Intranasal administration of oxytocin increases envy and schadenfreude (gloating)

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin.

Humans have a strong social tendency to compare themselves with others.

Envy and schadenfreude (gloating over the other's misfortune) are social emotions widely agreed to be a symptom of the human social tendency to compare one's payoffs with those of others.

Why It Was Studied

The researchers tend to feel envious when the researchers receive less valuable rewards and may rejoice when their payoffs are more advantageous.

Given the important social components of envy and gloating, the researchers speculated that oxytocin may have a modulating effect on the intensity of these emotions.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

Fifty-six participants participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study.

Following the administration of oxytocin or a placebo, participants played a game of chance with another (fake) participant who either won more money (envy manipulation), lost more money (schadenfreude manipulation), or won/lost equal amounts of money.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Oxytocin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Oxytocin.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Oxytocin, giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Emotions, Oxytocin, Reward and Social Behavior.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2009 (Biological psychiatry), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.