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H2020Individual fellowship2015–2018

DEVOLEMPA · The developmental and evolutionary basis of human intersubjectivity

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-10-01 → 2018-02-14
EU contribution
€179,326
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

The developmental and evolutionary basis of human intersubjectivity

The project asked if intersubjectivity, the mutual sharing of the cognitive and affective states between interacting people, has evolved because of our cooperative breeding system. We hypothesised that cooperative breeding would increase the empathic sensitivity to another individual’s emotions. We tested this idea by looking at rudimentary empathy in a distantly related, cooperatively breeding monkey, common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). These monkeys, like humans, are highly cooperative and prosocial in many contexts. We addressed the very basic mechanism of empathy, namely emotional contagion. We assessed, if contagion of emotions is dependent on age, sex, breeding status, or individual variation in prosociality. We also looked further into their personality, as in human personality structure a particular dimension, Agreeableness, predicts the tendency to empathy and prosocial behaviour. A parallel research line, which emerged as the project got underway, was more theoretical. We aimed to understand the theme of the project, intersubjectivity, in a novel way. In collaboration with the host institute’s sociologists, we developed a new conceptual framework for assessing intersubjectivity in interactions. This new approach combined the increase in complexity of intersubjectivity during child development with three domains of social interaction – affect, deontics, and epistemics – discussed in conversation analytic research literature. The interdisciplinary integration of these two frameworks allows a more crystallized view of intersubjectivity and serves as an empirical research tool in interaction research of humans and nonhuman species.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

This research aims to unravel the ontogenetic and phylogenetic roots of the unique human intersubjectivity. Empathy forms the basis of intersubjectivity. In the first part of the research, we address empathy development in young, 6-16-month-old infants who engage in interactive, intentional communication but do not yet cognitively represent others’ mental states. They may, however, attend to and show concern of others’ emotional states, indicating dispositional empathic orientation. This tendency is tested in a peer context, involving emotions of positive and negative valence. In addition, we assess the infants’ early communicative and prosocial behaviours in the emotionally charged situation. This will reveal the early developmental phases of the fundamental base for intersubjectivity. In the second part of the research, the evolution intersubjectivity is tested by assessing empathy in non-human primates. According to the recent cooperative breeding hypothesis, humans evolved as cooperative breeders, which increased sensitivity and motivation to attend to and show concern of others’ emotional states. The hypothesis is tested by assessing rudimentary empathy in common marmosets, a distantly related cooperatively breeding monkey. To allow full comparability, we will use identical methods in the infant and the marmoset studies. The study incorporates theoretical backgrounds and methods from several disciplines, i.e., comparative cognition, animal behaviour, developmental psychology, evolutionary anthropology, and sociological interaction research. The multidisciplinary approach yields understanding of the emotional and cognitive foundation of intersubjective interactions no single discipline can achieve alone. Moreover, the study yields fruitful prospects for future research lines in the respective disciplines and their synthesis.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO · HelsinkiCoordinatorFinland

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union