Profile
Abstract
My research explores the developmental and evolutionary origins of human cooperation. To this end, I run experimental studies with young children and nonhuman great apes investigating the cognitive capacities supporting coordinated decision-making, the commitments emanating from cooperative activities, and the psychological mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior.
In current projects, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 programme (Grant agreement No. 948748), I also investigate the developmental origins of corrupt tendencies from a cooperative perspective. Specifically, I examine children’s tendencies to engage in cooperatively motivated rule-violations, strategic ignorance, and selective norm enforcement, and how these tendencies relate to children’s developing cooperative psychology.
For further information, please visit the website of the Cooperative Minds Lab (https://sites.google.com/view/cooperative-minds-lab/team/sebastian-grüneisen).
Professional career
- 07/2015 - 12/2017
Postdoc, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology - 04/2018 - 03/2021
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan and Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development - since 11/2021
Tenure-track professor, Faculty of Education, Leipzig University
Education
- 08/2005 - 08/2008
Bachelor in Psychology, Northumbria University at Newcastle upon Tyne - 09/2009 - 08/2010
Master in Evolutionary and Comparative Psychology, University of St Andrews - 10/2011 - 06/2015
PhD, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology/Leipzig University
I currently teach several courses in the Master's program "Early Childhood Research", including:
- Developmental Psychology II (the development of prosocial behavior)
- Observational Methods
- Cross-cultural Development
- Comparative Development
- Neurocognitive Development