Messerli Research Institute
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria
1) Conspecific and interspecific social tendencies in dogs: the influence of training, breed and personality on prosocial attitudes in pet dogs
The aim of this PhD project is to investigate whether and to what extent dogs show prosocial attitudes. Pro-social behavior is defined as actively granting food to a companion and is considered to be part of altruism. In humans helping one another is closley linked to emotions and results in feeling good. Pro-social tendencies have been found to be strongest towards familiar and bonded partners such as kin and group mates. Although pro-social tendencies have traditionally been investigated between conspecifics, because of the peculiar interspecific bond between dogs and humans, the current project will also explore whether dogs show prosocial tendencies also towards their human partners. A number of issues will be explored a) if and to what extent dogs show pro-social attitudes, b) how these reactions are affected by the relationship with the partners and c) by their personality; d) if different breeds (e.g. selected for cooperative work vs. independent work) exhibit pro-social tendencies todifferent degrees, and lastly e) whether training for specific tasks (selected based on the degree of cooperative work required) affect dog’s prosocial tendencies.Eligible candidates will have a master’s degree (or Diplom) in Biology, Veterinary Medicine or Psychology and research experience in animal behavior, a genuine understanding of animal cognition and a strong commitment to basic science. Practical skills in animal training techniques and in empirical work with dogs are beneficial, but not a precondition. This PhD project is funded by the Austrian Science Funds (FWF). The project is based at the Clever Dog Lab of the Messerli Research Institute (at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna)and co-supervised by Dr. Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Prof. Ludwig Huber and Dr. Zsófia Virányi. Principal investigator of the whole project and supervisor of this PhD-project: Dr. Friederike
Range.
2) Prosocial attitudes in dogs and wolves
The aim of this PhD project is to investigate whether and to what extent canines show prosocial attitudes and the effect of domestication on the propensity to exhibit these behaviours. Pro-social behavior is defined as actively granting food to a companion and is considered to be part of altruism. In humans helping one another is closley linked to emotions and results in feeling good. Pro-social tendencies have been found to be strongest towards familiar and bonded partners such as kin and group mates. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that species with strong cooperative tendencies (e.g. joint pup-raising) are more likely to show prosocial behaviors than others. Here we will investigate a) if and to what extent dogs and wolves show pro-social attitudes, b) how these reactions are affected by the relationship with the partners (i.e. in terms of kinship and friendship/affiliation) and c) to what extent emotions play a role. By comparing pack-living wolves and dogs raised and kept in the same way at the Wolf Science Center in various test situations varying the relationship with their partners and complementing behavior testing with physiological measurements (cortisol and heart rate), we will explore the ultimate and proximate mechanism mediating prosocial attitudes in canines. Eligible candidates will have a master’s degree (or Diplom) in Biology, Veterinary Medicine or Psychology and research experience in animal behavior, a genuine understanding of animal cognition and a strong commitment to basic science. Practical skills in animal training techniques and in empirical work with dogs are beneficial, but not a precondition. This PhD project is part of a larger project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) on “Understanding the Proximate Mechanisms of Canine Cooperation. Although the project is based at the Messerli Research Institute (at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna), the research will be conducted at the Wolf Science Center, Ernstbrunn. The project is cosupervised by Dr. Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Prof. Ludwig Huber and Dr. Zsófia Virányi. Principal investigator of the whole project and supervisor of this PhD-project: Dr. Friederike Range.
3) Inequity aversion in dogs and wolves
The aim of this PhD project is to investigate the cognitive and motivational building blocks of inequity aversion in canines. Inequity aversion is defined as partners resisting inequitable outcomes and is important for regulating and maintaining cooperation. In humans, inequity aversion seems to be based on the simultaneous evaluation of costs and gains in comparison to those of a partner, but also is dependent on the relationship between the partners. At the emotional level, it is strongly linked to anger. Although we know that dogs react inequity averse in a simple experimental paradigm, it is unclear a) how these reactions are affected by the relationship with the partners and b) to what extent emotions play a role. Moreover, we have little knowledge if and how domestication influenced canines reactions to inequity. By comparing pack-living wolves and dogs raised and kept in the same way at the Wolf Science Center in various test situations varying the relationship with their partners and complementing behavior testing with physiological measurements (cortisol and heart rate), we will explore the ultimate and proximate mechanism mediating inequity aversion in canines. Eligible candidates will have a master’s degree (or Diplom) in Biology, Veterinary Medicine or Psychology and research experience in animal behavior, a genuine understanding of animal cognition and a strong commitment to basic science. Practical skills in animal training techniques and in empirical work with dogs are beneficial, but not a precondition. This PhD project is part of a larger project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) on “Understanding the Proximate Mechanisms of Canine Cooperation. Although the project is based at the Messerli Research Institute (at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna), the research will be conducted at the Wolf Science Center, Ernstbrunn. The PhD is cosupervised by Dr. Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Dr. Zsófia Virányi and Prof. Ludwig Huber. Principal investigator of the whole project and supervisor of this PhD-project: Dr. Friederike Range.
4) The underlying mechanisms of inequity aversion in dogs
The aim of this PhD project is to investigate the underlying mechanism of inequity aversion in pet dogs. Inequity aversion is defined as partners resisting inequitable outcomes and is important for regulating and maintaining cooperation. In humans, inequity aversion seems to be based on the simultaneous evaluation of costs and gains in comparison to those of a partner. Although we know that dogs stop cooperating when treated unequally, it is unclear whether, like in humans, this behavior is driven by the same evaluation of costs and gains in comparison to the partner or based on simpler mechanisms. The aim of this project is to devise experimental designs allowing for understanding the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of inequity aversion in pet dogs. Eligible candidates will have a master’s degree (or Diplom) in Biology, Veterinary Medicine or Psychology and research experience in animal behavior, a genuine understanding of animal cognition and a strong commitment to basic science. Practical skills in animal training techniques and in empirical work with dogs are beneficial, but not a precondition. This PhD project is funded by the Austrian Science Funds (FWF). The project is based at the Clever Dog Lab of the Messerli Research Institute (at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) and co-supervised by Dr. Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Dr. Zsófia Virányi and Prof. Ludwig Huber. Principal investigator of the whole project and supervisor of this PhD-project: Dr. Friederike
Range.
The Messerli Research Institute has been recently founded with support of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, the University of Vienna and the Messerli Foundation (Switzerland) for the scientific study of human-animal interactions, with an integrative and highly interdisciplinary approach of comparative cognition and behaviour, comparative medicine, and animal ethics. Its division on Comparative Cognition (headed by L. Huber) investigates the cognitive abilities in both the social and physical domain of various, free-living as well as domesticated, animal species ranging from keas to dogs. At the Clever Dog Lab (www.cleverdoglab.at) and the Wolf Science Center (www.wolfscience.at) an international team of students and researchers studies the cognition and behaviour of canines.
Application: Materials including a letter of application, CV, a summary of research experience, copies of any published or in-press papers, and two letters of recommendation should be sent to Dr. Friederike Range by email (friederike.range@vetmeduni.ac.at) by 1st February 2013. All positions are for three years; starting date for positions 1 & 2: 1st March 2013; for positions 3 & 4: 1st June 2013. Salaries according to the standards of Austrian basic science funds.
The University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna promotes the employment of women in fields of work in which they are underrepresented and therefore encourages qualified women to apply to this opening. Disabled people will be preferentially treated if qualified.