Putting personality in social context: extraversion, emergent leadership, and the availability of rewards.
The present research tested relations between extraversion and emergent leadership among men in situations that differed in potential reward availability. Four-person groups of men engaged in a Leaderless Group Discussion (LGD) task and were randomly assigned to be evaluated by an attractive female observer, an attractive male observer, or not be evaluated. Evolutionary theories suggest that impressing a female evaluator in an intrasexually competitive situation should hold greater reward potential for men than impressing either a male evaluator or no evaluator. Accordingly, more extraverted men (who are more sensitive to reward cues) should display more group leadership when being evaluated by a woman than either a man or no one. Self-and peer ratings confirmed that more extraverted men were significantly more likely to emerge as leaders, but only in the female-evaluator condition. The results are discussed in terms of the interplay between personality, situational factors, and evolutionary principles.
Campbell
Lorne
L
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. lcampb23@uwo.ca
Simpson
Jeffry A
JA
Stewart
Mark
M
Manning
John
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012201:Reward; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology