Richard Ronay

The Path to Glory Is Paved With Hierarchy: When Hierarchical Differentiation Increases Group Effectiveness

Two experiments examined the psychological and biological antecedents of hierarchical differentiation and the resulting consequences for productivity and conflict within small groups. In Experiment 1, which used a priming manipulation, hierarchically differentiated groups (i.e., groups comprising 1 high-power-primed, 1 low-power-primed, and 1 baseline individual) performed better on a procedurally interdependent task than did groups comprising exclusively either all high-power-primed or all low-power-primed individuals. There were no effects of hierarchical differentiation on performance on a procedurally independent task. Experiment 2 used a biological marker of dominance motivation (prenatal testosterone exposure as measured by a digit-length ratio) to manipulate hierarchical differentiation. The pattern of results from Experiment 1 was replicated; mixed-testosterone groups achieved greater productivity than did groups comprising all high-testosterone or all low-testosterone individuals. Furthermore, intragroup conflict mediated the productivity decrements for the high-testosterone but not the low-testosterone groups. This research suggests possible directions for future research and the need to further delineate the conditions and types of hierarchy under which hierarchical differentiation enhances rather than undermines group effectiveness.

The evolutionary psychology of leadership Theory, review, and roadmap

Evolutionary leadership theory (ELT) argues that humans possess specialized psychological mechanisms for solving coordination problems through leadership and followership. We discuss the evolutionary functions and psychological processes underlying leadership, and how to study leadership and followership from an integrated evolutionary perspective. An evolutionary perspective offers novel insights into major barriers to leadership effectiveness in organizations. These obstacles include (a) mismatches between modern and ancestral environments, (b) evolved cognitive biases affecting leader selection and decision-making and (c) innate psychological mechanisms designed to dominate and exploit other individuals. Understanding the evolved psychological mechanisms underlying leadership, in terms of adaptive functions, mismatches, and psychological processes, is critical for the development and integration of leadership theory, research, and practice.

Endogenous testosterone and cortisol modulate neural responses during induced anger control.

Research with violent offenders and delinquent adolescents suggests that endogenous testosterone concentrations have the strongest positive correlations with violence among men who have low concentrations of cortisol. The present study tested the hypothesis that testosterone and cortisol would similarly interact to determine neural activation in regions supporting self-regulation in response to anger provocation. Nineteen healthy Asian male participants were insulted and asked to control their anger during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When cortisol levels were low, testosterone positively correlated with activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and thalamus, but not when cortisol levels were high. During induced anger control, functional connectivity was increased between the amygdala and a top-down prefrontal cortical control network. Moreover, the amygdala-PFC connectivity was strongest among those high in testosterone and low in cortisol. This research highlights a possible neural mechanism by which testosterone and cortisol may influence anger control.

Testosterone’s negative relationship with empathic accuracy and perceived leadership ability.

Two studies examine the relationship between naturally occurring levels of circulating testosterone and empathic accuracy. In Study 1, the authors find that higher endogenous levels of testosterone are negatively related to the accuracy with which people infer the thoughts and feelings of others. In Study 2, the authors use 360 data collected in the field to show that individuals with higher levels of endogenous testosterone are evaluated by their real-world professional colleagues as functioning with lower levels of empathic accuracy. Furthermore, the authors report evidence that this negative relationship between testosterone and perceived empathic accuracy has downstream consequences for perceptions of one’s leadership skills and abilities.

The Too-Much-Talent Effect Team Interdependence Determines When More Talent Is Too Much or Not Enough

Five studies examined the relationship between talent and team performance. Two survey studies found that people believe there is a linear and nearly monotonic relationship between talent and performance: Participants expected that more talent improves performance and that this relationship never turns negative. However, building off research on status conflicts, we predicted that talent facilitates performance—but only up to a point, after which the benefits of more talent decrease and eventually become detrimental as intrateam coordination suffers. We also predicted that the level of task interdependence is a key determinant of when more talent is detrimental rather than beneficial. Three archival studies revealed that the too-much-talent effect emerged when team members were interdependent (football and basketball) but not independent (baseball). Our basketball analysis also established the mediating role of team coordination. When teams need to come together, more talent can tear them apart.

A functional polymorphism of the maoa gene is associated with neural responses to induced anger control

Aggressiveness is highly heritable. Recent experimental work has linked individual differences in a functional polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase-A gene (MAOA) to anger-driven aggression. Other work has implicated the dorsal ACC (dACC) in cognitive-emotional control and the amygdala in emotional arousal. The present imaging genetics study investigated dACC and amygdala reactivity to induced anger control as a function of MAOA genotype. A research assistant asked 38 healthy male undergraduates to control their anger in response to an insult by a rude experimenter. Men with the low-expression allele showed increased dACC and amygdala activation after the insult, but men with the high-expression allele did not. Both dACC and amygdala activation independently mediated the relationship between MAOA genotype and self-reported anger control. Moreover, following the insult, men with the high-functioning allele showed functional decoupling between the amygdala and dACC, but men with the low-functioning allele did not. These results suggest that heightened dACC and amygdala activation and their connectivity are neuroaffective mechanisms underlying anger control in participants with the low-functioning allele of the MAOA gene.

Embodied power, testosterone, and overconfidence as a causal pathway to risk-taking

ABSTRACTPrevious work has found that configuring participants into high-power versus low-power physical postures caused increases in subjective feelings of power, testosterone, and risk-taking as well as decreases in cortisol. We attempted to replicate and extend this pattern of findings by testing for the mediating role of testosterone and overconfidence in the relationship between power poses and risk-taking. We hypothesized that increases in testosterone in response to high-power poses would lead to increases in overconfidence, and that this indirect pathway would mediate the effect of power posing on risk-taking. We were unable to replicate the findings of the original study and subsequently found no evidence for our extended hypotheses. Overconfidence was unaffected by power posing and unrelated to testosterone, cortisol, and risk-taking. As our replication attempt was conducted in the Netherlands, we discuss the possibility that cultural differences may play a moderating role in determining the phys...

Sensitivity to Changing Contingencies Predicts Social Success

To adapt one’s behavior to suit changing social contingencies, it is necessary to be skillful at detecting such changing contingencies in the first place. As a consequence, the ability to detect changing contingencies (reversal learning) should predict social competence across both competitive and cooperative social settings. Consistent with this possibility, Study 1 revealed that better reversal learning predicted more effective conflict management and partner happiness within romantic relationships. Studies 2a and 2b found that better reversal learning predicted less satisfied negotiation partners, an effect mediated by the positive relationship between reversal-learning performance and value gained from the negotiation. In Study 3, better reversal learning predicted greater partner cooperation and more favorable outcomes in a multi-round prisoners’ dilemma game. These results suggest that the capacity to detect changing contingencies, and thereby modify one’s behavior in response to a socially dynamic world, facilitates interpersonal competence across a variety of social domains.

Executive functions and self-control

Setting Goals 129 Effective Goal Setting: The Strategy of Mental Contrasting 129 Empirical Evidence 130 Mechanisms of Mental Contrasting 132 Summary 135 Implementing Set Goals 135 The Distinction Between Goal Intentions and Implementation Intentions 135 Implementation Intentions and Solving Problems of Goal Striving 136 Summary 139 An Intervention to Facilitate Effective Goal Pursuit: Combining Mental Contrasting and Implementation Intentions (MCII) 139 Effects on Health Behavior in Middle-Aged Professional Women 140 Increasing Self-Discipline and Self-Esteem in College Students 140 Summary 141 Conclusion 142 References 142Romantic Alternatives 320 Commitment and Romantic Alternatives 320 Regulatory Focus theory: Promotionand Prevention Motivations 321 Do Promotion-Focused and Prevention-Focused individuals Differ in their Romantic Standards? 323 Study 1: Regulatory Focus and Self-ReportedAttention to and Pursuitof Romantic Alternatives 324 Study 2: Regulatory Focus and Consideration of Alternatives to an Established Relationship 325 Study 3: Regulatory Focusand Consideration of Alternatives Among the Romantically unattached 326 Summary of Empirical Results 329 Regulatory Focus and Romantic Relationships 329 is it Best not to DatePromotion-Focused individuals? 330 What About Approach and Avoidance Motivations? 331 Conclusions 332 References 332

Power poses : where do we stand?

As editors, reviewers, and authors, we are very pleased with the output of this Special Issue. We received a robust number of interesting and diverse submissions, and we were very lucky to convince...