A matter of distance—The effect of oxytocin on social discounting is empathy-dependent

Sabrina Strang; Holger Gerhardt; Nina Marsh; Sergio Oroz Artigas; Yang Hu; René Hurlemann; Soyoung Q. Park

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.01.031

A matter of distance—The effect of oxytocin on social discounting is empathy-dependent

Sabrina Strang^*, Holger Gerhardt, Nina Marsh, Sergio Oroz Artigas, Yang Hu, René Hurlemann, Soyoung Q. Park

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Psychology I

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Generosity is an important behavior enriching human society and can be observed across cultures. However, generosity has been shown to be modulated as a function of social distance, also referred to as social discounting. Oxytocin and empathy are other factors that have been shown to play an important role in generous behavior. However, how exactly oxytocin and empathy impact social discounting is yet unknown. Here, we administered oxytocin or placebo in a double-blind design, and measured social discounting behavior. Additionally, individual differences in empathy were assessed. Our results show that the effect of oxytocin on generous behavior is modulated by trait empathy; only for those subjects who received oxytocin there was a positive correlation between individual trait empathy and their generous behavior towards close others.

Original language	English
Journal	Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume	78
Pages (from-to)	229-232
Number of pages	4
ISSN	0306-4530
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.01.031
Publication status	Published - 01.04.2017

Research Areas and Centers

Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.01.031

Cite this

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title = "A matter of distance—The effect of oxytocin on social discounting is empathy-dependent",

abstract = "Generosity is an important behavior enriching human society and can be observed across cultures. However, generosity has been shown to be modulated as a function of social distance, also referred to as social discounting. Oxytocin and empathy are other factors that have been shown to play an important role in generous behavior. However, how exactly oxytocin and empathy impact social discounting is yet unknown. Here, we administered oxytocin or placebo in a double-blind design, and measured social discounting behavior. Additionally, individual differences in empathy were assessed. Our results show that the effect of oxytocin on generous behavior is modulated by trait empathy; only for those subjects who received oxytocin there was a positive correlation between individual trait empathy and their generous behavior towards close others.",

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T1 - A matter of distance—The effect of oxytocin on social discounting is empathy-dependent

AU - Strang, Sabrina

AU - Gerhardt, Holger

AU - Marsh, Nina

AU - Oroz Artigas, Sergio

AU - Hu, Yang

AU - Hurlemann, René

AU - Park, Soyoung Q.

PY - 2017/4/1

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N2 - Generosity is an important behavior enriching human society and can be observed across cultures. However, generosity has been shown to be modulated as a function of social distance, also referred to as social discounting. Oxytocin and empathy are other factors that have been shown to play an important role in generous behavior. However, how exactly oxytocin and empathy impact social discounting is yet unknown. Here, we administered oxytocin or placebo in a double-blind design, and measured social discounting behavior. Additionally, individual differences in empathy were assessed. Our results show that the effect of oxytocin on generous behavior is modulated by trait empathy; only for those subjects who received oxytocin there was a positive correlation between individual trait empathy and their generous behavior towards close others.

AB - Generosity is an important behavior enriching human society and can be observed across cultures. However, generosity has been shown to be modulated as a function of social distance, also referred to as social discounting. Oxytocin and empathy are other factors that have been shown to play an important role in generous behavior. However, how exactly oxytocin and empathy impact social discounting is yet unknown. Here, we administered oxytocin or placebo in a double-blind design, and measured social discounting behavior. Additionally, individual differences in empathy were assessed. Our results show that the effect of oxytocin on generous behavior is modulated by trait empathy; only for those subjects who received oxytocin there was a positive correlation between individual trait empathy and their generous behavior towards close others.

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A matter of distance—The effect of oxytocin on social discounting is empathy-dependent

Abstract

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