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SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE

Oxytocin and the altruistic ‘Goldilocks zone’

Nature Neuroscience volume 22, pages 510–512 (2019)Cite this article

When choosing whether to act altruistically, people may compare the current option to an idiosyncratic ideal. Prosocial individuals seem to represent deviations from that ideal in the amygdala, but selfish individuals do not. Oxytocin administration makes selfish individuals look more like prosocial individuals, behaviorally and neurally.

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Fig. 1: Alteration of prosocial reference points by oxytocin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Ian D. Roberts, Yi Yang Teoh & Cendri A. Hutcherson

  2. Department of Marketing, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Cendri A. Hutcherson

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  1. Ian D. Roberts
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  2. Yi Yang Teoh
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  3. Cendri A. Hutcherson
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Correspondence to Cendri A. Hutcherson.

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Roberts, I.D., Teoh, Y.Y. & Hutcherson, C.A. Oxytocin and the altruistic ‘Goldilocks zone’. Nat Neurosci 22, 510–512 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-019-0362-y

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