12 Ph.D. positions in new interdisciplinary Research Training Group „Understanding Social Relationships“
Lars Penke
The Research Training Group RTG 2070 „Understanding Social Relationships“ (Speaker: Prof. Julia Fischer) at the Georg-August-University Göttingen and the German Primate Center Göttingen offers positions for
12 Ph.D. candidates
beginning on October 1st, 2015. The salary is in accordance with the German public service salary scale (E13 TV-L) with 65% of the regular working hours (currently 25.87 hours per week) for up to three years. The scientific disciplines involved in the RTG are Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Psychology, and (Psycho-)Linguistics.
The research projects of the RTG focus on the social relationships of human and non-human primates. The common aim is to identify core principles explaining the development, maintenance and function of social relationships. Research is structured in the three domains “social signals”, “social monitoring” and “social coordination”, but specific emphasis will be laid upon the interplay between the domains.
Ideal candidates have a background in one of the scientific disciplines (or related fields) represented in this RTG. A strong interest in interdisciplinary research and the willingness to engage in scientific exchange with other disciplines is essential.
Candidates should fulfill the following requirements:
- A very good M.Sc. degree (or equivalent) in Behavioral or Cognitive Biology, Psychology, Linguistics, Psycholinguistics or similar fields
- Very good English skills (written and spoken)
- Good statistical and analytical skills
- Willingness to work in interdisciplinary teams
- Experience in one or more of the following areas is beneficial: observational or experimental studies with human children or adults, deaf adult signers, or non-human primates in captive and / or field conditions, EEG, eye-tracking, individual differences, behavioral endocrinology
- Some projects include prolonged periods of fieldwork in Thailand, Senegal or Morocco. Candidates interested in these projects must be physically fit and able to cope with field work conditions (working in remote areas, long working hours, intercultural challenges, etc.).
The University of Göttingen and the German Primate Center are equal
opportunities employers and place particular emphasis on fostering career
opportunities for women. Qualified women are therefore strongly encouraged to
apply as they are underrepresented in this field.
Disabled persons with equivalent aptitude will be favored.
Detailed information on the application process, the research topics and the training program are available at www.uni-goettingen.de/social-relationships. Candidates are required to indicate up to two preferred projects.
Please send your application with the usual documents in electronic form by May 31st to the RTG coordination office (rtg...@uni-goettingen.de)
For further information please contact the RTG coordination office (rtg...@uni-goettingen.de).
For the PERSOC community, I'd like to particularly emphasise the following three projects within the RTG:
Project 4) Effects of testosterone reactivity
on plastic personality signaling and its social monitoring in humans
(Lars Penke, Julia Ostner & Oliver Schülke)
In this project, we like to study the endocrinological base of personality plasticity, social signaling and social monitoring using testosterone reactivity as an example. Across species, free testosterone levels have been linked to behavioral differences in competitiveness vs. nurturance, and social signaling of threat and courtship displays. In humans, reactive testosterone increases can be elicited in the lab by intra-sexual competition, status challenges, and the presence of opposite-sex observers. Within this project, the PhD candidate will have the opportunity to investigate which personality aspects predict testosterone reactivity to competition and status challenge and whether momentarily increased testosterone is socially signaled in perceivable behavioral cues. Another question of this project is if increased testosterone does affect social perceptions relative to the receivers' hormonal status. For this purpose, possible tools will be endocrinological analyses as well as personality assessments and behavioral observations.
Project 5) The role of partners'
personalities for close affiliative relationships (Oliver Schülke, Julia
Ostner & Lars Penke)
Close affiliative relationships can be construed as naturally selected adaptations to group life. Like human friendships, close affiliative relationships evolved as alliances generating adaptive benefits via support in critical situations. Partner predictability or trust is crucial for coordinated action in risky situations and can be increased by choosing self-similar personalities for the formation of close relationships. Although it is well established that a human's personality affects relationships, it is less clear whether and how similarity in personality plays a role in the formation and in the maintenance of dyadic affiliative relationships in nonhuman primates. In this project, we want to investigate whether and how the strength of dyadic affiliative relationships is linked to the partners' similarity in personality in wild male Assamese macaques. For the data collection, the PhD candidate will work at our long term field site in Phu Khieo, Thailand, where personality assessments, behavioral observations and play-back experiments can be conducted.
Project 11) Emergence of leadership:
Predicting leadership initiative and followership from individual traits
and behavioral styles (Stefan Schulz-Hardt & Andreas Mojzisch)
Research on emergence of leadership seeks to identify the factors that determine who will become leader in a group. A key idea of the present project is that variables that decide about whether or not a particular group member will attempt to lead a group (i.e., leadership initiative) need not be identical with those variables that affect the success of such attempts (i.e., followership). With this project, we aim to determine the influence of various individual difference variables on leadership initiative on the one hand and followership on the other hand in interactive group settings. For this purpose, the PhD candidate will have the opportunity to assess a large set of individual predictors, including individuals' risk preference, physical size as well as testosterone and estradiol levels and to study individuals' behavioral styles.
Best wishes,
Lars