Cross cultural
and cross species investigation into joint attention and infant development
I have three related PhD positions to work on a
large-scale 5 year project starting in October 2017.
Background
Humans frequently
coordinate and share attention about objects and events. Our basic ability to
engage in joint attention (JA) is thought to underpin our uniquely complex
cooperation skills and language, raising the possibility that the emergence of
JA was a ‘small change that made a big difference’ in the evolution of human
cognition. Despite the theoretical importance of JA for understanding human
social cognition, we know surprisingly little about JA
across species and cultures.
Aims of the
project
This project will collect
longitudinal data on mother-infant dyads over the first 2 years of the infant’s
life, across four different study groups: Ugandan and British humans; wild
chimpanzees and wild crested macaque monkeys. The project will develop novel tasks
and measures that allow the same set of data to be collected in directly
comparable ways across species to test of whether engagement in JA is a
uniquely human trait. Data from the two human groups will test how different
elements of JA are related and whether JA develops in a uniform way across
cultures. Longitudinal data on mother-infant interactions and the infant’s
environment will be related to performance on JA tasks across all four groups,
enabling us to identify conditions that are likely necessary for JA to emerge.
Performance on JA and cooperative tasks will be compared to assess whether
engagement in JA predicts the later emergence of cooperation.
PhD positions
Three PhD students
will work on this project alongside two post-doctoral researchers and focus on
the chimpanzee and Ugandan and British human study groups. Each PhD student
will work a ‘primary’ group for 2
years and a ‘secondary’ group for one
year (Positions (i) Chimpanzees and British humans; (ii) British and Ugandan humans, and (iii) Ugandan
humans and chimpanzees). As this
is a longitudinal study each PhD student can expect to spend substantial
lengths of time in Uganda living and working in challenging and basic field
conditions: for (i) 20 months over 2
years; (ii) 10 months over 1 year and (iii) 30 months over 3 years).
Requirements
Essential:
All positions: Good
BSc degree in Psychology or Biology with excellent project mark (completed or
expected by October 2017); Experience of fieldwork in remote third world
conditions; Experience of interacting with young human infants (0-2 years old),
excellent communication skills, evidence of effective working in a team
Positions (i) and
(iii): experience of conducting behavioural research with animals
Positions (i) and
(ii): driving license to enable home visits to participants
Desirable:
All positions: Relevant
Masters degree; experience of conducting child/infant research
Position (ii): Experience
of cross cultural research
Positions (ii) and
(iii): Proficiency in learning new languages or familiarity with Swahili
Positions (i) and
(iii): Experience of working with chimpanzees
I expect PhD students
to suggest additional, complementary research questions that could be answered
with data collected on their study groups, alongside the core project work
(e.g. infant development or behavior of the mother).
Funding
I expect to be able to
offer full funding (home/EU fees and stipend of ~£14,000/year) for four years: Due
to the longitudinal nature of this study requiring a prolonged period of data
collection, full funding will be available for 3 years +writing-up year (4
years total), but the PhD must still be completed within the 4-year period. Fieldwork
travel costs will be paid for. Further details will be confirmed in March 2017.
Applications
1. CV
2.
Cover
letter indicating how you meet the essential and desirable requirements for the
position you are most interested in.
3.
Research
proposal consisting of:
a. An outline of how could we test joint
attention in a comparable way in your study groups (Maximum 300 words)
b. An outline of complementary research
questions that could be answered with data collected on your study groups,
alongside the core project work. Please state the research question(s), say why
its important and novel (in comparison to what has already been discovered in
that area) and how you might tackle it (e.g. outline methodology). Maximum 500
words.
The deadline for
applications is 1200 (midday) Wednesday 25th January 2017. I will
invite the top candidates for interview (in person, or skype)in early February
2017, with a view to offering positions by mid-February 2017.
Katie Slocombe
Dept of Psychology
University of York
