Should leaders conform? Developmental evidence from the United States and China.

Abstract

Leadership is inextricably embedded in human groups. One central obligation of leaders is to embody the identity of their group by acting in line with group norms. Yet little is known about how leadership and conformity are initially associated in people's minds, how this association develops in childhood, and how cultural values shape this association. The present research tested 4- to 11-year-olds in the United States and China to address these questions by comparing children's evaluations of a leader's versus an ordinary group member's nonconformity. In Experiments 1 and 3 (N = 114 and 116, respectively), children saw two novel groups engage in distinct behaviors (e.g., listening to different kinds of music). A leader or a nonleader acted against their respective group norms. Next, children provided evaluations of the nonconformity. In both populations, whereas younger children (4- to 7-year-olds) evaluated the leader's nonconformity more positively relative to the nonleader's, older children (10- to 11-year-olds) evaluated the leader's nonconformity more negatively. Notably, children in China developed more negative attitudes toward a leader's nonconformity than children in the United States. Experiment 2 (N = 66) ruled out the possibility that younger children's favorable evaluations of the leader's nonconformity stemmed from their general positivity toward leaders. Taken together, children in the two countries gradually conceptualize leaders as central group members and expect them to follow group norms. These findings contribute to theories on early leadership cognition and highlight the importance of taking a cross-cultural approach to understand its development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).