Toward an Evolutionary Thanatology

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K18693
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 10:Psychology and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Anderson James 京都大学, 文学研究科, 名誉教授 (80737453)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: death / dying / cognition / emotions / nonhuman primates / children / attitudes / euthanasia

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Main research achievements are: 1. First experimental study on responses to a "death odor" (putrescine) in nonhuman primates. We have shown that chimpanzees resemble humans in finding this odor aversive. 2. First exploration of spontaneous discrimination between pictures of dead and live animals in nonhuman primates (capuchins). We found no evidence of discrimination, and will follow up with a learning task. 3. First study of children's descriptions of animated films showing a "fatal" accident involving a living being (chimpanzee) or a moving, non-living object (robot). Verbal responses are combined with eye-movement and physiological measures. 4. First quantitative study of the accuracy of parents' estimations of their children's understanding of death and children's actual estimations. This large online study also clarifies the influence of experiential factors such as owning a pet. 5. First formal comparison of attitudes towards euthanasia between Japanese and Western (UK) people.

Free Research Field

Psychology

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This research has led to new findings in the field of comparative developmental thanatology, stimulating other research teams to conduct related research and develop new approaches in humans and other species of animals. The work has attracted considerable international media attention.