Born to Lead? A Twin Design and Genetic Association Study of Leadership Role Occupancy.

We address leadership emergence and the possibility that there is a partially innate predisposition to occupy a leadership role. Employing twin design methods on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the heritability of leadership role occupancy at 24%. Twin studies do not point to specific genes or neurological processes that might be involved. We therefore also conduct association analysis on the available genetic markers. The results show that leadership role occupancy is associated with rs4950, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) residing on a neuronal acetylcholine receptor gene (CHRNB3). We replicate this family-based genetic association result on an independent sample in the Framingham Heart Study. This is the first study to identify a specific genotype associated with the tendency to occupy a leadership position. The results suggest that what determines whether an individual occupies a leadership position is the complex product of genetic and environmental influences; with a particular role for rs4950.

[1]  T. Mackay.  The genetic architecture of quantitative traits. , 2001, Annual review of genetics.

[2]  H. Gintis,et al.  The Inheritance of Inequality , 2002 .

[3]  F. Leslie,et al.  Expression of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit mRNAs within midbrain dopamine neurons , 2002, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[4]  J. Loehlin,et al.  Genes, Evolution, and Personality , 2001, Behavior genetics.

[5]  L. Passamonti,et al.  Monoamine Oxidase-A Genetic Variations Influence Brain Activity Associated with Inhibitory Control: New Insight into the Neural Correlates of Impulsivity , 2006, Biological Psychiatry.

[6]  A. Angleitner,et al.  Genetic and environmental influences on personality: A study of twins reared together using the self- and peer-report NEO-FFI scales. , 1997 .

[7]  David B. Dunson,et al.  Bayesian Data Analysis , 2010 .

[8]  T. Judge,et al.  Intelligence and leadership: a quantitative review and test of theoretical propositions. , 2004, The Journal of applied psychology.

[9]  B. Schyns,et al.  Leadership and individual differences: At the cusp of a renaissance , 2012 .

[10]  R. Arvey,et al.  Do leadership role occupancy and transformational leadership share the same genetic and environmental influences , 2012 .

[11]  Jerry Nedelman,et al.  Book review: “Bayesian Data Analysis,” Second Edition by A. Gelman, J.B. Carlin, H.S. Stern, and D.B. Rubin Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2004 , 2005, Comput. Stat..

[12]  H. Boezen,et al.  Genome-wide association studies: what do they teach us about asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? , 2009, Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society.

[13]  W. Kannel,et al.  An investigation of coronary heart disease in families. The Framingham offspring study. , 1979, American journal of epidemiology.

[14]  S. Scarr,et al.  Developmental theories for the 1990s: development and individual differences. , 1992, Child development.

[15]  J. Sundet,et al.  Genetic and environmental contributions to the covariance between occupational status, educational attainment, and IQ: A study of twins , 1989, Behavior genetics.

[16]  R. Merton,et al.  The nature of leadership. , 1970, The Australian nurses' journal. Royal Australian Nursing Federation.

[17]  Avshalom Caspi,et al.  Strategy for investigating interactions between measured genes and measured environments. , 2005, Archives of general psychiatry.

[18]  Dorret I Boomsma,et al.  Fitting Genetic Models Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Algorithms With BUGS , 2006, Twin Research and Human Genetics.

[19]  Christopher T. Dawes,et al.  The CHRNA6 Gene, Patience, and Voter Turnout , 2009 .

[20]  Sandra Scarr,et al.  Twin method: Defense of a critical assumption , 1979, Behavior genetics.

[21]  John Antonakis,et al.  Predicting Elections: Child's Play! , 2009, Science.

[22]  David S. Evans,et al.  Some Empirical Aspects of Entrepreneurship , 1989 .

[23]  M. Tsuang,et al.  Self-Reported Zygosity and the Equal-Environments Assumption for Psychiatric Disorders in the Vietnam Era Twin Registry , 2000, Behavior genetics.

[24]  Megan W. Gerhardt,et al.  Personality and leadership: a qualitative and quantitative review. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[25]  K J Scurrah,et al.  Variance components analysis for pedigree‐based censored survival data using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and Gibbs sampling in BUGS , 2000, Genetic epidemiology.

[26]  A. Odum,et al.  Impulsivity and cigarette smoking: delay discounting in current, never, and ex-smokers , 1999, Psychopharmacology.

[27]  Benjamin F. Jones,et al.  Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War Ii , 2004 .

[28]  A. C. Collins,et al.  The β3 Nicotinic Receptor Subunit: A Component of α-Conotoxin MII-Binding Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors that Modulate Dopamine Release and Related Behaviors , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[29]  M. Marazita,et al.  Genome-wide Association Studies , 2012, Journal of dental research.

[30]  S. Menard,et al.  SNPs in CHRNA6 and CHRNB3 are associated with alcohol consumption in a nationally representative sample , 2009, Genes, brain, and behavior.

[31]  B. Langguth,et al.  Variation at the DRD4 promoter modulates extraversion in Caucasians , 2005, Molecular Psychiatry.

[32]  Ming D. Li,et al.  Ethnic- and gender-specific association of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha4 subunit gene (CHRNA4) with nicotine dependence. , 2005, Human molecular genetics.

[33]  Michael C. Neale,et al.  Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families , 1992 .

[34]  M. Boehnke,et al.  Genetic association mapping based on discordant sib pairs: the discordant-alleles test. , 1998, American journal of human genetics.

[35]  Isabel R Schlaepfer,et al.  The genetic components of alcohol and nicotine co-addiction: from genes to behavior. , 2008, Current drug abuse reviews.

[36]  Mixed‐effects Logistic Approach for Association Following Linkage Scan for Complex Disorders , 2007, Annals of human genetics.

[37]  Raymond J. Carroll,et al.  Measurement error in nonlinear models: a modern perspective , 2006 .

[38]  Fred O. Walumbwa,et al.  Early life experiences as determinants of leadership role occupancy : The importance of parental in fl uence and rule breaking behavior , 2009 .

[39]  Nick Lee,et al.  Organizational cognitive neuroscience drives theoretical progress, or : the curious case of the straw man murder , 2016 .

[40]  J. Fowler,et al.  Credit Card Borrowing and the Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA) Gene , 2014 .

[41]  Huy Le,et al.  Individual Differences in Leadership Emergence: Integrating Meta-Analytic Findings and Behavioral Genetics Estimates , 2004 .

[42]  Benjamin C. Campbell,et al.  The 7R polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) is associated with financial risk taking in men , 2009 .

[43]  K. Nowack.  The Neurobiology of Leadership : Why Women Lead Differently Than Men , 2009 .

[44]  T. Baskerville,et al.  Dopamine and Oxytocin Interactions Underlying Behaviors: Potential Contributions to Behavioral Disorders , 2010, CNS neuroscience & therapeutics.

[45]  David De Cremer,et al.  The Leadership Quarterly , 2005 .

[46]  J. Antonakis.  Predictors of leadership: The usual suspects and the suspect traits , 2011 .

[47]  D. Bertrand,et al.  Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and nicotinic cholinergic mechanisms of the central nervous system. , 2007, Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology.

[48]  D. Yoshikami,et al.  The neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors α4* and α6* differentially modulate dopamine release in mouse striatal slices , 2008, Journal of neurochemistry.

[49]  P. Burton,et al.  Genetic variance components analysis for binary phenotypes using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and Gibbs sampling , 1999, Genetic epidemiology.

[50]  K. Berridge,et al.  What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience? , 1998, Brain Research Reviews.

[51]  Michael C. Neale,et al.  A test of the equal-environment assumption in twin studies of psychiatric illness , 1993, Behavior genetics.

[52]  Robert Plomin,et al.  Behavioral Genetics (5th edition) , 2008, Twin Research and Human Genetics.

[53]  K. Jacobson,et al.  Genetic and Shared Environmental Influences on Adolescent BMI: Interactions with Race and Sex , 1998, Behavior genetics.

[54]  C. Senior,et al.  Leadership research and cognitive neuroscience : the state of this union , 2012 .

[55]  N. Christakis,et al.  Genes, Economics, and Happiness , 2012, Journal of neuroscience, psychology, and economics.

[56]  E. Charney,et al.  Candidate Genes and Political Behavior , 2012, American Political Science Review.

[57]  R Plomin,et al.  Genotype-environment interaction and correlation in the analysis of human behavior. , 1977, Psychological bulletin.

[58]  Manuel A. R. Ferreira,et al.  Assumption-Free Estimation of Heritability from Genome-Wide Identity-by-Descent Sharing between Full Siblings , 2006, PLoS genetics.

[59]  R. Plomin.  Behavioral genetics. , 1991, Research publications - Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease.

[60]  Marcus R. Munafò,et al.  Association of the Dopamine D4 Receptor (DRD4) Gene and Approach-Related Personality Traits: Meta-Analysis and New Data , 2008, Biological Psychiatry.

[61]  A. Caspi,et al.  Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene , 2003, Science.

[62]  B. Bass.  Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications, 3rd ed. , 1990 .

[63]  John S. Ahlquist,et al.  Leadership: What It Means, What It Does, and What We Want to Know About It , 2011 .

[64]  S. Wonnacott,et al.  Presynaptic nicotinic ACh receptors , 1997, Trends in Neurosciences.

[65]  J. Neve.  Functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in the serotonin transporter gene is associated with subjective well-being: evidence from a US nationally representative sample , 2011, Journal of Human Genetics.

[66]  D. Hall.  Measurement Error in Nonlinear Models: A Modern Perspective , 2008 .

[67]  S. Fuke,et al.  The VNTR polymorphism of the human dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene affects gene expression , 2001, The Pharmacogenomics Journal.

[68]  R. Arvey,et al.  The determinants of leadership role occupancy: Genetic and personality factors. , 2006 .

[69]  D. Murphy,et al.  Population and familial association between the D4 dopamine receptor gene and measures of Novelty Seeking , 1996, Nature Genetics.

[70]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS , 1991 .

[71]  A Skrondal,et al.  Biometrical Modeling of Twin and Family Data Using Standard Mixed Model Software , 2008, Biometrics.

[72]  Andrew M. Johnson,et al.  A behavior genetic investigation of the relationship between leadership and personality. , 2004, Twin research : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies.

[73]  R. Arvey,et al.  Beyond genetic explanations for leadership: The moderating role of the social environment , 2009 .

[74]  L J Eaves,et al.  Models for the joint effect of genotype and environment on liability to psychiatric illness. , 1986, The American journal of psychiatry.

[75]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[76]  R. Krueger,et al.  Developmental and genetic determinants of leadership role occupancy among women. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[77]  W K Bickel,et al.  Impulsive and self-control choices in opioid-dependent patients and non-drug-using control participants: drug and monetary rewards. , 1997, Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology.

[78]  Giuseppe Blasi,et al.  Neural mechanisms of genetic risk for impulsivity and violence in humans. , 2006, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[79]  A. Todorov,et al.  Inferences of Competence from Faces Predict Election Outcomes , 2005, Science.

[80]  C. Senior,et al.  Dopamine, empathy and the neurobiology of leadership , 2009 .

[81]  Tianhua Niu,et al.  A common haplotype of the nicotine acetylcholine receptor alpha 4 subunit gene is associated with vulnerability to nicotine addiction in men. , 2004, American journal of human genetics.

[82]  Anna Ridgewell,et al.  Looking on the bright side: biased attention and the human serotonin transporter gene , 2009, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[83]  James H. Fowler,et al.  Genetic Variation in Political Participation , 2008, American Political Science Review.

[84]  Amit R. Indap,et al.  Genes mirror geography within Europe , 2008, Nature.

[85]  D. Day,et al.  The Nature of Leadership , 2004 .

[86]  A. Caspi,et al.  Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene , 2003, Science.

[87]  K. Holmes,et al.  Biomarkers in Wave III of the Add Health Study , 2010 .

[88]  Andrew Gelman,et al.  General methods for monitoring convergence of iterative simulations , 1998 .

[89]  P. Vernon,et al.  Heritability of the big five personality dimensions and their facets: a twin study. , 1996, Journal of personality.

[90]  Fred O. Walumbwa,et al.  RETRACTED: Early life experiences as determinants of leadership role occupancy: The importance of parental influence and rule breaking behavior , 2009 .

[91]  K. Harris,et al.  The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Twin Data , 2006, Twin Research and Human Genetics.

[92]  W. Ewens,et al.  A sibship test for linkage in the presence of association: the sib transmission/disequilibrium test. , 1998, American journal of human genetics.

[93]  Scott Shane,et al.  Is the Tendency to Engage in Entrepreneurship Genetic? , 2008, Manag. Sci..

[94]  D. Tingley,et al.  Monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) predicts behavioral aggression following provocation , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[95]  K. Lesch,et al.  Long story short: the serotonin transporter in emotion regulation and social cognition , 2007, Nature Neuroscience.

[96]  T. Bouchard,et al.  Genetic and environmental influences on adult intelligence and special mental abilities. , 1998, Human biology.

[97]  R. Ebstein,et al.  Dopamine D4 receptor (D4DR) exon III polymorphism associated with the human personality trait of Novelty Seeking , 1996, Nature Genetics.

[98]  L. Oreland,et al.  Genetic mechanisms of behavior—don't forget about the transcription factors , 2001, Molecular Psychiatry.

[99]  Jonathan P. Beauchamp,et al.  Molecular Genetics and Economics , 2011 .

[100]  Isabel R Schlaepfer,et al.  Genetic Association of the CHRNA6 and CHRNB3 Genes with Tobacco Dependence in a Nationally Representative Sample , 2009, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[101]  R. Arvey,et al.  Genetic Underpinnings of Transformational Leadership , 2011 .

[102]  Norman Schofield,et al.  Architects of Political Change: Constitutional Quandaries and Social Choice Theory , 2006 .

[103]  M. Keller,et al.  Estimating the Extent of Parameter Bias in the Classical Twin Design: A Comparison of Parameter Estimates From Extended Twin-Family and Classical Twin Designs , 2005, Twin Research and Human Genetics.

[104]  Credit Card Borrowing and the Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA) Gene , 2014 .

[105]  Bruce J. Avolio,et al.  The heritability of emergent leadership: Age and gender as moderating factors , 2012 .

[106]  A. Hariri,et al.  Preference for Immediate over Delayed Rewards Is Associated with Magnitude of Ventral Striatal Activity , 2006, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[107]  D. Reich,et al.  Principal components analysis corrects for stratification in genome-wide association studies , 2006, Nature Genetics.

[108]  Paul Taubman,et al.  Is Schooling "Mostly in the Genes"? Nature-Nurture Decomposition Using Data on Relatives , 1989, Journal of Political Economy.