Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Status Hierarchies

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 127 Accesses

Synonyms

Dominance; Hierarchies; Status

Definition

Social hierarchies are emergent social structures demarcating the relative power, status, and dominance of individuals and groups with respect to their ability to access fitness-enhancing resources.

Introduction

Social hierarchies are a fundamental part of social life among humans and many other social species. Dominance orders reflect differences in superiority of access to fitness-enhancing resources, including food, territory, and mates. Evidence for elementary dominance orders exist for dragonflies, pecking orders exist for chickens, and complex and often fluid dominance orders exist for primates, including humans. Human hierarchies may be more complex than those in other species, but all hierarchies ultimately reflect individual differences in the ability to gain and maintain access to fitness-enhancing resources. The intensity of competition for resources varies across species and explains species-typical differences in social...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abbott, D. H., Keverne, E. B., Bercovitch, F. B., Shively, C. A., Mendoza, S. P., Saltzman, W., Snowdon, C. T., Ziegler, T. E., Banjevic, M., Garland, T., & Sapolsky, R. M. (2003). Are subordinates always stressed? A comparative analysis of rank differences in cortisol levels among primates. Hormones and Behavior, 43, 67–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Archer, J. (2006). Testosterone and human aggression: An evaluation of the challenge hypothesis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 319–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhasin, S. (2003). Regulation of body composition by androgens. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, 26, 814–822.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunner, E. J., Hemingway, H., Walker, B. R., Page, M., Clarke, P., Juneja, M., … Marmot, M. G. (2002). Adrenocortical, autonomic, and inflammatory causes of the metabolic syndrome. Circulation, 106, 2659–2665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M., & Dedden, L. A. (1990). Derogation of competitors. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7, 395–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carré, J., Campbell, J., Lozoya, E., Goetz, S., & Welker, K. (2013). Changes in testosterone mediate the effect of winning on subsequent aggressive behaviour. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 2034–2041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). Health, United States. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus09.pdf

  • Edwards, D., & Castro, K. (2013). Women’s intercollegiate athletic competition: Cortisol, testosterone, and the dual-hormone hypothesis as it relates to status among teammates. Hormones and Behavior, 64, 153–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, L. (1995). Dominance and reproductive success among nonhuman animals: A cross-species comparison. Ethology and Sociobiology, 16, 257–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gangestad, S. W., & Thornhill, R. (1997). The evolutionary psychology of extrapair sex: The role of fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution and Human Behavior, 18, 69–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Gangestand, S. W., Perea, E. F., Shapiro, J. R., & Kenrick, D. T. (2009). Aggress to impress: Hostility as an evolved context-dependent strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 980–994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hemingway, H., Shipley, M., Brunner, E., Britton, A., Malik, M., & Marmot, M. (2005). Does autonomic function link social position to coronary risk? Circulation, 111, 2071–2077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy, S. B. (1981). The woman that never evolved. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyl-Heku, L. M., & Buss, D. M. (1996). Tactics as units of analysis in personality psychology: An illustration using tactics of hierarchy negotiation. Personality and Individual Differences, 21, 497–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M. G., Rose, G., Shipley, M., & Hamilton, P. J. (1978). Employment grade and coronary heart disease in British civil servants. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 32, 244–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazur, A. (1985). A biosocial model of status in face-to-face primate groups. Social Forces, 64, 377–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazur, A., & Booth, A. (2014). Testosterone is related to deviance in male army veterans, but relationships are not moderated by cortisol. Biological Psychology, 96, 72–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazur, A., Mazur, J., & Keating, C. (1984). Military rank attainment of a west point class: Effects of cadets’ physical features. American Journal of Sociology, 90, 125–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazur, A., Welker, K. M., & Peng, B. (2015). Does the biosocial model explain the emergence of status differences in conversations among unacquainted men? PLoS One, 10, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. E., & Cohen, D. (1996). Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the south. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasterski, V., Hindmarsh, P., Geffner, M., Brook, C., Brain, C., & Hines, M. (2007). Increased aggression and activity level in 3-to 11-year-old girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Hormones and Behavior, 52(3), 368–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, R. T., Bernstein, I. S., & Gordon, T. P. (1975). Consequences of social conflict on plasma testosterone levels in rhesus monkeys. Psychosomatic Medicine, 37, 50–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, R., Maughan, B., Worthman, C. M., Costello, E. J., & Angold, A. (2004). Testosterone, antisocial behavior, and social dominance in boys: Pubertal development and biosocial interaction. Biological Psychiatry, 55, 546–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Social status and health in humans and other animals. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 393–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, B., & Macy, M. W. (2001). Collective action and power inequality: Coalitions in exchange networks. Social Psychology Quarterly, 64, 88–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanton, S. J., & Schultheiss, O. C. (2007). Basal and dynamic relationships between implicit power motivation and estradiol in women. Hormones and Behavior, 52, 571–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zilioli, S., Mehta, P. H., & Watson, N. V. (2014). Losing the battle but winning the war: Uncertain outcomes reverse the usual effect of winning on testosterone. Biological Psychology, 103, 54–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Lauren Keblusek & Scott Reid

Authors
  1. Lauren Keblusek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Scott Reid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lauren Keblusek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Kevin Beaver

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Keblusek, L., Reid, S. (2019). Status Hierarchies. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1652-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1652-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Status Hierarchies
    Published:
    25 September 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1652-2

  2. Original

    Status and Dominance Hierarchies
    Published:
    24 June 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1652-1

Search

Navigation