Oxytocin and the Pharmacological Dissection of Affiliation

Abstract

Popularly hailed as the “love hormone,” oxytocin has emerged as a key variable in the regulation of human social cognition and behavior. In particular, research using intranasal oxytocin to pharmacologically manipulate the availability of oxytocin shows that oxytocin augmentation can promote a wide range of affiliative processes; however, evidence also shows null and even antisocial effects. Rather than random error to be eliminated, such variability may offer clues about the mechanisms by which oxytocin modulates human sociality. Three potential mechanisms—anxiety reduction, social salience, and affiliative motivation—are discussed, along with recent work showing how the affiliative-motivation hypothesis can simultaneously account for oxytocin’s pro- and antisocial effects. Appreciating oxytocin’s nuanced social effects is important for advancing our understanding of the neuroscience and psychology of affiliation.