Cited by 479Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorNeuropeptides and Animal PhysiologyHuman-Animal Interaction Studies

Neuropeptides and social behaviour: effects of oxytocin and vasopressin in humans

HEINRICHS, M, DOMES, G·2008·Progress in brain research

Abstract

The fundamental ability to form attachment is indispensable for human social relationships. Impairments in social behaviour are associated with decreased quality of life and psychopathological states. In non-human mammals, the neuropeptides oxytocin (OXT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are key mediators of complex social behaviours, including attachment, social recognition and aggression. In particular, OXT reduces behavioural and neuroendocrine responses to social stress and seems both to enable animals to overcome their natural avoidance of proximity and to inhibit defensive behaviour, thereby facilitating approach behaviour. AVP has primarily been implicated in male-typical social behaviours, including aggression and pair-bond formation, and mediates anxiogenic effects. Initial studies in humans suggest behavioural, neural, and endocrine effects of both neuropeptides, similar to those found in animal studies. This review focuses on advances made to date in the effort to understand the role of OXT and AVP in human social behaviour. First, the literature on OXT and AVP and their involvement in social stress and anxiety, social cognition, social approach, and aggression is reviewed. Second, we discuss clinical implications for mental disorders that are associated with social deficits (e.g. autism spectrum disorder, borderline personality disorder). Finally, a model of the interactions of anxiety and stress, social approach behaviour, and the oxytocinergic system is presented, which integrates the novel approach of a psychobiological therapy in psychopathological states.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/s0079-6123(08)00428-7

Cites

106 of 106 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Vasopressin is primarily implicated in male-typical social behaviors including aggression and pair-bond formation, and mediates anxiogenic effects.

    “Vasopressin has primarily been implicated in male-typical social behaviors, including aggression and pair-bond formation, and mediates anxiogenic effects (Heinrichs & Domes, 2008).”
  • High-dose OT might saturate OT receptors and subsequently bind to vasopressin receptors, to which OT also has binding affinity and which can cause differing and sometimes opposite behavioral effects.

    “In other words, high dose OT might saturate OT receptors and subsequently bind to vasopressin receptors, to which OT also has binding affinity and which can cause differing and sometimes opposite behavioral effects (18,38,76,77).”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
HEINRICHS, M., & DOMES, G.
Affiliations
University of Zurich (CH)
Corresponding author
HEINRICHS, M
Venue
Progress in brain research
Publisher
Elsevier
Published
2008
Volume
170
Pages
337-350
ISSN
0079-6123 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1524178766
Cited by
479
References
106
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 37
FWCI
76.80
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Progress in brain research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
Keywords
oxytocin, vasopressin, neuropeptides, social behavior, attachment, social stress, anxiety, aggression, social cognition, autism spectrum disorder, borderline personality disorder, pair bonding
MeSH terms
Aggression, Animals, Anxiety, Autistic Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Cognition, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Neuropeptides, Oxytocin, Social Behavior, Stress, Psychological, Vasopressins, Recognition, Psychology, Models, Animal

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review