Oxytocin Increases Trust in Humans
Nature, Vol. 435, No. 2, pp. 673-676, June 2005
Posted: 3 Jul 2005
Abstract
Trust pervades human societies. Trust is indispensable in friendship, love, families and organizations, and plays a key role in economic exchange and politics. In the absence of trust among trading partners, market transactions break down. In the absence of trust in a country's institutions and leaders, political legitimacy breaks down. Much recent evidence indicates that trust contributes to economic, political and social success. Little is known, however, about the biological basis of trust among humans. Here we show that intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuropeptide that plays a key role in social attachment and affiliation in non-human mammals, causes a substantial increase in trust among humans, thereby greatly increasing the benefits from social interactions. We also show that the effect of oxytocin on trust is not due to a general increase in the readiness to bear risks. On the contrary, oxytocin specifically affects an individual's willingness to accept social risks arising through interpersonal interactions. These results concur with animal research suggesting an essential role for oxytocin as a biological basis of prosocial approach behaviour.
Keywords: Trust, oxytocin, prosocial behavior
JEL Classification: C92, C72
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) - Evolution, Scope and Enhancements
By Gert G. Wagner, Joachim R. Frick, ...
-
Neuroeconomic Foundations of Trust and Social Preferences
By Ernst Fehr, Michael Kosfeld, ...
-
Neuroeconomic Foundation of Trust and Social Preferences
By Ernst Fehr, Urs Fischbacher, ...
-
By José A.m. Borghans, Lex Borghans, ...
-
By Magnus Lofstrom and John H. Tyler
-
Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans
By Paul J. Zak, Angela A. Stanton, ...
-
By Paul J. Zak