Oxytocin, a hormone best known for cementing the bond between a mother and her newborn child could also play a part in selecting a partner.

Other research along this line has hinted at the importance of Oxytocin in certain social situations between adults. For example, people administered with the hormone made overly generous offers in an economic game that measured trust; whilst men who got a dose of Oxytocin proved better at remembering the faces of strangers a day later, compared to subjects who received a placebo.

According to this new study, published in the journal Hormones and Behavior, researchers found that men and women who inhaled a spritz of the hormone rated strangers as more attractive.

Angeliki Theodoridou, a Psychologist at the University of Bristol, who led the study said:

[When Oxytocin courses through our blood,] we are more likely to see people we don’t know in a more positive light

This effect adds to the hormone’s known role in human relationships.

The researchers tested 96 volunteers in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, where participants received either a spray of Oxytocin or a placebo. Subjects were then asked to rate pictures of 48 men and women for attractiveness, and 30 for trustworthiness. The team also tested for mood.

The results showed that subjects who received Oxytocin tended to rate both male and female strangers as both more attractive and more trustworthy – regardless of their mood.

The research didn’t examine how Oxytocin could affect social judgements, but Theodoridou speculates that the hormone dampens brain activity in a region involved in processing fearful emotions, called the Amygdala – A previous study had found that Oxytocin tempered Amygdala activation in volunteers who saw a face that had previously been paired with a slight shock.

Although Theodoridou’s study shows that Oxytocin acts similarly on both men and women when rating strangers, sex differences could emerge in real-world situations, noted Jennifer Bartz, a Psychologist at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York. More research is needed to see if this is the case, she said.

Regardless of Oxytocin’s social effects, greedy entrepreneurs have already been trying to cash in. One company already touts a spray that claims to engender trust in others, although it offers little more than testimonials as proof for its efficacy.

Could a similar spray spark romances between total strangers? Theodoridou doesn’t think so. “I would not endorse any of these products,” she stated.

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Posted by Jonathan in Biochemistry, Psychology

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