About the Project
In humans, feeling sorry for actions (guilt) is a powerful emotion that can prompt behaviour towards those who have been wronged, and prompt mercy from others. Despite several anecdotes, there is currently no evidence for guilt in other animals, as an emotion or expression. This PhD project will involve quantitative behavioural experiments to explore the expression and social function of guilt in dogs and primates (including chimpanzees and different macaque species). The project will involve setting up and conducting behavioural experiments, as well as detailed video coding (including using Facial Action Coding Systems). Studies with dogs will take place at the Dog Cognition Centre Portsmouth (DOCS), and the applicant must be willing to travel to potentially remote areas for the primate studies.
The PhD student will also work closely with a research team working on guilt in humans (funded by the Leverhulme Trust).
You do not need to submit a research proposal with your application as this is a named project.
Supervisor(s): Dr Bridget Waller, Dr Juliane Kaminski and Dr Jerome Micheletta
The full-time bursary is offered to Home or EU candidates only. Candidates must have an honours degree or equivalent in a relevant subject (e.g. Psychology, Biology) and ideally a Master’s degree in an appropriate subject. Equivalent professional experience and/or qualifications may be considered. For those students without English as a first language or without a first degree from an English speaking University, an English Language Proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.5 with no component score below 6.0 is required. Experience working with animals and willingness and ability to travel to conduct fieldwork is essential.
Expected interview date: 16 August 2016
For informal enquiries please contact Dr Bridget Waller ([Email Address Removed])
References
Arnold, K., & Whiten, A. (2001). Post-conflict behaviour of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Budongo Forest, Uganda. Behaviour, 138(5), 649-690.
Horowitz, A. (2009). Disambiguating the “guilty look”: Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour. Behavioural processes, 81(3), 447-452.
Hecht, J., Miklósi, Á., & Gácsi, M. (2012). Behavioral assessment and owner perceptions of behaviors associated with guilt in dogs. Applied animal behaviour science, 139(1), 134-142.
Rosati, A. G., & Hare, B. (2013). Chimpanzees and bonobos exhibit emotional responses to decision outcomes. PLoS One, 8(5), e63058.
Waller, B. M., Peirce, K., Caeiro, C. C., Scheider, L., Burrows, A. M., McCune, S., & Kaminski, J. (2013). Paedomorphic facial expressions give dogs a selective advantage. PLoS one, 8(12), e82686.
Waller, B. M., Misch, A., Whitehouse, J., & Herrmann, E. (2014). Children, but not chimpanzees, have facial correlates of determination. Biology letters, 10(3), 20130974.
Continue with Facebook
