ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2018, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (8): 1438-1449.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2018.01438

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The effect of oxytocin on social decision-making

ZHANG Xukai1, YIN Hang1, LI Peng2, LI Hong1,2()   

  1. 1 Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Science, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
    2 Research Centre of Brain Function and Psychological Science, Shenzhen 518060, China
  • Received:2017-07-06 Online:2018-08-15 Published:2018-07-02
  • Contact: Hong LI E-mail:lihongszu@szu.edu.cn

Abstract:

A growing number of studies have recently focused on the functional significance of oxytocin (OT) in human social decision-making. With various experimental paradigms being developed, previous studies have shown that oxytocin (OT)plays an important regulatory role in interpersonal decision-making. In the OT research field, researchers have looked into many aspects of social decision-making, including cooperation and protection, morality, trust, generous behavior. Three possible hypotheses for oxytocin function were proposed to interpret current findings, however, no unified theory has yet been suggested to integrate all the observed phenomena. Future studies should focus on the physiological mechanisms of intranasal OT and receptor gene polymorphisms, take the gender differences into consideration, and establish a more appropriate and testable theoretical model.

Key words: oxytocin, cooperation and protection, morality, trust, generosity

CLC Number: