Individuals hold internal leadership representations, termed leadership prototypes. We examined how these prototypes changed in reaction to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. A sample of Republicans (N = 200), Democrats (N = 200), and individuals who identified with neither major party (N = 200), surveyed eight times between October 2020 and January 2021, and reported their perceptions of the characteristics of the ideal leader. Results from a regression discontinuity in time and repeated measurement analyses found that the election altered two dimensions of the average U.S. leadership prototype. We specifically find participants' perceptions of Tyranny and Masculinity to decrease, that is, shifts to more Biden-like and less Trump-like leadership prototypes. Other dimensions of the leadership prototype remained stable, that is, charisma, sensitivity, dedication, intelligence, and dynamism. Analyses examined two boundary conditions of the effect: political identification and the acceptance of the election result as legitimate. Only perceived legitimacy was found to moderate the effect with the shift in leadership prototypes being driven by individuals who accepted the result of the election as legitimate. Our findings demonstrate the dynamic nature of leadership prototypes in response to real-world events and more broadly how an election can shape psychological perceptions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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选举如何塑造对理想领导的看法。


个人持有内部领导代表，称为领导原型。我们研究了这些原型如何应对 2020 年美国总统大选而变化。共和党人 （N = 200）、民主党人 （N = 200） 和不认同任何主要政党的个人 （N = 200） 的样本在 2020 年 10 月至 2021 年 1 月期间进行了八次调查，并报告了他们对理想领导者特征的看法。时间不连续性回归和重复测量分析的结果发现，这次选举改变了美国领导层原型的平均两个维度。我们特别发现参与者对暴政和男子气概的看法有所下降，也就是说，转向更像拜登而不是更像特朗普的领导原型。领导力原型的其他维度保持稳定，即魅力、敏感性、奉献精神、智慧和活力。分析考察了该效应的两个边界条件：政治认同和接受选举结果为合法性。只有感知的合法性被发现可以缓和这种影响，因为领导原型的转变是由接受选举结果合法的个人驱动的。我们的研究结果证明了领导力原型对现实世界事件的动态性质，以及更广泛地说，选举如何塑造心理认知。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。