If you were to go by definitions laid out in guides across the internet, you know an “alpha male” when you see one. These are “people who aren’t happy unless they’re the top dogs,” or the confident decision makers whom everyone else defers to.
Ostensibly, the idea that a human could qualify as an “alpha male” comes from observations biologists have made with other species. In a dive into the history of the term, anthropologist Monika Sumra found that one of the first academic uses of an “alpha” label appeared in 1921. A researcher discussing chicken hierarchies, otherwise known as a pecking order, gave the top chicken the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Since then, scientists have talked about “alpha” wolves, primates, walruses and more. But how much of the supposed “alpha” behaviors in the wild exist — and apply to humans?
