The Precautious Nature of Prestige: When Leaders Are Hypervigilant to Subtle Signs of Social Disapproval

Some group leaders exhibit hypervigilance to signs of social disapproval and that vigilance manifests at basic levels of social information processing such as visual attention and face perception. The current research tests hypotheses about when, why, and in whom such vigilance occurs. Across 2 pilot studies and 5 experiments (N = 1,667) we find that, when their social relationships are at stake, prestige-oriented leaders (but not dominance-oriented leaders) overperceive signs of social discontent and disapproval. When delivering public (but not private) critical feedback to subordinates, prestige-oriented leaders attended vigilantly to social cues, especially negative emotional expressions indicating social discontent (Experiment 1). When delivering public (but not private) critical feedback, prestige-oriented leaders were also biased toward perceiving smiles as disingenuous (Experiment 2). Experimental manipulations of prestige produced similar results, suggesting that an orientation toward prestige causes leaders to perceive smiles as disingenuous (Experiment 3), interpret neutral facial expressions as concealing negative, rather than positive, emotions (Experiment 4), and fixate their attention on social cues (Experiment 5). Consistent with error management theory, hypervigilance to signs of social discontent and disapproval may prompt prestige-oriented leaders to strengthen their social relationships and help them avoid losing the support of their group. These findings are among the first to illuminate basic cognitive processes underlying the psychology of prestige.