Preliminary study of evolution of high-order affects

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12047
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Fujita Kazuo 京都大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (80183101)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 高次感情 / 不公平感 / 向社会行動 / 思いやり / 妬み / 霊長類 / 伴侶動物 / 変温動物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

High-order affects including compassion (thoughtful considerations to others), sense of fairness, jealousy, and guilt, are important factors for establishing social relationships among humans. This study investigated whether non-human animals share these affects with humans. We also examined whether they could express “praise” or “righteousness” when observing third-party interactions. The results indicated that New world monkeys, including capuchin and squirrel monkeys, rodents, and companion animals manifested reactions associated with these high-order affects. Applying the study procedure established in this study to more species could reveal the evolution of high-order affects in more detail.

Free Research Field

比較認知心理学