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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
 15,767 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Recent research revealed that the neuropeptide Oxytocin (OT) increases and maintains trustful behavior, even towards interaction partners that have proven to be untrustworthy. However, the cognitive mechanisms behind this effect are unclear. In the present paper, we propose that OT might boost trust through the link between angry rumination and the use of nonpersonalistic and personalistic attributions. Nonpersonalistic attributions put the blame for the betrayal on the perpetrator's situation, whereas personalistic attributions blame his dispositions for the event. We predict that OT changes attribution processes in favor of nonpersonalistic ones and thereby boosts subsequent trust. Participants played a classic trust game in which the opponent systematically betrayed their trust. As predicted, OT strengthened the relationship between angry rumination about the event and nonpersonalistic attribution of the opponents' behavior and weakened the link between angry rumination and personalistic attribution. Critically, nonpersonalistic attribution also mediated the interactive effect of OT and angry rumination on how strongly investments were reduced in the remaining rounds of the trust game. In summary, the present findings suggest that one underlying cognitive mechanism behind OT-induced trust might relate to how negative emotions evoked by a breach of trust influence the subsequent attributional analysis: OT seems to augment trust by fostering the interpretation of untrustworthy behavior as caused by non-personal factors.
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PMID:Who is to blame? Oxytocin promotes nonpersonalistic attributions in response to a trust betrayal. 2320 Oct 35

Despite the well-established sex difference in prevalence of many childhood and adolescent psychopathological conditions, no integrative metatheory of sex differences in psychopathology exists. This review attempts to provide a metatheoretical framework to guide empirical examination of sex differences in prevalence of childhood-onset "externalizing" and adolescent-onset "internalizing" disorders, based on sexual selection evolutionary theory. Sexual selection theory suggests important between-sex differences in markers, mechanisms, etiology, and developmental timing of risk and resilience relevant to psychopathology. Namely, sexual selection theory hypothesizes that disinhibition and sensation-seeking may be important proximate risk markers for childhood-onset externalizing disorders in males. The theory suggests that these male-biased markers may be a product of their higher exposure to prenatal testosterone, which makes them more susceptible to prenatal stressors with downstream effects on dopaminergic neurotransmission, especially for those with genetic alleles associated with lower dopaminergic function. In contrast, sexual selection theory hypothesizes that negative emotionality, empathy, and cognitive rumination may be important proximate risk markers for adolescent-onset internalizing disorders in females. The theory suggests that these markers are propagated by rapidly rising levels of estradiol at puberty that interact with cortisol and oxytocin. These hormones exert downstream effects on the serotonergic system in such a way as to increase females' sensitivity to interpersonal stressors particularly at puberty and especially for those with lower functional serotonergic activity. Such a metatheory can help integrate prior ideas about sex differences and can also generate new predictions of sex differences in markers, etiology, mechanisms, and developmental timing of common forms of psychopathology.
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PMID:Sexual selection and sex differences in the prevalence of childhood externalizing and adolescent internalizing disorders. 2418 22

The links between plasma oxytocin and depression are controversial, ranging from negative to positive associations. The present study was conducted to reconcile those conflicting findings; amongst the features of depression, we considered rumination and hypothesised that rumination would function as moderator between depressive symptoms and oxytocin. Seventy five clinically normal adult male volunteers were assessed for depressive characteristics by means of the Ruminative Responses Scale and Beck's Depression Inventory-II; plasma oxytocin was measured by means of competitive enzyme immunoassay. The results demonstrate that high depressive symptoms were negatively associated with oxytocin concentrations at high rumination levels while such an association did not exist at low levels of rumination. The present findings suggest there are complex associations between oxytocin and brooding rumination, the latter being an important feature among depressive symptoms observed in clinically normal individuals. This complexity can underlie the current lack of consensus on the role of oxytocin in depression.
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PMID:Disentangling the link between depressive symptoms and plasma oxytocin in men: The role of brooding rumination. 2627 28

Romantic relationships are an essential element of healthy living. Although difficulties in love are encountered often, it seems that three kinds of behaviors in a romantic relationship are more susceptible to physical or psychiatric disorders: playing (sexually transmitted disease), suffering (major depressive disorder or suicide), and stalking (violence or homicide). Oxytocin plays an important role in pair-bonding. Elevated plasma oxytocin concentrations have been observed in new lovers when compared with singles. It is hypothesized that those who display these dangerous behaviors in a romantic relationship might possess specific oxytocin receptor gene aberrancy and the resultant deviant pair-bonding pattern is likely to recur in successive relationships. It is postulated that a blunted oxytocin surge might be observed in playing, whereas exaggerated oxytocin surge might be observed in suffering and stalking. The distinction between suffering and stalking might stem from the difference in their aggression tendencies. Those who suffer displays aggression toward self, while those who stalk displays aggression toward others. The exaggerated oxytocin concentrations in people who suffer and people who stalk might not be suppressed by the discouraging attitudes of their partners and might be maintained by rumination. Considering the whole-body influence of oxytocin, intranasal oxytocin application or gene therapy should be used exclusively for those who display these dangerous behaviors and not for the general population. Future research is warranted to confirm this hypothesis with analysis of modifiers such as gender.
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PMID:Oxytocin and Three Kinds of Dangerous Behaviors in a Romantic Relationship: Playing, Suffering, and Stalking. 3319 99