Oxytocin facilitates accurate perception of competition in men and kinship in women

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin.

Here, the researchers employed a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design to investigate the effect of OT on accurate social perception.

Why It Was Studied

Despite the dominant role of the hormone oxytocin (OT) in social behavior, little is known about the role of OT in the perception of social relationships.

Furthermore, it is unclear whether there are sex differences in the way that OT affects social perception.

Who Took Part

The study group was 62 participants.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults and adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Oxytocin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

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.

Each person switched between Oxytocin and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

Following treatment, 62 participants completed the Interpersonal Perception Task, a method of assessing the accuracy of social judgments that requires identification of the relationship between people interacting in real life video clips divided into three categories: kinship, intimacy and competition.

The subject headings attached to it are Analysis of Variance, Competitive Behavior, Emotions, Family, Interpersonal Relations, Oxytocin and Recognition, Psychology.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in 62 participants.

The publication is from 2013 (Social cognitive and affective neuroscience), a journal based in England.

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