A human tendency to anthropomorphize is enhanced by oxytocin
Abstract
In the course of human evolution, the brain has evolved into a highly sensitive detector of social signals. As a consequence of this socially driven adaptation, humans display a tendency to anthropomorphize, that is they attribute social meaning to non-social agents. The evolutionarily highly conserved hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been identified as a key factor attaching salience to socially relevant cues, but whether it contributes to spontaneous anthropomorphism is still elusive. In the present study involving 60 healthy female participants, we measured salivary OXT concentrations and explored the effect of a single intranasal dose of synthetic OXT (24 IU) or placebo (PLC) on anthropomorphic tendencies during participants׳ verbal descriptions of short video clips depicting socially and non-socially moving geometric shapes. Our results show that endogenous OXT concentrations at baseline positively correlated with the attribution of animacy to social stimuli. While intranasal OXT had no modulatory effect on arousal ratings and did not make the participants more talkative, the treatment boosted anthropomorphic descriptions specifically for social stimuli. In conclusion, we here provide first evidence indicating that spontaneous anthropomorphism in women is facilitated by oxytocin, thereby enabling a context-specific upregulation of the propensity to anthropomorphize environmental cues.
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There are studies in which OXT has produced social effects in women using HC.
“there are also studies in which OXT has produced social effects in women using HC.”
From Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face (2016) · cites this paper as Scheele et al., 2015
OXT facilitated spontaneous anthropomorphism in samples in which the majority of women used HC.
“facilitated spontaneous anthropomorphism (Scheele et al., 2015) in samples in which the majority of women used HC.”
From Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face (2016) · cites this paper as Scheele et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Scheele, D., Schwering, C., Elison, J. T., Spunt, R., Maier, W., & Hurlemann, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Bonn (DE)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Scheele, Dirk
- Hurlemann, René
- Venue
- European Neuropsychopharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-10
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1817-1823
- ISSN
- 0924-977X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1957793368
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 9.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- DZNE Pub (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NEMO – Neuromodulation of Emotion
- Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research & Technology
- German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MIWFT)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- anthropomorphism, oxytocin, social cognition, social signals, salivary oxytocin, intranasal oxytocin, women, verbal description
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Cognition, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Motion Perception, Oxytocin, Photic Stimulation, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychological Tests, Psychotropic Drugs, Saliva, Social Perception, Thinking, Verbal Behavior, Young Adult
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