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Carsten K W De Dreu1, Lindred L Greer, Gerben A Van Kleef

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Oxytocin administration increases human ethnocentrism, promoting in-group favoritism and bias against out-groups. This challenges the view of oxytocin as a universal bonding agent and suggests its role in intergroup conflict.

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Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Neuroendocrinology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Human ethnocentrism, characterized by in-group preference and perceived superiority, drives intergroup bias, prejudice, and conflict.
  • Ethnocentrism also fosters within-group trust and cooperation, suggesting a complex role in social dynamics.
  • Brain oxytocin, a neuropeptide, is known to enhance cooperation among in-group members, prompting investigation into its broader effects on ethnocentrism.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the modulatory effect of oxytocin on human ethnocentrism and intergroup bias.
  • To determine if oxytocin selectively enhances in-group favoritism or also influences out-group derogation.
  • To examine the impact of oxytocin on various behavioral manifestations of ethnocentrism, including implicit bias and decision-making in intergroup contexts.

Main Methods:

  • Double-blind, placebo-controlled experimental design involving male participants administering oxytocin or placebo intranasally.
  • Utilized the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure implicit in-group favoritism and out-group derogation.
  • Employed the infrahumanization task to assess the attribution of uniquely human emotions to in-groups versus out-groups.
  • Incorporated resource allocation dilemmas (sacrificing one to save many) with in-group and out-group targets to assess behavioral bias.

Main Results:

  • Oxytocin administration significantly increased in-group favoritism across multiple experimental paradigms.
  • Oxytocin also led to a moderate increase in out-group derogation, though less pronounced than in-group favoritism.
  • Participants receiving oxytocin were more likely to exhibit biases favoring their in-group, including dehumanizing out-groups and making decisions that benefited the in-group at the expense of the out-group.

Conclusions:

  • Oxytocin acts as a significant modulator of human ethnocentrism, primarily by enhancing in-group favoritism.
  • Findings challenge the simplistic view of oxytocin as solely promoting affiliation, highlighting its role in exacerbating intergroup bias.
  • The study suggests that oxytocin may contribute to the emergence of intergroup conflict and violence by strengthening in-group bonds at the expense of out-group relations.