Your Brain on Charisma: Approach and Avoidance Register Evenly in Response to Viewing Charismatic Leaders

We compared neural signal patterns, measured via electroencephalogram (EEG), in observers who viewed charismatic and non-charismatic political leaders. We find support for the status cues proposal by linking receptivity/formidability signaling to charisma, and charisma to the brain-based motivations of approach and avoidance.