Oxytocin increases perceived competence and social-emotional engagement with brands.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Barraza JA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8631632 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Research on oxytocin (OT) has revealed a substantial involvement of this neuropeptide in social cognition processes and attachment behavior. The rationale of the present project was to decipher the differential role of OT in basic social cognition processes towards non-erotic attachment stimuli vs. reproduction-related stimuli in human subjects. In a randomized double-blind repeated-measures cross-over design, N = 82 participants were investigated twice and received either intranasal OT or placebo at the first assessment followed by placebo or OT at second assessment. Participants were presented with standardized pictures of parent-child dyads, romantic couples engaging in non-erotic or explicit sexual activities, and non-social pictures while we assessed pupil dilation and eye focus on specific pre-defined areas of interest. Multilevel analyses suggest that during the initial presentation, OT increased pupil dilation towards all categories of stimuli and led the eye focus towards the eyes and body regions, followed by a strong decrease in pupil dilation and fixations at the second session. These carry-over effects indicate that hormonal treatment at an initial contact to social stimuli can determine how these stimuli are processed later. These results might have implications for OT as a treatment in interventions with repeated exposure to social material.
| S-EPMC6494727 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Peoples' decision-making competence, defined as tendency to follow normative rational principles in their decision making, is important as it may influence the extent that requirements are met and levels of perceived stress. In addition, perceived stress could be influenced by social orientation and time style; for example, decisions need to comply with given deadlines and the expectations of others. In two studies, with students (n = 118) and professionals (police investigators, n = 90), we examined how the three individual difference features: decision-making competence, social orientation, and time approach relate to perceived stress. Results showed that social orientation and time approach were related to levels of perceived stress, but decision-making competence was not. These results indicate that social orientation and time approach are important to consider in relation to perceived stress, but the role of decision-making competence may be less important for perceived stress. However, the role of decision-making competence for perceived stress needs to be further researched.
| S-EPMC5900026 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In male Caucasian subjects, learning is facilitated by receipt of social compared with non-social feedback, and the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) facilitates this effect. In this study, we have first shown a cultural difference in that male Chinese subjects actually perform significantly worse in the same reinforcement associated learning task with social (emotional faces) compared with non-social feedback. Nevertheless, in two independent double-blind placebo (PLC) controlled between-subject design experiments we found OXT still selectively facilitated learning with social feedback. Similar to Caucasian subjects this OXT effect was strongest with feedback using female rather than male faces. One experiment performed in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that during the response, but not feedback phase of the task, OXT selectively increased activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and putamen during the social feedback condition, and functional connectivity between the amygdala and insula and caudate. Therefore, OXT may be increasing the salience and reward value of anticipated social feedback. In the PLC group, response times and state anxiety scores during social feedback were associated with signal changes in these same regions but not in the OXT group. OXT may therefore have also facilitated learning by reducing anxiety in the social feedback condition. Overall our results provide the first evidence for cultural differences in social facilitation of learning per se, but a similar selective enhancement of learning with social feedback under OXT. This effect of OXT may be associated with enhanced responses and functional connectivity in emotional memory and reward processing regions.
| S-EPMC6868957 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The literature has consistently shown that social support has a positive relationship with creativity. However, further investigation is needed to clarify the causal relationship between the two constructs. The present study addressed this need by exploring the impact of experimentally induced perceived social support on creativity among young adults. A total of 135 undergraduate students in Malaysia participated in an online experiment. All participants first answered the creative self-efficacy scale and were then randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups. Perceived social support was primed by a writing test and measured by the Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Social Support. Both groups also answered a divergent thinking test (measured for fluency, flexibility, and originality) and a self-rated creativity scale. Multivariate analysis of covariance showed that, after statistically controlling for the effect of creative self-efficacy, participants in the experimental group reported higher scores in perceived social support and all creativity measures than their counterparts in the control group. The results demonstrated that the manipulation is effective and the induced perceived social support leads to higher creativity. Our findings not only offer empirical evidence of the causality of social support and creativity but also has practical value for creativity development.
| S-EPMC9517368 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Early caregiver-infant interactions are critical for infants' socioemotional and cognitive development. Several hormones and neuromodulators, including oxytocin, affect these interactions. Exogenous oxytocin promotes social behaviors in several species, including human and nonhuman primates. Although exogenous oxytocin increases social function in adults--including expression recognition and affiliation--it is unknown whether oxytocin can increase social interactions in infants. We hypothesized that nebulized oxytocin would increase affiliative social behaviors and such effects would be modulated by infants' social skills, measured earlier in development. We also hypothesized that oxytocin's effects on social behaviors may be due to its anxiolytic effects. We tested these hypotheses in a blind study by nebulizing 7- to 14-d-old macaques (n = 28) with oxytocin or saline. Following oxytocin administration, infants' facial gesturing at a human caregiver increased, and infants' salivary oxytocin was positively correlated with the time spent in close proximity to a caregiver. Infants' imitative skill (measured earlier in development: 1-7 d of age) predicted oxytocin-associated increases in affiliative behaviors--lip smacking, visual attention to a caregiver, and time in close proximity to a caregiver--suggesting that infants with higher propensities for positive social interactions are more sensitive to exogenous oxytocin. Oxytocin also decreased salivary cortisol, but not stress-related behaviors (e.g., scratching), suggesting the possibility of some anxiolytic effects. To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence that oxytocin increases positive social behaviors in newborns. This information is of critical importance for potential interventions aimed at ameliorating inadequate social behaviors in infants with higher likelihood of developing neurodevelopmental disorder.
| S-EPMC4024859 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Food advertisement exposure is associated with increased caloric intake, but little is known about food/beverage placements in the digital media environment. We aimed to examine the correlation between the number of people who follow food and beverage brand social media accounts (i.e., user engagement) and state-level obesity rates; quantify social media followers' use of "healthy" vs. "unhealthy" hashtags; and analyze the relationship between user engagement and hashtag usage. We identified the 26 fast-food and beverage brands with the highest advertising expenditures and used Demographics Pro to determine the characteristics of social media users amongst the 26 brands. A series of regression analyses were conducted that related the mean percentage of brand followers and state-level obesity rates. We then identified 733 hashtags on Instagram and 703 hashtags on Twitter, coding them as "healthy", "unhealthy", "neutral", or "unrelated to health". Intercoder reliability was established using ReCal2, which indicated a 90% agreement between coders. Finally, we conducted ANCOVA to examine the relationship between the mean percentage of brand followers and their hashtag usage. There was a significant, positive correlation between the state-level obesity rate and the mean percentage of followers of sugary drink or fast-food brands on Instagram and Twitter, but such a correlation between obesity and low-calorie drink brand followers was only found on Twitter. Our findings illustrate the relationship between the social media food environment and obesity rates in the United States. Given the high rates of engagement with food brands on social media, policies should limit digital advertisements featuring fast-food, sugary drink, and low-calorie drink brands.
| S-EPMC8657578 | biostudies-literature
Project description:MDMA (± 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 'ecstasy') is used recreationally, reportedly because it increases feelings of empathy, sociability, and interpersonal closeness. One line of evidence suggests that MDMA produces these effects by releasing oxytocin, a peptide involved in social bonding. In the current study, we investigated the acute effects of MDMA and oxytocin on social and emotional processing in healthy human volunteers. MDMA users (N = 65) participated in a 4-session, within-between-subjects study in which they received oral MDMA (0.75, 1.5 mg/kg), intranasal oxytocin (20 or 40 IU), or placebo under double-blind conditions. The primary outcomes included measures of emotion recognition and sociability (desire to be with others). Cardiovascular and subjective effects were also assessed. As expected, MDMA dose-dependently increased heart rate and blood pressure and feelings of euphoria (eg, 'High' and 'Like Drug'). On measures of social function, MDMA impaired recognition of angry and fearful facial expressions, and the larger dose (1.5 mg/kg) increased desire to be with others, compared with placebo. Oxytocin produced small but significant increases in feelings of sociability and enhanced recognition of sad facial expressions. Additionally, responses to oxytocin were related to responses to MDMA with subjects on two subjective measures of sociability. Thus, MDMA increased euphoria and feelings of sociability, perhaps by reducing sensitivity to subtle signs of negative emotions in others. The present findings provide only limited support for the idea that oxytocin produces the prosocial effects of MDMA.
| S-EPMC4023138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study examined direct associations between emotional competence, perceived stress and burnout in 489 Spanish teachers. In addition, a model in which perceived stress mediated pathways linking emotional competence to teacher burnout symptoms was also examined. Results showed that emotional competence and stress were significantly correlated with teacher burnout symptoms in the expected direction. Moreover, mediational analysis indicated that perceived stress partly mediated the relationship between emotional competence and the three dimensions of burnout even when controlling for salient background characteristics. These findings suggest an underlying process by which high emotional competence may increase the capacity to cope with symptoms of burnout, by reducing the experience of stress. Implications of these findings for future research and for working with teachers to prevent burnout are discussed.
| S-EPMC4893324 | biostudies-literature
Project description:How does the credibility we attribute to media sources influence our opinions and judgments derived from news? Participants read headlines about the social behavior of depicted unfamiliar persons from websites of trusted or distrusted well-known German news media. As a consequence, persons paired with negative or positive headlines were judged more negative or positive than persons associated with neutral information independent of source credibility. Likewise, electrophysiological signatures of slow and controlled evaluative brain activity revealed a dominant influence of emotional headline contents regardless of credibility. Modulations of earlier brain responses associated with arousal and reflexive emotional processing show an effect of negative news and suggest that distrusted sources may even enhance the impact of negative headlines. These findings demonstrate that though we may have distinct perceptions about the credibility of media sources, information processing and social judgments rely on the emotional content of headlines, even when they stem from sources we distrust.
| S-EPMC7943368 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Studies have linked oxytocin to emotional theory of mind (eToM) - the ability to recognise and understand others' emotions. However, multiple replications have so far failed to reach a consistent result. Growing evidence suggests that oxytocin's positive effects on social-emotional tasks such as eToM are highly dependent on trait-level individual differences. In the present study, we theorised that socioeconomic status (SES) could influence oxytocin's impact on emotional mentalising processes. We tested our hypothesis in a double-blind between-subjects oxytocin nasal spray study on 147 Caucasian white male participants in the United Kingdom. In accordance with our hypothesis, we found that oxytocin (as compared to placebo) did boost emotional theory of mind, but only in people from low subjective SES backgrounds. Our results expand existing theory on how individual differences moderate oxytocin's role on social behaviours.
| S-EPMC7103769 | biostudies-literature