Oxytocin, the Trust hormone

[helemon]

Wow! Think of the potential for the church! Start to doubt the brethern, just take a squirt of Oxytocin! :eek:
I wonder if this could be put into an aerosol form and sprayed over angry mobs to make them more compliant with the authority figure? Imagine oxytocin airfresheners in the bishops office during tithing settlement. :duh

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/06/01/trust.hormone.ap/index.html
"In the experiments, the researchers tried to manipulate people's trust by adding more oxytocin to their brains.

They used a synthetic version in a nasal spray that was absorbed by mucous membranes and crossed the blood-brain barrier. Researchers say the dose was harmless and altered oxytocin levels only temporarily.

A total of 178 male students from universities in Zurich took part in a pair of experiments. All the volunteers were in their 20s. They got the oxytocin or a placebo.

In the first experiment, they played a game in which an "investor" could choose to hand over to a "trustee" up to 12 units of money that are each equal to .40 Swiss franc, or about 32 cents. The trustee triples the investor's money, then gets to decide how much of the proceeds to share.

Of 29 subjects who got oxytocin, 45 percent invested the maximum amount of 12 monetary units and, in the researchers' words, showed "maximal trust." Only 21 percent had a lower trust level in which they invested less than 8 monetary units.

In contrast, the placebo group's trust behavior was reversed. Only 21 percent of the placebo subjects invested the maximum, while 45 percent invested at low levels.

Overall, those who got oxytocin invested 17 percent more than investors who received a placebo."

[Born Free]

Wow! Think of the potential for the church! Start to doubt the brethern, just take a squirt of Oxytocin! :eek:
I wonder if this could be put into an aerosol form and sprayed over angry mobs to make them more compliant with the authority figure? Imagine oxytocin airfresheners in the bishops office during tithing settlement. :duh
<snil<


Oxytocin is measured at higher levels in communities with higher levels of social capital as I recall. We all get to enjoy higher levels of it as we learn to better co-exist, co-operate. It is the love-based living agent.

As I see Mormonism as more fear-based, I suspect Mo Bishops would need fire hoses, not aerosols to apply it.

Oxytocin production is also accelerated by high levels of positive touch, not something big in Mo communities.

"The hormone best known for its role in inducing labor may influence our ability to bond with others, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

In a preliminary study, the hormone oxytocin was shown to be associated with the ability to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships and healthy psychological boundaries with other people. The study appears in the July issue of Psychiatry.

"This is one of the first looks into the biological basis for human attachment and bonding," said Rebecca Turner, PhD, UCSF adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and lead author of the study. "Our study indicates that oxytocin may be mediating emotional experiences in close relationships."

The study builds upon previous knowledge of the important role oxytocin plays in the reproductive life of mammals. The hormone facilitates nest building and pup retrieval in rats, acceptance of offspring in sheep, and the formation of adult pair-bonds in prairie voles. In humans, oxytocin stimulates milk ejection during lactation, uterine contraction during birth, and is released during sexual orgasm in both men and women."

So bring on the oxytocin!!!!

Daryl

See: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/30/2/206

[helemon]

Oxytocin is measured at higher levels in communities with higher levels of social capital as I recall. We all get to enjoy higher levels of it as we learn to better co-exist, co-operate. It is the love-based living agent.

As I see Mormonism as more fear-based, I suspect Mo Bishops would need fire hoses, not aerosols to apply it.

Oxytocin production is also accelerated by high levels of positive touch, not something big in Mo communities.


I don't know. I don't think all members would categorize it as fear based, Mormonism doesn't even have a real HELL, and there is an awful lot of inter mormon social activities and service projects that could boost oxytocin and an awful lot of handshaking. The fact that members are required to fill positions in the church forces them to engage in cooperation which increases oxytocin which increases bonding and trust of the church and its teachings. Perhaps this is why it is easier to leave if you are inactive? Perhaps this is why the church stresses the importance of home and visiting teaching?

[Born Free]

I don't know. I don't think all members would categorize it as fear based, Mormonism doesn't even have a real HELL, and there is an awful lot of inter mormon social activities and service projects that could boost oxytocin and an awful lot of handshaking. The fact that members are required to fill positions in the church forces them to engage in cooperation which increases oxytocin which increases bonding and trust of the church and its teachings. Perhaps this is why it is easier to leave if you are inactive? Perhaps this is why the church stresses the importance of home and visiting teaching?

Nah! Sounds like Oxytoxin, not Oxytocin to me. :rolleyes:

Guess I don't share your belief about the quality of connections that exist inside Moism generally! Look across most the comments on this site about the quality of connection (intimacy) that most post-mos experience compared with when they were TBM.

Daryl

[helemon]

Nah! Sounds like Oxytoxin, not Oxytocin to me. :rolleyes:

Guess I don't share your belief about the quality of connections that exist inside Moism generally! Look across most the comments on this site about the quality of connection (intimacy) that most post-mos experience compared with when they were TBM.

Daryl

Guess I am in the minority here then. Most my interpersonal relationships while in the church have been positive and friendly.

[miss taken]

Mine too, Helemon. Some of the best people I know are members of the church. I also had my arch enemies though, and met a fair amount of bigots.

I think that the friendliness of people there is quite catching and endearing, whether it be superficial or not. My mother in law commented on how impressed she was with the friendliness of the people.

Having been to a few C of E meetings, I noted that they are becoming more LDS in their approach in terms of fellowship and friendliness, but it is the same in that if you stop going they start to shun you. I guess it isn't just common to the LDS church.