Lecture - The evolutionary perspective on leadership and followership in humans

By Mark van Vugt, Professor of Evolutionary, Work and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam and research associate at the Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford.

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Evolutionary psychology posits that our thinking, feeling and doing are the product of innate psychological mechanisms, which have evolved because they enable people to effectively deal with situations that (directly or indirectly) are important for survival and reproduction.

Professor Mark van Vugt examines how evolutionary theory can be applied to understand group processes, leadership and followership, and can give  more insight in status and power, altruism, conflict and cooperation, and intergroup relations. In his lab in Amsterdam, a range of methodologies (experimental psychology, social neuroscience, and behavioural economics) are used to test hypotheses about human behaviour.

Evolutionary leadership theory proposes that leading and following are strategies that evolved for solving social coordination problems in ancestral environments, including in particular the problems of group movement, intra- group peacekeeping, and intergroup competition. The relationship between leaders and followers is inherently ambivalent because of the potential for exploitation of followers by leaders. Modern organizational structures are sometimes inconsistent with aspects of our evolved leadership psychology, which might explain the alienation and frustration of many citizens and employees. Professor Van Vugt will draw several implications of this evolutionary analysis for leadership theory, research, and practice.

Programme:

This lecture is open to the general public. In case of questions please contact info[at]usias.fr