformational and contingent reward leadership generally predicted criteria controlling for the other leadership dimensions, although transformational leadership failed to predict leader job performance.
Self-sacrificing behavior of the leader and the extent to which the leader is representative of the group (i.e., group prototypical) are proposed to interact to influence leadership effectiveness. The authors expected self-sacrificing leaders to be considered more effective and to be able to push subordinates to a higher performance level than non-self-sacrificing leaders, and these effects were expected to be more pronounced for less prototypical leaders than for more prototypical leaders. The results of a laboratory experiment showed that, as expected, productivity levels, effectiveness ratings, and perceived leader group-orientedness and charisma were positively affected by leader self-sacrifice, especially when leader prototypicality was low. The main results were replicated in a scenario experiment and 2 surveys.
This article analyzes the topic of leadership from an evolutionary perspective and proposes three conclusions that are not part of mainstream theory. First, leading and following are strategies that evolved for solving social coordination problems in ancestral environments, including in particular the problems of group movement, intragroup peacekeeping, and intergroup competition. Second, the relationship between leaders and followers is inherently ambivalent because of the potential for exploitation of followers by leaders. Third, modern organizational structures are sometimes inconsistent with aspects of our evolved leadership psychology, which might explain the alienation and frustration of many citizens and employees. The authors draw several implications of this evolutionary analysis for leadership theory, research, and practice.
In a number of economically developed nations the intelligence of the population has increased by approx. 1 standard deviation (SD) over the last half century. No satisfactory explanation for this increase has yet been forthcoming. In this paper it is argued that the major causal factor is improvements in nutrition. These have led to parallel increases in height, head circumference and brain size, and to improved neurological development and functioning of the brain. These are responsible for higher intelligence. Nutrition is still suboptimal for substantial proportions of the population and further increases in intelligence can be anticipated if standards of nutrition could be improved.
Tested the factor structure of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Three questions are specifically addressed: (1) whether the 3 main leadership concepts (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire) can be found in the collected MLQ data, (2) whether the 4 transformational and 3 transactional dimensions can clearly be distinguished, and (3) whether the data support combining passive management-by-exception and laissez-faire leadership in 1 factor for passive leadership. The MLQ-8Y was analyzed using data collected in Dutch organizations. 700 employees (aged 16–64 yrs) from 8 organizations rated their leader's behavior with the MLQ. First, an indication of the internal consistency of the scales developed by B. M. Bass is reported. The results of subsequent factor analyses show that the 3 types of leadership can be found in the data, however, the scales found here are slightly different from Bass' scales. Especially, the transactional and laissez-faire scales have been altered on theoretical and empirical grounds. The adapted version of the MLQ covers the domain with fewer items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examines the effect of height and bodymass on personality, and salary. Questionnaire data were collected from 435 British employees across different industries. The results suggested the correlations were more apparent for men than women. Height related linearly with higher salaries for both men and women, whereas bodymass showed an inverted-U relationship with men's salary. Average-built men obtained higher salaries than slim or fat men. Additionally, self-confidence was related to men's height; however, when its effect was removed, it did not reduce the correlations between physical characteristics and salary.
Economic ActionThe concept of economic actionReligious Ethics and Economic RationalityThe Market: Its Impersonality and EthicClass, Status, PartyEconomically Determined Power and the Status OrderDetermination of Class Situation by Market SituationStatus HonorParties
Two studies examined whether variations in height influence children's impressions of men and women. In Study 1, 28 preschool-aged children judged the strength, dominance, smartness, and concern for others of male and female targets of different heights. Children judged both taller male and female targets as stronger and more dominant, but not to have more concern for others or smartness than shorter targets. In Study 2, 71 preschool-aged children viewed pairs of male and female targets in three height conditions (male target taller, female target taller, targets equal height) and made trait judgments as in Study 1. Again, taller male targets were judged to be stronger, more dominant, and smarter, but not to have more concern for others than shorter female targets. Moreover, disruptions of gender-typical height differences were associated with reversals in impressions of male and female targets. That is, taller female targets were judged to be stronger, more dominant, and smarter when they appeared with shorter male targets. The present findings not only support the claim that physical stature figures importantly in the process by which children form trait impressions but also indicate that covariations between height and gender exert a strong impact on particular traits children attribute to men and women.
Physical height was correlated with the 16 PF. Height was significantly related to suspiciousness for both sexes, and to dominance and independency for males.
The leader trait perspective is perhaps the most venerable intellectual tradition in leadership research. Despite its early prominence in leadership research, it quickly fell out of favor among leadership scholars. Thus, despite recent empirical support for the perspective, conceptual work in the area lags behind other theoretical perspectives. Accordingly, the present review attempts to place the leader trait perspective in the context of supporting intellectual traditions, including evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics. We present a conceptual model that considers the source of leader traits, mediators and moderators of their effects on leader emergence and leadership effectiveness, and distinguish between perceived and actual leadership effectiveness. We consider both the positive and negative effects of specific “bright side” personality traits: the Big Five traits, core self-evaluations, intelligence, and charisma. We also consider the positive and negative effects of “dark side” leader traits: Narcissism, hubris, dominance, and Machiavellianism.
Physical stature plays an important role in human mate choice because it may signal dominance, high status, access to resources, and underlying heritable qualities. Although past research has examined overall preferences for height, we propose these preferences are modified by evolved mechanisms that consider one’s own height and prevailing social norms. We examined this proposal using samples of 2000 personal ads and 382 undergraduates. Both sexes preferred relationships where the woman was shorter when specifying the shortest acceptable, tallest acceptable, and ideal dating partner. In the personal ads sample, this norm was more strongly enforced by women than by men: 23% of men compared to only 4% of women would accept a dating relationship where the woman was taller. Preferences for the male-taller norm were less pronounced in short men and tall women, who shifted towards preferring someone closer to their own height. This limited their potential dating pool but ensured they would select a mate within the typical range of variation for height. Surprisingly, endorsement of traditional gender role norms was only weakly related to height preferences, particularly for women. These findings highlight the utility of examining how evolutionary factors, including endorsement of social norms, may influence mate preferences.
The perceptual distortion of height was examined in a group of American male and female college student volunteers (n = 139). A message which announced either good or bad news was delivered by a familiar or unfamiliar person who was either male or female. After hearing the message, the students were asked to estimate the height of the communicator. Additionally, the variables of self-esteem and independence of judgment were measured. Results indicated that familiarity with the message source (p less than .0025) as well as sex of the communicator (p less than .024) were predictors of the perceptual distortion of height, but message valence was not. Neither self-esteem nor independence of judgment was functionally related to the proclivity to distort the heights of the communicators.
Two studies examine complementarity (vs. mimicry) of dominant and submissive nonverbal behaviors. In the first study, participants interacted with a confederate who displayed either dominance (through postural expansion) or submission (through postural constriction). On average, participants exposed to a dominant confederate decreased their postural stance, whereas participants exposed to a submissive confederate increased their stance. Further, participants with complementing responses (dominance in response to submission and submission in response to dominance) liked their partner more and were more comfortable than those who mimicked. In the second study, complementarity and mimicry were manipulated, and complementarity resulted in more liking and comfort than mimicry. The findings speak to the likelihood of hierarchical differentiation.
Power moves: Complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior Leader self-sacrifice and leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader prototypicality Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past
- L Z Tiedens
- A R Fragale
- B Knippenberg
- D Knippenberg
Tiedens, L. Z., & Fragale, A. R. (2003). Power moves: Complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 558–568. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.558. van Knippenberg, B., & van Knippenberg, D. (2005). Leader self-sacrifice and leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader prototypicality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 25–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.25. Van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. B. (2008). Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past. American Psychologist, 63, 182–196.
Power moves: Complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior Leader self-sacrifice and leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader prototypicality
- L Z Tiedens
- A R B Fragale
- D Van Knippenberg
Tiedens, L. Z., & Fragale, A. R. (2003). Power moves: Complementarity in dominant
and submissive nonverbal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
84(3), 558–568. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.558.
van Knippenberg, B., & van Knippenberg, D. (2005). Leader self-sacrifice and
leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader prototypicality. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 90, 25–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.25.
Leader self-sacrifice and leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader prototypicality
- L Z Tiedens
- A R Fragale
- B Van Knippenberg
- D Van Knippenberg
- M Van Vugt
- R Hogan
- R B Kaiser
Tiedens, L. Z., & Fragale, A. R. (2003). Power moves: Complementarity in dominant
and submissive nonverbal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
84(3), 558-568. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.558.
van Knippenberg, B., & van Knippenberg, D. (2005). Leader self-sacrifice and
leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader prototypicality. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 90, 25-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.25.
Van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. B. (2008). Leadership, followership, and
evolution: Some lessons from the past. American Psychologist, 63, 182-196.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.3.182.