The Evolutionary and Cultural Origins of Followers' Attraction to Leaders

Abstract

The article analyses people's initial attraction to leaders. The general claim is that the origins of attraction to leaders are rooted in both our phylogenetic need at the species level and our psychological needs at the individual and collective level. The attraction to leaders stems from followers' response to two types of signals: innate signals and acquired signals. The first evokes universal responses that are clearly more evident in crisis situations, whereas the latter evokes a variety of responses arising from collective identities. The patterns of response to these signals are discussed in the article and constitute a conceptual framework for understanding and analysing the phenomenon of followership.