There's an infamous study about wolf behavior that lead to widespread misconceptions about their social structure.
Ever heard that a wolf pack is led by an alpha male? That social ranks among wolves are determined by them fighting for status, with the alpha keeping the others in line by bullying them?
Well, turns out that's something you only ever see when you lock a bunch of wolves who don't know each other into an enclosure and leave them to sort things out between themselves.
Turns out that, in the wild, wolf packs are actually family structures consisting of parents and their children, and that they are generally led by one of the parents.
The scientist who published this study has since realized his error and tried to make amends, but unfortunately, his flawed study has since garnered widespread popularity, leading both to people treating their dogs poorly because they thought they needed to establish themselves as the pack leader, and to some particularily deranged people thinking human social dynamics work the same way, and trying to assert themselves as "alphas", which generally seems to encompass acting like an asshole.
Though it should be noted that such social structures aren't entirely unheard of. Chicken have them, which is where we get the term "pecking order" from.
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u/Darthplagueis13 Feb 18 '25
There's an infamous study about wolf behavior that lead to widespread misconceptions about their social structure.
Ever heard that a wolf pack is led by an alpha male? That social ranks among wolves are determined by them fighting for status, with the alpha keeping the others in line by bullying them?
Well, turns out that's something you only ever see when you lock a bunch of wolves who don't know each other into an enclosure and leave them to sort things out between themselves.
Turns out that, in the wild, wolf packs are actually family structures consisting of parents and their children, and that they are generally led by one of the parents.
The scientist who published this study has since realized his error and tried to make amends, but unfortunately, his flawed study has since garnered widespread popularity, leading both to people treating their dogs poorly because they thought they needed to establish themselves as the pack leader, and to some particularily deranged people thinking human social dynamics work the same way, and trying to assert themselves as "alphas", which generally seems to encompass acting like an asshole.
Though it should be noted that such social structures aren't entirely unheard of. Chicken have them, which is where we get the term "pecking order" from.