Leadership can be found in all human societies and groups, from the hunter-gatherers to the Western nations, from religious sects to multinational companies. Laboratory experiments have shown that leadership structure spontaneously arises remarkably fast in groups of strangers (even after roughly 25 seconds).

Such a universal phenomenon that is so deeply ingrained in our psyche, leads to the conclusion that the social structure involving leaders and followers is based on adaptive behavior which has arisen through the process of natural selection.

Leading Children

Leadership can be observed very early in human development. Babies of about three months old already follow the eye movements of their mother, and a little later, they are able to deliberately point at things (which can be interpreted as a form of leadership, ‘I want that, so go get it for me’ for example).

On the playgrounds, it are the energetic and extraverted children that seize control over the group and they are valued the most by their fellow kids. By the time we reach adulthood, this leader and follower structure has become a well-established habit.

Why We Like to Follow

There is a classical socio-psychological experiment, known as the Asch experiment, where people are shown a line on a piece of paper, or a blackboard, or something like that. Subsequently, they are shown three lines and are asked which of these is of the same length as the one they saw earlier. Despite being a simple task, most test subjects gave the wrong answer. This happened because the project leader had asked the other people present to give a wrong answer.

So, rather than trusting their own judgment, people seem to feel more comfortable following the group. This focus on the group and willingness to follow leaders is an evolved property.

To illustrate this, imagine two groups of hunter-gatherers in our ancestral environment in Africa. Suppose one of these groups is characterized by internal arguing, a lousy coordination of group activities and a continuous internal struggle for food or other resources.

The other group, however, is a lot more harmonious, knows good leadership and a less unfair division of resources. It seems that the latter group has a higher chance of survival, doesn’t it?

This increased chance of survival is the reason why we evolved the behavior of leading and following.

References

King, A.J. Johnson, D.D.P. & Van Vugt, M. (2009). The origins and evolution of leadership. Current Biology.19, pp. R911 – R916.
Van Vugt, M. (2008). Follow me: The origins of leadership. New Scientist, 14 June, 2660.
Van Vugt, M.; Hogan R. & Kaiser, R. (2008). Leadership, followership, and evolution: some lessons of the past. American Psychologist. 63, pp. 182 – 196.