Prof B Waller, Dr J Micheletta, Prof A Vrij
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Project code: PSYC3100217
Humans are exceptionally social in comparison to other animals, and live in very large, cooperative social groups. Maintaining these large groups without fracture is difficult due to the pressures of competition, but humans have evolved unique strategies to gel the individuals living in groups together. One dominant theory is that communication functions as a social glue, allowing individuals to maintain and monitor friends and enemies (Dunbar, 1993, 1996), and that the need for complex communication drove the growth of the large human brain. Humans are adept at communicating about subtle emotions, through nonverbal behaviour such as touch, gesture and facial expressions, skills which may be crucial to maintain social bonds. Facial expressivity correlates with social group size in different nonhuman primate species (Dobson, 2009), suggesting that the ultimate function of facial expression may be to bond social groups, and a similar pattern has been found with nonhuman primate vocalisation (McComb and Semple, 2005). However, we do not know whether individuals who are particularly expressive, or particularly good at interpreting emotion in others, are better able to form friendships and maintain larger social networks in human society. The aim of this project is to determine whether there is a relationship between the size and structure of an individual’s social network (both real and virtual), and their emotional expressivity (both real and virtual). The research question will be addressed through a series of laboratory based behavioural experiments, using quantitative facial expression analysis (FACS: Facial Action Coding System, Ekman and Friesen, 1978), Social Network Analysis (SNA, Borgatti et al. 2009) and computer based experiments. The findings of this project will help elucidate the fundamental building blocks of group living and friendship in humans.
Funding Notes
Please use our online application form and state the project code (PSYC3100217) and studentship title in the personal statement section.
Funds will be provided for 3 or 4 years which will include: bursary (at current RCUK rates), University fees (UK/EU rate) plus £1,500 pa project costs/consumables for the duration of the studentship.