The Curvilinear Effect of Intelligence on Perceived Leadership Behavior
Part of the explanation? Why “movement” leaders tend to be, in general, incompetent mediocrities leads to a number theories. There is of course Der Movement’s stringent ethnic affirmative action program. The dominance of Der Movement by Type I activists, who favor their own, for leadership, also is a factor. Dissident movements tend to draw in marginal personalities, while the elevation of defective freakishness repels the less marginal; the lack of suitable candidates leads to marginal leaders. Leaders are almost always overt and public activists, typically attracting people who have “little to lose” IRL (unless they are trust fund babies or the retired wealthy). Another mechanism is that even when other variables are controlled for, the perception (perception, NOT reality) of who is an effective leader is related to the leader’s IQ , but in a curvilinear and not linear fashion. Thus, assuming an average IQ of 100, the peak for optimal perceived leadership is an IQ o...