The Project: The Development of Empathy- A Cross-cultural Investigation

Empathy - sharing and understanding others' emotions and thoughts - is a defining feature of what it means to be human. However, we lack knowledge about its evolutionary and developmental origins. Thus far, research on empathy development in the first years of life remains limited and has also been mainly conducted in western or urban populations, which ignores the potential insights from studying cross-cultural variability. Here, we will address this by investigating the development of empathy in infants living in Samoa, a Pacific Island Nation listed as a UN small-island developing state with societal values based upon collective care for others. As part of broader project goals, comparisons are planned with infants in Vanuatu (South Pacific) and the UK. Combining longitudinal behavioural observations and novel experimental techniques, this project will yield rich datasets on how empathy develops in the first two years of life and how this may be shaped by the infant's social environment. By taking into account potential variation across populations and developmental timepoints, this project seeks to advance our understanding of the development of empathy, one of our most remarkable capacities.

This post is fixed term for 36 months with a planned start date March/April 2020 though with flexibility.

The post-holder is employed to work on research/a research project which will be led by another colleague. Whilst this means that the post-holder will not be carrying out independent research in his/her own right, the expectation is that they will contribute to the advancement of the project, through the development of their own research ideas/adaptation and development of research protocols.

The successful candidate will work within a larger research project on the evolutionary and developmental origins of empathy (EMPORIGIN) funded by the European Research Council, led by Dr Zanna Clay. The candidate will engage with a diverse team of researchers and collaborators, including project team, grant collaborators (Prof Tanya Broesch & Prof Philippe Rochat), local field assistants and local collaborators in Samoa, including researchers at the National University of Samoa.