A spray of the hormone oxytocin might increase the levels of trust in humans, a Swiss study has found. However, the finding is likely to do more harm than good, due to the abuse of the hormone to pull off frauds.
“Of course, this finding could be misused. I don’t think we currently have such abuses. However, in the future it could happen,” said Ernst Fehr in
Nature magazine.
Oxytocin is a hormone released in the brains of mammals during sexual intercourse and childbirth, said Markus Heinrichs, a psychologist at the University of Zurich and one of the authors of the study.
Under the study, researchers measured the levels of trust in 178 males by administering the hormone to half of them. Each participant was given 12 ‘points’, which was equal to about 50 cents. These participants were allowed to ‘invest’ the money with unknown human ‘bankers’. If they ‘invested’, the money would be multiplied by three times. However, the ‘banker’ was also given the choice of either giving the money back or keeping all of it. The exercise was repeated with four different ‘bankers’.
Before the exercise commenced, half the participants were given oxytocin, while the rest were given placebos. Researchers found that among those administered oxytocin, 45 per cent gave up all their points to the trustee. In comparison, only 21 percent of the placebo group exhibited this kind of trust
Expressing surprise at the findings, Heinrichs said that the study of oxytocin in prairie voles, famous for their monogamous behavior, had established the role of oxytocin in their behavior. Released during mating, the hormone led to the males staying around the same female and the family for life.
Other studies, involving genetic engineering of rats, had shown changes in their polygamous behavior. “We had a lot of data from animal research that showed oxytocin makes animals overcome avoidance behavior,” Heinrichs said. But he had not expected these results in humans. “I thought human beings were more complicated and it wouldn’t be so easy to influence such complex behavior as trust by one hormone,” Heinrichs said. He, however, added that the effect of the hormone in women might be different because women produce larger amounts of oxytocin.
The human brain releases oxytocin during orgasm, and in females, during childbirth and lactation. The hormone has been found to induce bonding between lovers as well as between parents and children. Synthesize oxytocin is generally used to induce labor.
