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Updated: Jan 5, 2026

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior
Published on: January 19, 2019
A Dual Model of Leadership and Hierarchy: Evolutionary Synthesis
Mark Van Vugt1, Jennifer E Smith2
1Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Abstract:
From the popularity of authoritarian political leaders to the under-representation of women in boardrooms, leadership is an important theme in current human social affairs. Leadership is also a prominent research topic in the biological, social, and cognitive sciences. However, these active literatures have evolved somewhat independently and there is a need for synthesis. A comparative-evolutionary approach can integrate seemingly divergent perspectives by making a distinction between two leadership styles, prestige and dominance, that have contrasting expressions, functions, histories, and neural and developmental pathways. The distinction may help to resolve various scientific puzzles, such as: (i) opposing views on the different functions and expressions of leadership; (ii) the appeal of dominance-style leaders; and (iii) sex biases in leadership emergence in modern society.
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