Project description
Uncovering the evolutionary secrets of joint action
In the intricate web of social interactions, only humans have been credited with engaging in normative, mutually obligating joint commitments. Since this is considered the cornerstone of complex collaborations and societal structures, how these capacities for joint action evolved have fascinated scientists for years. Traditional experiments with human children and non-human great apes pointed to differences, but the approach was human-centric. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the JORIGINS project will use tracking and thermal imaging techniques to study spontaneous coordination in human children and bonobos. They will focus on vital joint action markers like communicative repair, bodily synchrony and emotions related to joint commitments.
Objective
Many social animals collaborate, but only humans supposedly engage in joint action – cooperative interactions that involve normative, mutually obligating joint commitments (JCs). This enabled the evolution of hyper-cooperation observed in human societies, including complex collaborations like governments, and has likely played a pivotal role in human evolution. Given the significance, there has been a long-standing interest in the ontogenetic and evolutionary origins of joint action capacities like JC. The classical approach employed experiments with human children and nonhuman great apes, showing that while humans engage in joint actions, apes’ interactions rely on egoistic motives. However, such tasks are highly anthropocentric, involving engagement with human confederates in human-centric tasks. Conversely, drawing on a more ecologically valid approach, my research demonstrates that when apes interact with conspecifics naturally, they appear to exhibit specific joint action capacities like JC. Yet firm conclusions cannot be drawn unless the following empirical issues are solved: i) behaviours do not permit insights into internal mechanisms, ii) comparative joint action research is still in its infancy, lacking a holistic picture of affective and behavioural processes supporting coordination, and iii) previous ape studies are deficient of critical experimental controls. Building on and expanding my unique expertise in this domain, this project overcomes these challenges by pioneering a comparative investigation of spontaneous joint action coordination in human children and bonobos. Using cutting-edge tracking and thermal imaging techniques, as well as timely controls, the project explores pivotal joint action signatures like communicative repair, bodily synchrony, and JC-related emotions. This offers a powerful assessment of the hypothesis that humans and apes share basic joint action capacities, highlighting the evolutionary building blocks of human sociality.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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78464 Konstanz
Germany
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