Their whiskers twitched, their pink noses happily wiggled-those mice thought they were safe.īut then, six hours later, scientists put the three groups back in the cage with the psycho-mice. The third was normal.Īll three groups were equally mauled by the psycho-mice, until the researchers rescued them. The other group had more receptors than usual. One of those three groups of mice had their oxytocin receptors removed. Researchers at Northwestern University put three groups of cute, gentle mice in a cage with another pack of crazy, aggressive ones. What about the friend who lost the game? You may have just lost that particular poker buddy-and again, oxytocin may play a role. Quite a few studies have found that people dosed with oxytocin are more likely to spite their opponents when playing games of chance, which has led Andrew Kemp of the University of Sydney to argue that oxytocin plays a role in what psychologists call “approach-related” emotions-ones that have to do with wanting something from someone. You might be surprised to hear that your posterior pituitary gland was probably secreting oxytocin through every step of that game, from the good feeling to the envy to the taunting. But then one hand later, you lay down a straight flush and take all his chips. The bastard on the other side of the table shows four of a kind or a full house every single time, and you can’t even get a pair. You like the people you’re playing with, you’re enjoying yourself. Let’s say you’re playing a nice friendly game of poker. It makes us poor winners and sore losers. It also keeps you faithful to your partner-and wary of her rivals. So oxytocin doesn’t simply make you all lovey-dovey, suggests this study. The single guys, meanwhile, were probably too busy staring down her cleavage to hear the questions. Partnered guys who sniffed the placebo leaned in a little closer than their partners might have liked. It turned out that if an oxytocin-snorting guy was already in a relationship, boyfriend actually kept his distance from his lovely interlocutor. (Here’s a tip: When you walk into a lab, never trust an experimental psychologist-those people are liars). The questions she asked were irrelevant instead, these scientists were measuring how close the men stood to the temptress as the two talked. In fact, if they’re already in a loving relationship, they can become downright unfriendly to the opposite sex, according to a 2012 study in the Journal of Neuroscience.įifty-seven hot-blooded, heterosexual German men sprayed either oxytocin or a placebo up their own noses-and were then sent, alone, into a small room with beautiful young woman holding a clipboard. Men are dogs, right? They just want one thing, huh? Well, not if they’re jacked up on oxytocin.
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