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Dominance hierarchies: Difference between revisions
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A '''dominance hierarchy''' is a | A '''dominance hierarchy''' is a arrangement in groups of animals in which each member has a rank that everyone mostly agrees upon. | ||
== Overview == | == Overview == | ||
Social animals naturally compete for access to resources and mating opportunities | Social animals naturally compete for access to resources and mating opportunities which are limited in quantity and quality. | ||
Rather than fighting each time | Rather than fighting each time interests are in conflict, the animal of higher status gets to decide in a dominance hierarchy. | ||
This enables cooperation by reducing chances of aggression which may explain why such behaviors have evolved in many animals. | |||
The highest ranking animal is called ''alpha'', the next highest ''beta'' and so on. In many species, the alpha animals have some interest in maintaining alliances with lower ranking ones to avoid a [[Beta uprising|beta/omega uprising]]. | The highest ranking animal is called ''alpha'', the next highest ''beta'' and so on. In many species, the alpha animals have some interest in maintaining alliances with lower ranking ones to avoid a [[Beta uprising|beta/omega uprising]]. | ||
Dominance hierarchies are regulated by various | Dominance hierarchies are regulated by various inherited behaviors and abilities, e.g. the ability to remember and recognize one's own and other's ranks quickly and reliably, but they also include emotions and signals like envy (status drive), acceptance of lower status (withdrawal, blushing etc.). | ||
== Dominance hierarchies in humans == | == Dominance hierarchies in humans == | ||
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Humans are more complex than all other animals, so a wide variety of things affect status such as competence, looks/ornament, strength, humor, socioeconomic status etc. Humans are part of many hierarchies at the same time. | Humans are more complex than all other animals, so a wide variety of things affect status such as competence, looks/ornament, strength, humor, socioeconomic status etc. Humans are part of many hierarchies at the same time. | ||
Modern human status hierarchies are both larger and a lot more strict than natural ones that one finds in hunter-gatherers. For example status is explicitly represented e.g. by occupational prestige, income, educational qualifications etc. often within | Modern human status hierarchies are both larger and a lot more strict than the natural ones that one finds in hunter-gatherers. For example status is explicitly represented e.g. by occupational prestige, income, educational qualifications etc. often within large organizational or economic systems. But many of the ancient ways of organizing smaller hierarchies exist nearly unchanged, e.g. the way people respect tall and strong men and also good looking people etc. | ||
Men's hierarchies revolve more around the ability to extract resources, but also looks. Since men benefit from cooperation in resource extraction, their intrasexual competition is more productive and cooperative than women's. | Men's hierarchies revolve more around the ability to extract resources, but also looks. Since men benefit from cooperation in resource extraction, their intrasexual competition is more productive and cooperative than women's. | ||
Women's hierarchies revolve around looks and a reputation of loyalty and related traits that men desire in women. Women's intrasexual competition mainly consists in destroying one another's reputation as well as gossiping about looks because women do not gain much from cooperation. | Women's hierarchies revolve around looks and a reputation of loyalty and related traits that men desire in women. Women's intrasexual competition mainly consists in destroying one another's reputation as well as gossiping about looks because women do not gain much from cooperation. | ||
Humans have various behaviors that are involved in status negotiation and signaling. Some of them are listed below. | |||
== Status signals in humans == | |||
=== Erectness of statue === | |||
Grade received after an exam influences erectness of posture (r = .6 to .8) and people intuitively infer dominance from erectness of posture. (Erectness before the exam does not affect the grade.) <ref>https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00992459</ref> | |||
=== Confidence and force === | |||
Ten months old toddlers are able to infer dominance relations between simple geometric objects by observing relative confidence and forcefulness in the object's movements.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21273490</ref> | |||
=== Eye contact === | |||
Another simple measure of dominance is the Visual Dominance Ratio defined as VDR = (% eye contact while speaking) / (% eye contact while listening). | |||
Dominance positively correlates with eye contact during speaking and negatively with eye contact during listening. | |||
The VDR cancels out differences in individual propensity for holding eye contact and combines both in one number.<ref>https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4684-2835-3_2</ref><ref>https://doi.org/10.2307/3033735</ref> | |||
https://i.imgur.com/mOT2svN.png | |||
=== Smiling === | |||
=== Voice === | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
* [[Hypergamy]] | * [[Hypergamy]] | ||