The "trust hormone" oxytocin could potentially play a role in fidelity, a small new study suggests. A new study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, shows that when men in relationships are given oxytocin, they stay a farther distance away from unknown, attractive women."Previous animal research in prairie voles identified oxytocin as major key for monogamous fidelity in animals," study researcher Dr. Rene Hurlemann, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Bonn, said in a statement. "Here, we provide the first evidence that oxytocin may have a similar role for humans."
The study included 86 healthy, heterosexual men, and was broken into several parts. For one part, researchers administered either a nasal spray of oxytocin, or a placebo nasal spray to the men (about half of whom were single, while the other half were in committed relationships).
Then, 45 minutes later, an attractive woman came up to the men. LiveScience reported that men who were in committed relationships and received the oxytocin kept a farther distance away from the attractive woman than the single men, or those who got the placebo instead of the oxytocin.
Source on oxytocin and fidelity: HuffingtonPost.com.
