Finding the next Barack Obama or Warren Buffett might be as
simple as looking at who attracts the most eyes in a crowd, a
new University of British Columbia study finds. For the study,
which used eye-tracking technology, participants who observed
groups of strangers were able to accurately predict who would
emerge as leader of the group in 120 seconds or less. According
to the study – to appear in the forthcoming Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology – two sets of behaviours will
accurately predict future leadership and catch people's
attention. The first is prestige – the appearance of skill and
competency. The second is dominance, which includes the ability
to impose ideas on others through bullying and intimidation.
"Our findings suggest there are really two ways to top the
social ladder and gain leadership – impressing people with your
skills or powering your way through old-fashioned dominance,"
says lead author Joey Cheng, a PhD candidate in UBC's Dept. of
Psychology. "By measuring levels of infl