Unraveling the role of oxytocin in the motivational structure of conflict

René Hurlemann; Nina Marsh

doi:10.1017/S0140525X19000785

Unraveling the role of oxytocin in the motivational structure of conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2019

René Hurlemann

and

Nina Marsh

Show author details

René Hurlemann: Affiliation:
Division of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany. [email protected]@gmx.dehttp://renehurlemann.squarespace.com/welcome/
Nina Marsh: Affiliation:
Division of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany. [email protected]@gmx.dehttp://renehurlemann.squarespace.com/welcome/

Article contents

Abstract
References

Get access

Rights & Permissions

Abstract

Current psychological perspectives emphasize “attack” and “defense” as the behavioral mechanisms underlying conflict. Here, we extend this view by highlighting the relevance of pathological altruism and the neuroendocrine pathways associated with hostile behaviors. Specifically, we elucidate the modulatory role of the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin in motivating extraordinary levels of in-group commitment that can promote extreme behaviors and endure conflict with out-groups.

Type: Open Peer Commentary
Information: Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e126

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X19000785 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baumgartner, T., Heinrichs, M., Vonlanthen, A., Fischbacher, U. & Fehr, E. (2008) Oxytocin shapes the neural circuitry of trust and trust adaptation in humans. Neuron 58(4):639–50. Available at: https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(08)00327-9?code=cell-site.Google Scholar

Bernhard, H., Fischbacher, U. & Fehr, E. (2006) Parochial altruism in humans. Nature 442(7105):912–15. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04981.Google Scholar

Choi, J. K. & Bowles, S. (2007) The coevolution of parochial altruism and war. Science 318(5850):636–40. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/318/5850/636.full.Google Scholar

De Dreu, C. K. W., Greer, L. L., Van Kleef, G. A., Shalvi, S. & Handgraaf, M. J. (2011) Oxytocin promotes human ethnocentrism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 108(4):1262–66. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/108/4/1262.Google Scholar

De Dreu, C. K. W., Greer, L. L., Handgraaf, M. J. J., Shalvi, S., Van Kleef, G. A., Baas, M., Ten Velden, F. S., Van Dijk, E. & Feith, S. W. W. (2010) The neuropeptide oxytocin regulates parochial altruism in intergroup conflict among humans. Science 328:1408–11.Google Scholar

Donaldson, Z. R. & Young, L. J. (2008) Oxytocin, vasopressin, and the neurogenetics of sociality. Science 322(5903):900–904. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/322/5903/900.long.Google Scholar

Eckstein, M., Becker, B., Scheele, D., Scholz, C., Preckel, K., Schlaepfer, T. E., Grinevich, V., Kendrick, K. M., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2015) Oxytocin facilitates the extinction of conditioned fear in humans. Biological Psychiatry 78(3):194–202. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322314007951?via%3Dihub.Google Scholar

Fehr, E. & Fischbacher, U. (2004) Social norms and human cooperation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8(4):185–90. Available at: https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(04)00050-6?_returnURL=https://%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1364661304000506%3Fshowall%3Dtrue.Google Scholar

Fehr, E. & Gächter, S. (2002) Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature 415(6868):137–40.Google Scholar

Gavrilets, S. & Richerson, P. J. (2017) Collective action and the evolution of social norm internalization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 114(23):6068–73. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/05/18/1703857114.full.Google Scholar

Guastella, AJ, Mitchell, PB, Dadds, MR. (2008) Oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region of human faces. Biological Psychiatry 63(1):3–5. Available at: https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(07)00617-8/fulltext.Google Scholar

Habash, G. (2011) When kindness attacks: A Q&A with Barbara Oakley. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/49893-when-kindness-attacks-a-q-a-with-barbara-oakley.html.Google Scholar

Heinrichs, M., Baumgartner, T., Kirschbaum, C. & Ehlert, U. (2003) Social support and oxytocin interact to suppress cortisol and subjective responses to psychosocial stress. Biological Psychiatry 54:1389–98. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322303004657.Google Scholar

Huang, Y., Kendrick, K. M., Zheng, H. & Yu, R. (2015) Oxytocin enhances implicit social conformity to both in-group and out-group opinions. Psychoneuroendocrinology 60:114–19. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453015002073?via%3Dihub.Google Scholar

Hurlemann, R. (2017) Oxytocin-augmented psychotherapy: beware of context. Neuropsychopharmacology 42(1):377. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/npp2016188.Google Scholar

Hurlemann, R. & Marsh, N. (2016) New insights into the neuroscience of human altruism. Der Nervenarzt 87(11):1131–35. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00115-016-0229-3.Google Scholar

Hurlemann, R. & Marsh, N. (2017) Deciphering the modulatory role of oxytocin in human altruism. Reviews in the Neuroscience 28(4):335–42. Available at: https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/revneuro.2017.28.issue-4/revneuro-2016-0061/revneuro-2016-0061.xml.Google Scholar

Hurlemann, R. & Scheele, D. (2016) Dissecting the role of oxytocin in the formation and loss of social relationships. Biological Psychiatry 79(3):185–93. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322315004369.Google Scholar

Insel, T. R. (1997) A neurobiological basis of social attachment. The American Journal of Psychiatry 154(6):726–35. Available at: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.154.6.726.Google Scholar

Insel, T.R. & Young, L.J. (2001) The neurobiology of attachment. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2(2):129–36. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/35053579.Google Scholar

Israel, S., Weisel, O., Ebstein, R. P., Bornstein, G. (2012) Oxytocin, but not vasopressin, increases both parochial and universal altruism. Psychoneuroendocrinology 37:1341–44. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453012000546.Google Scholar

Izuma, K., Adolphs, R. (2013) Social manipulation of preference in the human brain. Neuron 78(3):563–73. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627313002705?via%3Dihub.Google Scholar

Kanat, M., Heinrichs, M., Mader, I., van Elst, L. T. & Domes, G. (2015) Oxytocin modulates amygdala reactivity to masked fearful eyes. Neuropsychopharmacology 40(11):2632–38. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/npp2015111.Google Scholar

Kosfeld, M., Heinrichs, M., Zak, P. J., Fischbacher, U. & Fehr, E. (2005) Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature 435(7042):673–76. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03701.Google Scholar

Liu, N., Hadj-Bouziane, F., Jones, K. B., Turchi, J. N., Averbeck, B. B. & Ungerleider, L. G. (2015) Oxytocin modulates fMRI responses to facial expression in macaques. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112:e3123–30. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/112/24/E3123.long.Google Scholar

Marsh, A. A. (2018) The caring continuum: Evolved hormonal and proximal mechanisms explain prosocial and antisocial extremes. Annual Reviews in Psychology 70:347–71. Available at: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103010?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed.Google Scholar

Marsh, N., Scheele, D., Feinstein, J. S., Gerhardt, H., Strang, S., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2017) Oxytocin-enforced norm compliance reduces xenophobic outgroup rejection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 114(35):9314–19. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/114/35/9314.long.Google Scholar

Marsh, N., Scheele, D., Gerhardt, H., Strang, S., Enax, L., Weber, B., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2015) The neuropeptide oxytocin induces a social altruism bias. Journal of Neuroscience 35(47):15696–701. Available at: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/47/15696.long.Google Scholar

McClung, J.S., Triki, Z., Clément, F., Bangerter, A., Bshary, R. (2018) Endogenous oxytocin predicts helping and conversation as a function of group membership. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285(1882). pii: 20180939. Available at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2018.0939?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&.Google Scholar

Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Domes, G., Kirsch, P., Heinrichs, M. (2011) Oxytocin and vasopressin in the human brain: Social neuropeptides for translational medicine. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 12:524–38. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3044.Google Scholar

Oakley, B. A. (2013) Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110(Suppl. 2):10408–15. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/110/Supplement_2/10408.long.Google Scholar

Scheele, D., Striepens, N., Kendrick, K. M., Schwering, C., Noelle, J., Wille, A., Schläpfer, T. E., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2014) Opposing effects of oxytocin on moral judgment in males and females. Human Brain Mapping 35(12):6067–76. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hbm.22605.Google Scholar

Silk, J. B. & House, B. R. (2011) Evolutionary foundations of human prosocial sentiments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 108(Suppl. 2):10910–17. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/108/Supplement_2/10910.long.Google Scholar

Spengler, F. B, Scheele, D., Marsh, N., Kofferath, C., Flach, A., Schwarz, S., Stoffel-Wagner, B., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2017) Oxytocin facilitates reciprocity in social communication. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 12(8):1325–33. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/8/1325/3746633.Google Scholar

Stallen, M., De Dreu, C.K., Shalvi, S., Smidts, A. & Sanfey, A.G. (2012) The herding hormone: oxytocin stimulates in-group conformity. Psychological Science 23(11):1288–92. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797612446026?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed.Google Scholar

Stallen, M., Rossi, F., Heijne, A., Smidts, A., De Dreu, C.K., Sanfey, A.G. (2018) Neurobiological mechanisms of responding to injustice. Journal of Neuroscience 38(12):2944–54. Available at: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/12/2944.long.Google Scholar

Strang, S., Gerhardt, H., Marsh, N., Oroz Artigas, S., Hu, Y., Hurlemann, R., Park, S. Q. (2017) A matter of distance – The effect of oxytocin on social discounting is empathy-dependent. Psychoneuroendocrinology 78:229–32. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030645301630868X?via%3Dihub.Google Scholar

Striepens, N., Kendrick, K.M., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2011) Prosocial effects of oxytocin and clinical evidence for its therapeutic potential. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 32:426–50. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091302211000665?via%3Dihub.Google Scholar

Striepens, N., Scheele, D., Kendrick, K.M., Becker, B., Schäfer, L., Schwalba, K., Reul, J., Maier, W. & Hurlemann, R. (2012) Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 109(44):18144–49. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/content/109/44/18144.long.Google Scholar

Yamasue, H., Yee, J.R., Hurlemann, R., Rilling, J.K., Chen, F.S., Meyer-Lindenberg, A. & Tost, H. (2012) Integrative approaches utilizing oxytocin to enhance prosocial behavior: From animal and human social behavior to autistic social dysfunction. Journal of Neuroscience 32:14109–17. Available at: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/41/14109.long.Google Scholar

Young, L. J. & Wang, Z. (2004) The neurobiology of pair bonding. Nature Neuroscience 7(10):1048–54. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn1327.Google Scholar

Hurlemann, R., Patin, A., Onur, O. A., Cohen, M.X., Baumgartner, T., Metzler, S., Dziobek, I., Gallinat, J., Wagner, M., Maier, W. & Kendrick, K. M. (2010) Oxytocin enhances amygdala-dependent, socially reinforced learning and emotional empathy in humans. Journal of Neuroscience 30(14):4999–5007. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20371820/?i=4&from=hurlemann%202010.Google Scholar