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MyHealthNewsDaily
The "love hormone" oxytocin may help maintain romantic relationships by prompting men to keep their distance from attractive women, a new study from Germany suggests.
In the study, men in monogamous relationships who were given an oxytocin nasal spray stayed about four to six inches farther away from an attractive, woman they didn't know, compared with men in monogamous relationships who received a placebo.
The oxytocin spray had no effect on the distance that single men chose to keep between themselves and the attractive woman.
The results suggest the hormone promotes fidelity in humans, said study researcher Dr. René Hurlemann, of the University of Bonn. The findings agree with previous research conducted on prairie voles, which suggested the hormone plays a role in pair-bonding.
In humans, oxytocin has been found to promote bonding between parents and children, increase trust, and reduce conflict between couples. And earlier this year, a study found that couples with high levels of oxytocin in the early stages of a relationship were more likely to be together six months later than couples with lower levels of the hormone.
But until now, there has been no evidence that a dose of oxytocin given after a couple gets together contributes to the maintenance of the relationship, the researchers said.
The study involved 57 heterosexual males, about half of whom were in monogamous relationships. After receiving either a dose of oxytocin or placebo, participants were introduced to a female experimenter who they later described as "attractive."
During the encounter, the experimenter moved towards or away from the men, and they were asked to indicate when she was at an "ideal distance" away, as well as when she moved to a distance that felt "slightly uncomfortable."
The effect of oxytocin on the attached men was the same regardless of whether the female experimenter maintained eye contact, or averted her gaze. Oxytocin also had no effect on the men’s attitude toward the female experimenter — whether men received the oxytocin or the placebo, they rated her as being equally attractive.
In a separate experiment, the researchers found oxytocin had no effect on the distance men kept between themselves and a male experimenter.
Future studies are needed to determine exactly how oxytocin might act on the brain to affect behavior, the researchers said.
The study will be published tomorrow (Nov. 14) in The Journal of Neuroscience.
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Well, I guess if you lack brains and the little head can over-rule the big head, then drugs are the answer.
I'm pretty sure this is just a natural hormone the human body already uses for this purpose. They were just testing to see if they truly understood what it does. Apparently it is what naturally gives your "brains" the ability to step back from a such a scenario if you are already paired up with someone, so you don't stupidly crater your relationship.
You'd be amazed to discover how much of your behavior is controlled or influenced by "drugs" (hormones in the human body) that are part and parcel of our nature and functionality. What you think is will power is actually the sum total of the influence of all the hormones that your brain is bathed in continuously. Adjust the hormone balance either way and watch what happens...
What the study doesn't say is that those men who stood back have penises 4-6 inches longer than those who received a placebo resulting in all the men standing just as close to the attractive women.
That is correct. Oxytocin is produced in relativly large quantities by the brain in response to many reproduction-related events, such as labor and orgasm.
The answer? Virtually everything we do, think, and feel is regulated or directly controlled by hormones, and the rest is neurotransmitters. The brain is an electrochemical computer, and these "drugs" are the chemical part of that.
@nydoglover: eh!?
To all those evolutionary psychologists who claim men are not meant to be monogamous.... back to the drawing board.
John, you gotta get out of Moapa. You sound like a guy who never had access to hot women.
In my house, the fear of God keeps the man away from hot women.
That explains Rush Limbaugh's ugly wives...lol
rkaralius,
So, does this mean that the woman of the house is not hot?
Do flashes count?
Are you insinuating that my wife is NOT hot?
I guess that explains Rush Limabaugh's self love.
I am always concerned when I see studies that are generated with micro-samples. Let's see if this reproduces with a couple of hundred thousand people and find a way to rule out different norms from differnt social groups.
For a study of this depth, 57 is a pretty good number of participants. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get people to participate in these things? I don't think I have ever heard of a study with this kind of depth being done on more than a few hundred people.
Ham ........ they want to give ME free drugs then Im in!
Are you kidding me ?, this is called a study with a whole total of 57 participants with approx half in a monogamous relationship who keep a distance of approx 4" to 6" further away from an attractive woman than someone given just a placebo. I would like to know who funds such a study as this and exactly how much did this so called study cost and , of course, as so many studies conclude -- further research is needed -- really ????. What exactly are we trying to learn from a study such as this ??? That oxytocin MIGHT stop someone from cheating ????? All I can say is I highly doubt it and funding the research needed to cure a known disease would be a better use of research funds.
First of all, see above for why 57 is not that bad for participants.
That would be the German government.
While I don't have exact numbers, I can guarantee you it isn't as much as a few cruise missiles.
The phrase "more research is needed" appears frequently in studies because that is the basic principle behind scientific discovery. Every new discovery leads to new questions, so there is always more to be done.
The purpose of these kinds of studies is to determine how the brain functions. In this particular study, they were trying to determine whether oxytocin, which is a naturally occurring neuromodulator released by the brain, influences the stability of relationships and the probability of infidelity. In other words, they are trying to answer fundamental questions about life, love, and what it means to be human.
Not EVERY bit of research has immediate practical uses, but it might be built upon later (hence the term "basic research"). The more that science understands the body and the effects of various hormones, the more likely it is to find cures for diseases.
This applies to other areas of science, too. The laser, for instance, was just a curiosity when it was first constructed. Nobody really had a practical use for it. Now, it is indispensable.
Dude hanjam nailed it!
It's clear that Ed knows jack about the scientific process. Hamjam did a good job of refuting the majority of his ignorant comments, but I would like to add to the 'no benefit to disease cures' comment:
All you are is brain biochemistry. The sum total of what makes you, 'you', involves the complex interactions of neurons an neurotransmitters. If you think you aren't, then get a clue, but that's beside the point. The POINT is that there are a plethora of diseases involving an imbalance in neurotransmitters. Oxytocin had been largely ignored in this, until recently.
It is now suspected to play a role in a number of diseases, including Williams Syndrome - a condition which includes many symptoms, not worth mentioning, except for the one suspected to me mediated by oxytocin: pathological trusting.
So, get a clue and leave the science to the people like us who actually do it. You can reap the benefits of our hard work, and we won't ask for anything in return.
Let's try this on gays!!! I think it would prove that gays are made, NOT born!
No.
You are, in almost every way and from all possible perspectives, completely wrong.
OK, Spiffy. Explain your logic. I don't see how including gays in the study makes any difference, other than they're not going to be sexually interested in the female experimenter regardless.
Spiffy ..... explain the similarities between shape of female and gay brains, or the genetic research that explains why an apparent species anti-survival genetic trait has "not-bred" itself out of the genetic pool. It is indeed genetic and a defect (when active in a male) of a beneficial female carrier genetic trait, not something that can be "made".
Spiffy, you're a moron. Congratulations.
Patraeus was apparently on the placebo
I find smoking has the same effect.
What a colossal waste of money. "And more studies are needed". Yepper...
Hmmm. Please take that up with Berlin, Not DC. and their Bundeskranzler is not whot I would call "Hot"
I am sure a few Deutschlanders would tell you propping up Greece, Spain and pretty soon France is an even bigger waste of money....
think I will agree with the NYdoylover
What they need to study for men is a way to attract the perfect mate.
OH oxyTOcin not oxyCONtin!!!! I had to read this thing 5 times before i figured that out.....so, whats this new drug and who's a ss do i snort it off of?
Although you were joking, snorting oxytocin would likely have no dramatic psychotropic effect, at least not without first experiencing some of the unpleasant systemic side effects of the drug.
However, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') is now known to trigger oxytocin release in the brain, and it is the major mediator of the psychotropic effects of that drug. This was previously, and erroneously, attributed solely to serotonin since it is an SSRI.
Not condoning usage, mind you, just mentioning it as it is interesting. As far as I am aware this centrally mediated oxytocin related effect is largely unique, and it is likely what allows MDMA to be useful as an adjunct therapy for individuals with anxiety disorders, such as PTSD, who have difficulty opening up with their therapists about their traumatic experiences.
well, my EX husband wasn't on anything and he found females AND males attractive.
so it would keep him away from hot women, but not hot men
Who pays for this senseless research?
In your opinion it may be senseless research. However, our ever expanding knowledge of how the brain and our body works, will bear fruit farther down the line.
Myopic veiws like yours and Ed's are, fortunately, not shared by most research scientists and engineers. Otherwise we would still be treating disease with bloodletting and leaches.
One must have some kind of moral compass to begin with.
Comments about the presumed superiority of human will and morality over primitive instinct and desire always amuse me. You can be the most moral person in the world, and it is meaningless in the face of very minor alterations in brain biochemistry.
We are now aware of over a hundred different pathological conditions that involve gross anatomical, minor, or biochemical alterations in the brain that cause an individual to exhibit pathological symptoms that most people would consider 'immoral'. And that's the big stuff, the stuff that garners attention and research.
The fact is, everything about the brain - including behavior that we elevate on a pedestal like morality - is exclusively controlled by neural mechanisms.