A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders
Nowadays, to the detriment of democratic leaders, the emergence of authoritarian leaders has drastically modified the political sphere. This project aims to shed light on this issue by analysing how the perceived effectiveness of democratic and authoritarian political leaders are shaped by the commo...
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doaj-05cd8d3fbf36443193910d9059a466412021-08-11T08:02:27ZengUbiquity PressInternational Review of Social Psychology2397-85702021-07-0134110.5334/irsp.452120A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political LeadersMario Sainz0Eva Moreno-Bella1Laura C. Torres-Vega2Pontificia Universidad Católica de ChileUniversidad de Granada; Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Centre (CIMCYC)Universidad de Granada; Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Centre (CIMCYC)Nowadays, to the detriment of democratic leaders, the emergence of authoritarian leaders has drastically modified the political sphere. This project aims to shed light on this issue by analysing how the perceived effectiveness of democratic and authoritarian political leaders are shaped by the common dimensions of social perception, such as competence/warmth, masculinity/femininity, and human uniqueness/human nature. Accordingly, three experimental studies were conducted. In Study 1 ('n' = 1001), we revealed that democratic leaders are perceived as more competent, warm, feminine and human. In Study 2 ('n' = 548) and Study 3 ('n' = 622), we investigated whether these dimensions of perception mediated the relationship between leaders and their perceived effectiveness. The results revealed that democratic leaders are perceived as effective in cooperative scenarios due to their competence, femininity, and human nature. Alternatively, democratic leaders are preferred in ambiguous contexts due to their competence and cognitive flexibility, that is, human nature. In contrast, authoritarian leaders are perceived as effective in competitive scenarios because of their masculinity. In Study 3, we manipulated the (in)stability of socio-economic contexts. The results revealed that democratic and authoritarian leaders are perceived as more competent, warm, human and more effective in socio-economic contexts that are stable compared with those that are unstable. The implications of the results regarding the emergence of authoritarian leaders are discussed.https://www.rips-irsp.com/articles/452democraticauthoritarianleaderseffectivenessstereotypesmasculinity–femininityhumanity |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Mario Sainz Eva Moreno-Bella Laura C. Torres-Vega |
spellingShingle |
Mario Sainz Eva Moreno-Bella Laura C. Torres-Vega A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders International Review of Social Psychology democratic authoritarian leaders effectiveness stereotypes masculinity–femininity humanity |
author_facet |
Mario Sainz Eva Moreno-Bella Laura C. Torres-Vega |
author_sort |
Mario Sainz |
title |
A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders |
title_short |
A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders |
title_full |
A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders |
title_fullStr |
A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders |
title_full_unstemmed |
A More Competent, Warm, Feminine, and Human Leader: Perceptions and Effectiveness of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Political Leaders |
title_sort |
more competent, warm, feminine, and human leader: perceptions and effectiveness of democratic versus authoritarian political leaders |
publisher |
Ubiquity Press |
series |
International Review of Social Psychology |
issn |
2397-8570 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
Nowadays, to the detriment of democratic leaders, the emergence of authoritarian leaders has drastically modified the political sphere. This project aims to shed light on this issue by analysing how the perceived effectiveness of democratic and authoritarian political leaders are shaped by the common dimensions of social perception, such as competence/warmth, masculinity/femininity, and human uniqueness/human nature. Accordingly, three experimental studies were conducted. In Study 1 ('n' = 1001), we revealed that democratic leaders are perceived as more competent, warm, feminine and human. In Study 2 ('n' = 548) and Study 3 ('n' = 622), we investigated whether these dimensions of perception mediated the relationship between leaders and their perceived effectiveness. The results revealed that democratic leaders are perceived as effective in cooperative scenarios due to their competence, femininity, and human nature. Alternatively, democratic leaders are preferred in ambiguous contexts due to their competence and cognitive flexibility, that is, human nature. In contrast, authoritarian leaders are perceived as effective in competitive scenarios because of their masculinity. In Study 3, we manipulated the (in)stability of socio-economic contexts. The results revealed that democratic and authoritarian leaders are perceived as more competent, warm, human and more effective in socio-economic contexts that are stable compared with those that are unstable. The implications of the results regarding the emergence of authoritarian leaders are discussed. |
topic |
democratic authoritarian leaders effectiveness stereotypes masculinity–femininity humanity |
url |
https://www.rips-irsp.com/articles/452 |
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