Credit: Xianwei Meng
From shamans and mystics to cult leaders and divine kings, why have people throughout history accorded high status to people believed to have supernatural powers?
According to a study led by researchers from the University of Oxford, this tendency to attribute social dominance to such individuals is rooted in early development.
As part of the study, 48 infants aged 12 to 16 months watched a series of animated videos in which two characters competed for a reward. In each scenario, one character displayed physically counterintuitive methods of making progress across the screen - flying or teleporting in the direction of the reward; the other moved more intuitively in continuous paths sticking to the ground, thus lacking any special powers.
Fans of Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea not as loyal as for other clubs
Fans of Crystal Palace, Hull, Norwich, Sunderland and West Brom were found to be more loyal towards each other
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Fans of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are not as loyal as supporters of less successful football clubs, according to new research.