Doctoral Dissertation Research: Testing evolutionary theories of leadership in a population of transitional foragers

该奖项支持的研究将调查人类社会中领导力的性质。所有社会都有领导人，但领导的形式、功能和效果因社会而异。在人类进化史的绝大多数时间里，人们以狩猎-采集的方式生活在小的游牧部落中，其社会结构的特点可能是高度的平等主义，缺乏继承的社会差别，以及分享的文化风气。在这些条件下的领导力将与当代社会的领导力截然不同，当代社会的领导力更大，同质性更差。因此，要了解领导力的起源和发展，也就是当代领导力形式的根源，有必要收集现存少数小规模社会的数据。这项研究很重要，因为领导力是塑造人类行为、健康、文化和社会的主要力量。对人类领导力的全面理解始于对小规模平等主义社会中领导力的详细理解。这项研究将由华盛顿州立大学博士生扎克里·加菲尔德进行，爱德华·H·黑根博士负责监督。研究人员将在Chabu人中测试四种领导力进化理论。Chabu人是最近定居在埃塞俄比亚的大约2000名狩猎-采集者，现在以狩猎、采集、园艺和经济作物为生。Chabu最近采用了Kebele制度，这是埃塞俄比亚政府的一个地方行政单位，社区选举多名领导人来履行几项内部和外部职能。因此，有一个独特的机会来调查当代平等主义社会的领导力，这个社会目前正在向男性主导的埃塞俄比亚国家内更具等级制度的社会结构过渡。被研究的四种领导理论模型是(1)平等主义的掠夺者模型，(2)支配-声望模型，(3)财富不平等模型，(4)领导的集体行动模型。数据将使用自我报告、同行评级、人体测量和免费列出的方式收集，样本约为250人。这些数据将用于检验预先登记的预测和其他分析。这项研究的发现将有助于改进目前主要基于当代西方社会的领导力理论。调查结果也将被传达，以帮助与发展新的领导形式有关的组织满足商业和公共服务目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The research supported by this award will investigate the nature of leadership in human societies. All societies have leaders but the forms, functions, and effects of leadership vary from society to society. For the vast majority of human evolutionary history, people lived as hunter-gatherers in small nomadic bands and had social structures likely characterized by high degrees of egalitarianism, a lack of inherited social distinctions, and a cultural ethos of sharing. Leadership under these conditions would be quite different from leadership in contemporary societies, which are larger and less homogeneous. Therefore, to understand the origins and development of leadership, the roots of contemporary leadership forms, it is necessary to collect data in the few small-scale societies that remain. The research is important because leadership is a major force in shaping human behavior, health, culture, and society. A complete understanding of human leadership begins with a detailed understanding of leadership in small-scale egalitarian societies. The research will be conducted by Washington State University doctoral student, Zachary Garfield, with oversight by Dr. Edward H. Hagen. The researchers will test four evolutionary theories of leadership among the Chabu, a population of approximately 2,000 recently settled Ethiopian hunter-gatherers who now subsist on a mix of hunting, gathering, horticulture, and cash crops. The Chabu recently adopted the Kebele system, a local administrative unit of the Ethiopian government in which the community elects multiple leaders to fulfill several internal and external functions. Hence, there is a unique opportunity to investigate leadership among a contemporary egalitarian society currently transitioning to a more hierarchical social structure within the male-dominated Ethiopian state. The four theoretical models of leadership to be investigated are (1) the egalitarian forager model, (2) the dominance-prestige model, (3) the wealth inequality model, and (4) collective action models of leadership. Data will be collected using self-report, peer-ratings, anthropometry, and free-listing for a sample of approximately 250 individuals. These data will be used to test preregistered predictions and other analyses. Findings from this research will contribute to improving theories of leadership currently based primarily on contemporary Western societies. Findings will also be communicated to help organizations concerned with developing new forms of leadership to meet business and public service objectives.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.