Tinbergen's take on the evolution of leadership: A framework for clarifying and integrating contributions

Investigating the evolution of leadership is important. From ultimate questions about the origins of leadership to proximate questions about its current form, an evolutionary lens clarifies what we know. However, to ensure knowledge growth is valid and reliable, scholars need to extend from an accurate assessment of the existing literature. To demonstrate my concern, I comment on Pietraszewski (in press). I question three claims, suggest opportunities for improvement, and utilize a Tinbergen Four Questions framework to organize what we know about the evolution of leadership. Fundamentally, Pietraszewski's publication is valuable, spanning a number of Tinbergen quadrants. The shortcoming is not with core assumptions, rather the work requires a clear and accurate representation of how it fits within existing work. I note that Pietraszewski is not an isolated case and encourage the development of a Tinbergen-style knowledge base (i.e., a wiki) where collaborators can update and systematically organize output.