Hypothesis

[Salpeter]

Alpha primates tend not to think much and, thus, they tend to be intellectually not as advanced, less imaginative/creative/pensive as their counterparts on the lower social ladder. Moreover, they seem to display coldness, arrogance, and strength. The majority of the opposite gender and a lot of followers of the same sex ("friends") are allured/attracted by those ideals because that is what they seek for or desire.
After all, that makes them immune to the greatest of all problems that mankind faces: fear and anxiety.
In the childhood they are raised by parents that are non-protective; this way they learn to be independent and strong. In the adolescence they are considered "cool" by the teenagers of same age; they follow tough sports like football or boxing; they are extrovert. They end up with a high psychological strength and resistance because the tolerance level is lifted the more they are exposed to tough challenges.

Of course, I'm generalizing - but almost everywhere there are exceptions.

Do you think I am right or not? Why?

 

[Daniel E.]

Most of what you said I can't disagree with except that the following may not usually be the case:

In the childhood they are raised by parents that are non-protective; this way they learn to be independent and strong.

I guess it all depends on what you mean by "non-protective." Anyway, as you would probably agree, genetic differences play a vital role.

 

[Salpeter]

wimpy

Yes, that term might have been a little dubious. What I meant is: significantly below a reasonable degree of protection.

It's always the same with the parameter-expressions: It's difficult to explain them in literal terms

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I think there's another hypothesis that looks at the role of socialization factors, beginning in infancy, that tend to "create" alpha males, in a sense. There's an excellent book by William Pollack, Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood (Random House, 1998), that discusses this. Basically, Pollack is suggesting that boys learn to be like this from an early age, some perhaps more successfully than others.

See also my articles on the subject: Growing Up Male and Raising Sons.