ACROSS THE BOOK
Linked ideas
Some ideas are built across several chapters. Each is listed here with where to read about it.
Attachment and the secure base
Early experience of reliable care shapes how people trust, explore and lead, and good relationships later can partly repair it.
Chapter 4 Life History, Individual Differences and Attachment; Chapter 7 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology and Leadership Formation; Chapter 10 Long-Term Mating Psychology, Commitment and the Architecture of Sustained Trust; Chapter 27 Play, Exploration and the SEEKING System
Chronic stress and allostatic load
Sustained, unpredictable threat has a measurable biological cost that workplaces can create or reduce.
Chapter 6 Epigenetics, Gene Expression and the Biological Architecture of Leadership; Chapter 7 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology and Leadership Formation; Chapter 28 Niche Construction, Development and Self-Deception; Chapter 31 Evolutionary Medicine and Organisational Health
Costly signals
A signal earns trust when it is expensive to fake, so honest commitment has to cost something.
Chapter 8 Costly Signalling, Honest Communication and the Architecture of Trust; Chapter 10 Long-Term Mating Psychology, Commitment and the Architecture of Sustained Trust; Chapter 12 Reputation, Gossip and Social Information Systems; Chapter 16 Evolutionary Ethics, Moral Psychology and the Architecture of Ethical Leadership; Chapter 19 Ritual, Religion and the Evolution of Large-Scale Cooperation; Chapter 23 Language, Narrative and the Evolution of Persuasion; Chapter 26 Evolutionary Mismatch; Chapter 32 Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Leadership Mismatch
Cultural evolution
Practices spread by learning and imitation far faster than genes, so leaders shape what a group copies.
Chapter 21 Cultural Psychology, Gene-Culture Coevolution and Leadership Across Contexts; Chapter 24 Evolutionary Game Theory and Risk; Chapter 28 Niche Construction, Development and Self-Deception; Chapter 30 Multilevel Selection and Terror Management
Curiosity and the SEEKING system
The drive to explore is a primary motivational system that threat switches off.
Chapter 27 Play, Exploration and the SEEKING System; Chapter 32 Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Leadership Mismatch
Dark Triad traits
Narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy are good at getting selected and poor at leading.
Chapter 8 Costly Signalling, Honest Communication and the Architecture of Trust; Chapter 29 Power, Hierarchy and Toxic Leadership
Dominance and prestige
Two routes to status: influence by force and fear, or by earned skill and respect, with very different consequences.
Chapter 8 Costly Signalling, Honest Communication and the Architecture of Trust; Chapter 17 Evolutionary Origins of Leadership and Status; Chapter 24 Evolutionary Game Theory and Risk; Chapter 28 Niche Construction, Development and Self-Deception
Early career as a sensitive period
The first years of working life shape a leader's later psychology out of proportion to their length.
Chapter 7 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology and Leadership Formation; Chapter 28 Niche Construction, Development and Self-Deception
Epigenetics
Environments, including organisational ones, can change how genes are expressed, with lasting effects on stress and emotion.
Chapter 3 Evolutionary Personality Psychology and the Big Five; Chapter 6 Epigenetics, Gene Expression and the Biological Architecture of Leadership; Chapter 7 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology and Leadership Formation; Chapter 28 Niche Construction, Development and Self-Deception; Chapter 31 Evolutionary Medicine and Organisational Health
Evolutionary mismatch
Minds shaped for small ancestral groups meet modern organisations, technology and pace, and misfire in predictable ways.
Chapter 1 Evolutionary Psychology Foundations and Ethics; Chapter 26 Evolutionary Mismatch; Chapter 31 Evolutionary Medicine and Organisational Health; Chapter 32 Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Leadership Mismatch
Followership
Followers extend deference conditionally and keep judging whether a leader deserves it.
Chapter 14 Followership Psychology and the Evolution of Deference; Chapter 15 Punishment Psychology, Strong Reciprocity and the Architecture of Justice; Chapter 17 Evolutionary Origins of Leadership and Status; Chapter 32 Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Leadership Mismatch
In-group loyalty and out-group rivalry
Strong cooperation inside a group and hostility between groups come from the same evolved system.
Chapter 18 Foundations of Cooperation and Coalitional Psychology; Chapter 22 Intergroup Psychology, Parochial Altruism and Competitive Identity; Chapter 30 Multilevel Selection and Terror Management
Life history strategy
Early conditions calibrate whether a person leans toward fast, short-horizon strategies or slow, long-horizon ones.
Chapter 4 Life History, Individual Differences and Attachment; Chapter 7 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology and Leadership Formation
Loss aversion and reference points
People weigh losses from where they stand more heavily than equal gains, which colours how change is received.
Chapter 24 Evolutionary Game Theory and Risk; Chapter 25 Forager Decision-Making, Ecological Rationality and the Ancestral Mind; Chapter 26 Evolutionary Mismatch
Moral foundations
Many moral disagreements are different weightings of legitimate concerns, not mistakes in reasoning.
Chapter 16 Evolutionary Ethics, Moral Psychology and the Architecture of Ethical Leadership; Chapter 20 Moral Foundations, Communication and Behavioural Immunity
Overconfidence
Confidence is rewarded in selection even though it does not predict, and can undermine, effectiveness.
Chapter 4 Life History, Individual Differences and Attachment; Chapter 28 Niche Construction, Development and Self-Deception
Psychological safety
When it is safe to speak and try things, people explore and share honestly; without it, threat shuts both down.
Chapter 6 Epigenetics, Gene Expression and the Biological Architecture of Leadership; Chapter 14 Followership Psychology and the Evolution of Deference; Chapter 22 Intergroup Psychology, Parochial Altruism and Competitive Identity; Chapter 27 Play, Exploration and the SEEKING System
Punishment and strong reciprocity
People reward cooperators and punish rule-breakers at a cost to themselves, and notice when enforcement is missing.
Chapter 15 Punishment Psychology, Strong Reciprocity and the Architecture of Justice; Chapter 24 Evolutionary Game Theory and Risk
Reputation and gossip
Talk about who can be trusted is how large groups cooperate, and it is hard to manage from the top.
Chapter 8 Costly Signalling, Honest Communication and the Architecture of Trust; Chapter 12 Reputation, Gossip and Social Information Systems; Chapter 18 Foundations of Cooperation and Coalitional Psychology; Chapter 20 Moral Foundations, Communication and Behavioural Immunity
Resisting would-be dominants
Ancestral groups kept order by levelling anyone who tried to dominate, an instinct that still wakes when authority is abused.
Chapter 1 Evolutionary Psychology Foundations and Ethics; Chapter 14 Followership Psychology and the Evolution of Deference; Chapter 17 Evolutionary Origins of Leadership and Status; Chapter 29 Power, Hierarchy and Toxic Leadership
Ritual and shared practice
Doing things together, at some cost, bonds people and shows genuine commitment in ways words cannot.
Chapter 19 Ritual, Religion and the Evolution of Large-Scale Cooperation; Chapter 22 Intergroup Psychology, Parochial Altruism and Competitive Identity
Story and narrative
Stories move people in ways argument does not, which makes honesty in how a leader tells them matter more.
Chapter 20 Moral Foundations, Communication and Behavioural Immunity; Chapter 23 Language, Narrative and the Evolution of Persuasion; Chapter 30 Multilevel Selection and Terror Management
Supernormal stimuli and cheap signals
Digital tools exploit attention and status instincts with signals that cost nothing and mean little.
Chapter 26 Evolutionary Mismatch; Chapter 32 Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Leadership Mismatch
Testosterone and status
Hormones respond to competition and rank, but only probabilistically and never as an excuse.
Chapter 9 Sex, Gender and Leadership; Chapter 13 Social Comparison, Relative Status and Rank Psychology; Chapter 17 Evolutionary Origins of Leadership and Status
Time horizons and present bias
Evolved discounting of the future pulls decisions toward the near term, against long-run investment.
Chapter 4 Life History, Individual Differences and Attachment; Chapter 25 Forager Decision-Making, Ecological Rationality and the Ancestral Mind; Chapter 30 Multilevel Selection and Terror Management