Alpha personality: A new study has found that selfish and aggressive behaviour makes a person seem more attractive as a leader |
It's not likely to win you any popularity contests, but it seems being selfish at work can be good for your career. New research has found that those with more selfless, kind personalities were the most well-liked, but were simultaneously seen as less attractive candidates for leadership and were overlooked for promotion. It found that aggression implied strength, while altruistic tendencies were perceived as a sign of weakness. The study, from the Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, aimed to discover the personality types we associate with leadership. In a series of three experiments, participants were placed into groups. Researchers then analysed their behaviour as they managed tokens representing money; how some chose to keep them, and others contributed them to a group pool. The results showed that those with the kinder personalities were the most popular in the groups, but they were also considered weak or gullible. Those with more dominant and aggressive behaviour were seen as 'alpha' personalities. Co-author Robert Livingston, of the Kellogg School, told Today.com: 'As humans we are wired to respond to dominance.' He explained: 'Being selfish makes you seem more dominant and being dominant makes you seem more attractive as a leader, especially when there’s competition. 'On a subconscious level this is the conclusion people are coming to: Kindness equals weakness.' Dr Livingston believes that this tendency to associate aggression with leadership' is an explanation on why we get corruption. 'People who are more likely to be moral, kind and pro-social are least likely to be elected to these leadership roles,' he said. 'That increases the likelihood of corruption and malfeasance because we’ve got the wrong people in positions of leadership.' (Read by Christine Mallari. Christine Mallari is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
自私自利也許不能讓你受到眾人的歡迎,但在職場(chǎng)中似乎自私一些對(duì)你的事業(yè)發(fā)展有好處。 新研究發(fā)現(xiàn),那些比較無(wú)私、和善的人是最受大家喜歡的,但同時(shí)也被認(rèn)為是不太適合做領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的人,并在晉升時(shí)被忽略。 研究發(fā)現(xiàn),侵略意味著有力量,而利他傾向則被理解為軟弱。 凱洛格商學(xué)院、斯坦福商學(xué)院和卡內(nèi)基美隆大學(xué)泰珀商學(xué)院聯(lián)合開(kāi)展的這一研究旨在發(fā)現(xiàn)和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力有關(guān)的人格類型。 在三個(gè)系列實(shí)驗(yàn)中,參與者被分到幾個(gè)組。研究人員讓他們管理象征金錢(qián)的代幣,然后分析他們的行為。有些人選擇自己保管代幣,有些人將其拿出來(lái)作為集體資金。 研究結(jié)果顯示,那些性格更和善的人在小組中是最受歡迎的,但是他們也被視為軟弱或容易受騙。 那些支配欲強(qiáng)、行為更具進(jìn)攻性的人被認(rèn)為具有“阿爾法個(gè)性”。 該研究報(bào)告的合著者、凱洛格商學(xué)院的羅伯特?利文斯頓告訴今日網(wǎng)說(shuō):“作為人類,我們天生傾向于服從支配?!?/p> 他解釋說(shuō):“自私讓你看起來(lái)更具主導(dǎo)性,作為一名領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者這會(huì)讓你顯得更有魅力,特別是在存在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)時(shí)。 “從潛意識(shí)層面上來(lái)看人們通常會(huì)得出這一結(jié)論:和善等于軟弱。” 利文斯頓博士認(rèn)為,人們傾向于將進(jìn)攻性和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力聯(lián)系在一起,這可以解釋為什么會(huì)出現(xiàn)貪污腐敗。 他說(shuō):“那些品行更好、更和善、更多地為他人著想的人最不可能被選為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。 “這使腐敗和瀆職的幾率增加了,因?yàn)槲覀冞x錯(cuò)了領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。” 相關(guān)閱讀 巾幗不讓須眉 女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力優(yōu)于男性 愛(ài)買(mǎi)運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋的人具有領(lǐng)導(dǎo)潛質(zhì)? (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯:馮明惠) |
Vocabulary: altruistic: 利他的;利他主義的;無(wú)私的,為他人著想的 pool: 共同資金 gullible: 容易受騙上當(dāng)?shù)?/p> be wired to: 天生就…… pro-social: 親社會(huì)的;為他人著想的 malfeasance: 瀆職 |