The early roots of understanding leadership and social power
No past or present society is devoid of leader-follower relations. Indeed, from an evolutionary standpoint, legitimate authority figures may have been prominent in social groups because of their role in promoting cooperation and cohesion in critical activities such as foraging, resource distribution, and warfare. Evidence regarding the critical importance of prestige/authority and leadership suggests that evolution may also have built fundamental, dedicated, innate representations and motives for consensual authority and legitimate leadership to help navigate the social lifeworld of humans. However, as of yet, the scientific field of social cognitive development has only just begun to address this issue. I will present a set of studies that overall sought to answer two fundamental questions. First, do infants understand the difference between respect-based power exerted by a leader and fear-based power exerted by a bully? Second, when children come to trust leaders more than bullies? Answering these questions will be crucial to unveil the developmental origins of the human proclivity to recognize status and authority.
Where and when
Monday Jan 27th 2020, h 2.30 p.m.
Sala Lauree Psicologia, U6 (3rd floor)
Free entry
info:
Dott.ssa Elena Nava