Lukaszewski Aaron W, Simmons Zachary L, Anderson Cameron, Roney James R
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University.
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Portland.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2016 Mar;110(3):385-406. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000042. Epub 2015 Dec 14.
Why are physically formidable men willingly allocated higher social status by others in cooperative groups? Ancestrally, physically formidable males would have been differentially equipped to generate benefits for groups by providing leadership services of within-group enforcement (e.g., implementing punishment of free riders) and between-group representation (e.g., negotiating with other coalitions). Therefore, we hypothesize that adaptations for social status allocation are designed to interpret men's physical formidability as a cue to these leadership abilities, and to allocate greater status to formidable men on this basis. These hypotheses were supported in 4 empirical studies wherein young adults rated standardized photos of subjects (targets) who were described as being part of a white-collar business consultancy. In Studies 1 and 2, male targets' physical strength positively predicted ratings of their projected status within the organization, and this effect was mediated by perceptions that stronger men possessed greater leadership abilities of within-group enforcement and between-group representation. Moreover, (a) these same patterns held whether status was conceptualized as overall ascendancy, prestige-based status, or dominance-based status, and (b) strong men who were perceived as aggressively self-interested were not allocated greater status. Finally, 2 experiments established the causality of physical formidability's effects on status-related perceptions by manipulating targets' relative strength (Study 3) and height (Study 4). In interpreting our findings, we argue that adaptations for formidability-based status allocation may have facilitated the evolution of group cooperation in humans and other primates. (PsycINFO Database Record
为什么在合作群体中,身体强壮的男性会被他人心甘情愿地赋予更高的社会地位?在人类祖先时期,身体强壮的男性在为群体创造利益方面具有不同的优势,他们能够提供群体内部执行方面的领导服务(例如,对搭便车者实施惩罚)以及群体间代表方面的领导服务(例如,与其他联盟进行谈判)。因此,我们假设,用于社会地位分配的适应性机制旨在将男性的身体强壮程度解读为这些领导能力的线索,并在此基础上赋予强壮男性更高的地位。在四项实证研究中,这些假设得到了支持,在这些研究中,年轻人对被描述为白领商业咨询公司一员的受试者(目标人物)的标准化照片进行了评分。在研究1和研究2中,男性目标人物的体力积极地预测了他们在组织中预期地位的评分,并且这种效应是通过一种认知来介导的,即更强壮的男性在群体内部执行和群体间代表方面具有更强的领导能力。此外,(a)无论地位被概念化为总体优势、基于声望的地位还是基于支配的地位,这些相同的模式都成立,并且(b)被认为极度利己的强壮男性并没有被赋予更高的地位。最后,两项实验通过操纵目标人物的相对力量(研究3)和身高(研究4),确立了身体强壮程度对与地位相关认知的影响的因果关系。在解释我们的研究结果时,我们认为基于强壮程度的地位分配适应性机制可能促进了人类和其他灵长类动物群体合作的进化。(PsycINFO数据库记录)