Who Are We If We Do Not Know Who Our Leader Is? Perceptions of Leaders’ Prototypicality Affects Followers’ Self-Prototypicality and Uncertainty

Abstract

Leaders define group identities and people turn to leaders to understand their groups in a broader social context and their own places within them. When a leader loses status, people may become uncertain of the group identity and where they stand in relation to that group’s values and idealistic attributes. We predicted that Republicans would view President Trump as less prototypical of the party from pre- to postelection, which would negatively predict their own fit within the party and, in turn, positively predict self-uncertainty. We tested these predictions with two different studies conducted before and after the 2020 American Presidential election (total N = 762). Postelection, Republicans had reduced perceptions of their leader’s prototypicality compared with Democrats, which related to reduced self-prototypicality perceptions and increased uncertainty. Postelection, the losing leader’s identity as an ideal group member is questioned, which may affect how followers view their own prototypical status, prompting uncertainty.