The other side of the coin: oxytocin decreases the adherence to fairness norms
Open accessAbstract
Oxytocin (OXT) has been implicated in prosocial behaviors such as trust and generosity. Yet, these effects appear to strongly depend on characteristics of the situation and the people with whom we interact or make decisions. Norms and rules can facilitate and guide our actions, with fairness being a particularly salient and fundamental norm. The current study investigated the effects of intranasal OXT administration on fairness considerations in social decision-making in a double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subject design. After having received 24 IU of OXT or placebo (PLC), participants completed a one-shot Dictator Game (DG) and played the role of the responder in a modified version of the Ultimatum Game (UG), in which an unfair offer of eight coins for the proposer and two coins for the responder is paired with either a fair-(5:5) or no-alternative (8:2). Rejection rates were higher when a fair alternative had been available than when there was no alternative to an unfair offer. Importantly, OXT did not de-or increase rejection rates overall, but reduced the sensitivity to contextual fairness, i.e., the context of alternatives in which an offer was made. As dictators, participants allocated less coins to the recipient when given OXT than when given PLC, indicating a decline in generosity. These results suggest that OXT decreases the adherence to fairness norms in social settings where others are likely to be perceived as not belonging to one's ingroup. While our findings do not support the prosocial conception of OXT, they corroborate recent ideas that the effects of OXT are more nuanced than assumed in the past.
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Compared with a placebo, participants given oxytocin were less sensitive to cues that stimulated perspective taking of an anonymous partner in an interactive economic game.
“Compared with a placebo, participants given OT were less sensitive to cues that stimulated perspective taking of an anonymous partner in an interactive economic game (Radke and de Bruijn, 2012).”
From The effect of oxytocin on cooperation in a prisoner's dilemma depends on the social context and a person's social value orientation (2014) · cites this paper as Radke and de Bruijn, 2012
Oxytocin has been implicated in many social behaviors, from promoting trust, generosity and cooperation to aggravating mistrust and aggressive behavior.
“Oxytocin has been implicated in many social behaviors, from promoting trust, generosity and cooperation 21,22,46,47 to aggravating mistrust and aggressive behavior 48,49 .”
From Oxytocin modulates social value representations in the amygdala (2019) · cites this paper as [49]
OXT has been emphasized as an important regulator of fairness, trust, cooperation, and competition in humans.
“OXT has been emphasized as an important regulator of fairness, trust, cooperation, and competition in humans (De Dreu, 2012; Kosfeld, Heinrichs, Zak, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2005; Radke & De Bruijn, 2012; Zak, Stanton, & Ahmadi, 2007).”
From Inequity aversion strategies between marmosets are influenced by partner familiarity and sex but not by oxytocin (2016) · cites this paper as Radke & De Bruijn, 2012
The enhancement of prosociality by OXT is not universal; OXT reduces sensitivity to fairness based on perspective-taking and generosity, and reduces conformity to 'social norms'.
“the enhancement of prosociality by OXT is not universal, as other work has shown that OXT reduces sensitivity to fairness based on perspective-taking and generosity, and more generally, OXT reduces conformity to ‘social norms’ (Radke & De Bruijn, 2012).”
From Inequity aversion strategies between marmosets are influenced by partner familiarity and sex but not by oxytocin (2016) · cites this paper as Radke & De Bruijn, 2012
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- Authors
- Radke, S., & de Bruijn, E. R. A.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Radke, Sina
- ORCID
- Radke, Sina
- Venue
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 193-193
- ISSN
- 1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3385212
- OpenAlex
- W2119397947
- Cited by
- 73
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 9
- FWCI
- 12.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (036.011.867, 451-07-022)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Keywords
- oxytocin, fairness norms, social decision-making, dictator game, ultimatum game, rejection of unfair offers, generosity, prosocial behavior, intranasal administration
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