The Sense of Commitment: a minimal analogue of commitment for joint action

The primary purpose of the project is to apply recent theoretical developments concerning the concept of commitment and the role of emotions in moral judgments to the context of joint action, and thereby to help elucidate the ways in which commitments are made, signaled and reasoned about in everyday interaction, and also the ways in which commitments facilitate interactions (e.g. making people’s behavior predictable, intelligible, etc.). Since Günther Knoblich, Natalie Sebanz and others at CEU are leading researchers on joint action, they could help John Michael to develop the theoretical component of the project in a way that is fruitful for research on joint action, and could also contribute to his training in designing and running experiments. Thus, CEU would facilitate the further training of a young researcher. In addition, CEU would benefit by expanding its international profile through the ca. 4 publications in international peer-reviewed journal that are envisioned, through hosting a prestigious Marie Curie project, and by including a young researcher who can help foster research links with other institutions throughout Europe.