Myth of the ‘alpha male’, denied by those who popularized it – 07/16/2023 – Science

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “alpha male” referring to a human being?

A man who, thanks to his noble birth or attractive features or natural charm, has more access to society’s sex, wealth and esteem?

Or rather, someone strong, powerful, who imposes his will regardless of the consequences and with no one to challenge him?

Maybe even a bully or tyrant?

While there are several definitions, the concept generally implies a level of dominance.

But according to leading primatologist Frans de Waal, “alpha male” doesn’t just mean strength and intimidation, as the stereotype seems to suggest.

And he has been trying to correct this interpretation because he himself has unwittingly contributed to creating the myth he wants to debunk.

The alpha male concept has long been used in various fields of animal behavior, but rarely applied to humans.

What changed that, at least in part, was one of his books, published 40 years ago.

De Waal, who has studied primate social behavior for five decades, believes that humans are fundamentally similar to them emotionally and socially.

Like primates, we have hierarchies and compete to be at the top.

However, what it takes to get there isn’t necessarily what you think, judging by the many self-help books, videos, and websites for men.

BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language news service, caught up with De Wall to help us understand what an “alpha male or female” really was.

BBC: Where does the term ‘alpha male’ come from?

De Waal: Initially it was used for wolves and then it was extended to other animals, and we use it a lot in primatology.

An alpha male is just the highest ranking male and alpha female is the highest ranking female.

It means nothing more than that.

In each group of primates there is an alpha male and an alpha female, never more than one, and they are not mutually exclusive; sometimes they work together.

BBC: What does it mean to be an alpha male?

De Waal: In chimpanzees, for example, you can have 12 males, and there’s a lot of competition among them about who’s going to be dominant.

It is not necessary to be the greatest, because that is not necessarily decided by physical abilities, but by a political process.

BBC: When you say “political” referring to chimpanzees, what does that mean?

De Waal: It’s political because they have coalitions: they can’t become the alpha male without the support of others.

It’s almost like a democratic process in the sense that others have influence over who is alpha.

And if the alpha doesn’t behave very well, say he’s a bully or very aggressive, and the others want to get rid of him, they wait for someone to challenge him and they support him.

When the alpha male realizes he can’t control himself, sometimes it doesn’t even take a physical struggle for him to give up.

What’s more, depending on the seriousness of the situation, sometimes he ends up expelled from the group.

And there are also reports that some have been killed, which also happens, of course, in human society, when the leader is so unpopular that he is not only removed from office but executed.

BBC: So what makes an alpha male?

De Waal: He is often a very vigorous and physically healthy male, as if he loses his health other males will take his place.

Among females it is very different, because all females tend to be dominant, so alpha females are not very physically strong, but they are respected for their age.

But alpha is not a personality type.

People started using the term to describe something that’s really not how we use it in primatology.

BBC: But you are a bit to blame for having this alpha male image in human beings…

De Waal: Some time ago I wrote the book “Politics of the Chimpanzee” (Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes) in which I used the term alpha male a lot.

And then politicians in Washington started using it, but usually they meant something else.

BBC: What was the difference?

De Waal: Among chimpanzees, for example, many of the alpha males protect the oppressed, stop fights, have a lot of empathy, keep the group together and have some sense of responsibility, so they are not dictatorial.

Sometimes there are tyrants, but most of the time they are good leaders.

But politicians in Washington began using the term for a strongman type.

BBC: That is, the concept has been distorted?

De Waal: I made no comparisons with human society. The book was mainly about chimpanzees. I said very little about people.

But in politicians, and then in the business community in America, they started using it for a man who is not only strong and a leader, but also a bully, someone who is aggressively domineering.

I never used the term in that sense, but that’s what they made of it.

So now I’m not very happy because I introduced the term the way a primatologist would introduce it and then it got changed.

I think we should go back to the original meaning, which is the man, and often the woman, of a higher level, who can be a very responsible leader, someone who holds the group together and ensures peace.

In fact, that’s what a true leader usually does.

All this nonsense about showing everyone who’s boss and who gets the girls and all this nonsense going on right now is wrong, in my opinion.

The term has been distorted into the idea of ​​a male who often aggressively makes clear who is in charge, in politics, office or relationships.

BBC: Has everything that has happened recently since your book came out bothered you?

De Waal: No, all the alpha male hype came much later.

The book came out in 1982 and was adopted by Republicans in Washington around 1995.

And the hype around alpha males is something from the last two decades, so it’s a more recent phenomenon.

Now it’s used for people like, say, Bolsonaro, Trump and Putin.

That’s what they use it for: very strong leaders, often very bossy, obtuse and selfish.

BBC: These kinds of misinterpretations can be dangerous because when you claim that something comes from nature it’s harder to disprove. For example, in the past, people said that homosexuality was unnatural, claiming that no animal was homosexual, which was not true. But it was a strong argument because not only did it have a ‘background’ in science, but it seemed to be a matter of fact, and who can argue with facts?

De Waal: Yes, unfortunately the words natural and unnatural are used as a moral judgment: natural is good and unnatural is not.

And many times it is a projection.

People have an ideology and they want to have a justification for looking at nature and in nature you can find almost anything, so that you always find some basis for your position.

It is said, for example, that competition is natural, because look at the animal world, there is a lot of competition.

But if you look at nature, you will see an enormous amount of cooperation, many animals that cooperate: the lions, the elephants, the social insects… Cooperation is everywhere.

So if you want to make a statement about cooperation, you might as well say it’s natural.

People use nature to justify ideologies, and that’s dangerous.

For example, for homosexuality, as you mentioned, there’s a lot of evidence for homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom, so it’s not unnatural.

In fact, there is an enormous amount of gender diversity.

When people say “is this natural or is this unnatural”, I think they should talk to biologists, and they’ll probably hear that it’s a lot more complex than they think.

I would tell them:

“Look more closely into the animal kingdom and you’ll probably see that for everything you find in human society, you’ll find some equivalence in animal society, especially in animals as close to us as primates.”

BBC: And vice versa? Have you ever seen alpha males in the true sense of the term in human society?

De Waal: A true alpha male is often very popular because he provides security and harmony to the group.

And sometimes you see them among humans, for example the Germans had an alpha female ruling them for over 10 years.

Alpha is a very important position to hold the group together.

It is true that there are sometimes abusive individuals, also among primates, but most of the time they are not like that.

Now, if you think in terms of physical strength, males tend to be dominant because they are physically bigger and stronger.

If you think about political power, the alpha female can be very powerful.