Cross-cultural evidence that intergroup conflict heightens preferences for dominant leaders : a 25-country study

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Laustsen, Lasse and Sheng, Xiaotian and Ahmad, M. Ghufran and Al-Shawaf, Laith and Banai, Benjamin and Banai, Irena Pavela and Barlev, Michael and Bastardoz, Nicolas and Bor, Alexander and Cheng, Joey T. and Chmielińska, Anna and Cook, Alexandra and Fousiani, Kyriaki and Garfield, Zachary H. and Ghossainy, Maliki and Ha, Shang E. and Ji, Tingting and Jones, Benedict C. and Kandrik, Michal and Kanu, Catherine Chiugo and Kenrick, Douglas T. and L. Kordsmeyer, Tobias and Martínez, Cristhian A. and Mazepus, Honorata and Jiaqing, O. and Onyishi, Ike Ernest and Pawlowski, Boguslaw and Penke, Lars and Petersen, Michael Bang and Ronay, Richard and Sznycer, Daniel and Palomo-Vélez, Gonzalo and von Rueden, Christopher R. and Waismel-Manor, Israel and Wiezel, Adi and van Vugt, Mark (2025) Cross-cultural evidence that intergroup conflict heightens preferences for dominant leaders : a 25-country study. Evolution and Human Behavior, 46 (3). 106674. ISSN 1090-5138 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106674)

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Abstract

Across societies and across history, seemingly dominant, authoritarian leaders have emerged frequently, often rising to power based on widespread popular support. One prominent theory holds that evolved psychological mechanisms of followership regulate citizens' leadership preferences such that dominant individuals are intuitively attributed leadership qualities when followers face intergroup conflicts like war. A key hypothesis based on this theory is that followers across the world should upregulate their preferences for dominant leaders the more they perceive the present situation as conflict-ridden. From this conflict hypothesis, we generate and test four concrete predictions using a novel dataset including 5008 participants residing in 25 countries from different world regions (consisting of a mix of convenience and approximately representative country-specific samples). Specifically, we combine experimental techniques, validated psychological scales, and macro-level indicators of intergroup conflict to gauge people's preferences for dominant leadership. Across four independent tests, results broadly support the notion that the presence of intergroup conflict increases follower preferences for dominant leaders. Thus, our results provide robust cross-cultural support for the existence of an adaptive, tribal followership psychology, a finding that has various implications for understanding contemporary politics and international relations.

ORCID iDs

Laustsen, Lasse, Sheng, Xiaotian, Ahmad, M. Ghufran, Al-Shawaf, Laith, Banai, Benjamin, Banai, Irena Pavela, Barlev, Michael, Bastardoz, Nicolas, Bor, Alexander, Cheng, Joey T., Chmielińska, Anna, Cook, Alexandra, Fousiani, Kyriaki, Garfield, Zachary H., Ghossainy, Maliki, Ha, Shang E., Ji, Tingting, Jones, Benedict C. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7777-0220, Kandrik, Michal, Kanu, Catherine Chiugo, Kenrick, Douglas T., L. Kordsmeyer, Tobias, Martínez, Cristhian A., Mazepus, Honorata, Jiaqing, O., Onyishi, Ike Ernest, Pawlowski, Boguslaw, Penke, Lars, Petersen, Michael Bang, Ronay, Richard, Sznycer, Daniel, Palomo-Vélez, Gonzalo, von Rueden, Christopher R., Waismel-Manor, Israel, Wiezel, Adi and van Vugt, Mark;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)