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      Does Oxytocin Increase Trust in Humans? A Critical Review of Research.

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          Abstract

          Behavioral neuroscientists have shown that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) plays a key role in social attachment and affiliation in nonhuman mammals. Inspired by this initial research, many social scientists proceeded to examine the associations of OT with trust in humans over the past decade. To conduct this work, they have (a) examined the effects of exogenous OT increase caused by intranasal administration on trusting behavior, (b) correlated individual difference measures of OT plasma levels with measures of trust, and (c) searched for genetic polymorphisms of the OT receptor gene that might be associated with trust. We discuss the different methods used by OT behavioral researchers and review evidence that links OT to trust in humans. Unfortunately, the simplest promising finding associating intranasal OT with higher trust has not replicated well. Moreover, the plasma OT evidence is flawed by how OT is measured in peripheral bodily fluids. Finally, in recent large-sample studies, researchers failed to find consistent associations of specific OT-related genetic polymorphisms and trust. We conclude that the cumulative evidence does not provide robust convergent evidence that human trust is reliably associated with OT (or caused by it). We end with constructive ideas for improving the robustness and rigor of OT research.

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          NOT SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL: A CROSS-DISCIPLINE VIEW OF TRUST.

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            Oxytocin, vasopressin, and the neurogenetics of sociality.

            There is growing evidence that the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin modulate complex social behavior and social cognition. These ancient neuropeptides display a marked conservation in gene structure and expression, yet diversity in the genetic regulation of their receptors seems to underlie natural variation in social behavior, both between and within species. Human studies are beginning to explore the roles of these neuropeptides in social cognition and behavior and suggest that variation in the genes encoding their receptors may contribute to variation in human social behavior by altering brain function. Understanding the neurobiology and neurogenetics of social cognition and behavior has important implications, both clinically and for society.
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              Social reward requires coordinated activity of accumbens oxytocin and 5HT

              Social behaviors in species as diverse as honey bees and humans promote group survival but often come at some cost to the individual. Although reinforcement of adaptive social interactions is ostensibly required for the evolutionary persistence of these behaviors, the neural mechanisms by which social reward is encoded by the brain are largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that in mice oxytocin (OT) acts as a social reinforcement signal within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core, where it elicits a presynaptically expressed long-term depression of excitatory synaptic transmission in medium spiny neurons. Although the NAc receives OT receptor-containing inputs from several brain regions, genetic deletion of these receptors specifically from dorsal raphe nucleus, which provides serotonergic (5-HT) innervation to the NAc, abolishes the reinforcing properties of social interaction. Furthermore, OT-induced synaptic plasticity requires activation of NAc 5-HT1b receptors, the blockade of which prevents social reward. These results demonstrate that the rewarding properties of social interaction in mice require the coordinated activity of OT and 5-HT in the NAc, a mechanistic insight with implications for understanding the pathogenesis of social dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Perspect Psychol Sci
                Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
                1745-6924
                1745-6916
                Nov 2015
                : 10
                : 6
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology gnave@caltech.edu.
                [2 ] Department of Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology.
                [3 ] Department of Psychology, University of Miami.
                Article
                10/6/772
                10.1177/1745691615600138
                26581735
                eecc7fcf-c3a2-4ec9-b703-6ee5ada87bfe
                © The Author(s) 2015.
                History

                neuroeconomics,oxytocin,prosociality,replication,social neuroendocrinology,trust

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