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Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making
Published on: March 2, 2011
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Oxytocin, testosterone, and human social cognition
1Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|January 30, 2015
Summary
The human oxytocin system, alongside testosterone, shapes social behavior and cognition across various relationships. Imbalances in these hormones may underlie conditions like autism, schizophrenia, and depression.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Social Biology
Background:
- The human oxytocinergic system plays a crucial role in social bonding and affiliation.
- Oxytocin is involved in various social contexts, from parent-offspring to group dynamics.
- Testosterone exhibits opposing effects, often promoting self-oriented and antisocial behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present an integrative social-evolutionary model for the adaptive significance of the human oxytocinergic system.
- To explore the joint and opposing effects of oxytocin and testosterone on human social cognition and behavior.
- To apply this model to understand psychological disorders characterized by social behavior deficits.
Main Methods:
- Development of a social-evolutionary model integrating oxytocin's role across five homologous contexts.
- Review of evidence for oxytocin's effects on social motivation, mediation, and reward.
- Analysis of testosterone's contrasting effects on cognition and behavior.
- Application of the model to psychiatric conditions involving social dysfunction.
Main Results:
- Oxytocin motivates, mediates, and rewards social group formation and maintenance, with effects that can be positive or negative.
- Testosterone generally favors self-oriented, asocial, and antisocial behaviors.
- Reduced oxytocin and higher testosterone are linked to under-developed social cognition (e.g., autism).
- Elevated oxytocin and lower testosterone are associated with conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, sometimes involving hyper-developed social cognition.
Conclusions:
- Human social cognition and behavior are partly structured by the interplay of oxytocin and testosterone.
- Extreme joint effects of these hormones may mediate risks and phenotypes of autism and psychotic-affective disorders.
- Understanding these hormonal influences has implications for developing therapies for social cognition disorders and evolutionary insights into human cognitive architecture.
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