[go: up one dir, main page]
Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Oxytocin increases trust in humans

Nature volume 435, pages 673–676 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Trust pervades human societies1,2. Trust is indispensable in friendship, love, families and organizations, and plays a key role in economic exchange and politics3. In the absence of trust among trading partners, market transactions break down. In the absence of trust in a country's institutions and leaders, political legitimacy breaks down. Much recent evidence indicates that trust contributes to economic, political and social success4,5. Little is known, however, about the biological basis of trust among humans. Here we show that intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuropeptide that plays a key role in social attachment and affiliation in non-human mammals6,7,8, causes a substantial increase in trust among humans, thereby greatly increasing the benefits from social interactions. We also show that the effect of oxytocin on trust is not due to a general increase in the readiness to bear risks. On the contrary, oxytocin specifically affects an individual's willingness to accept social risks arising through interpersonal interactions. These results concur with animal research suggesting an essential role for oxytocin as a biological basis of prosocial approach behaviour.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The trust game.
Figure 2: Transfers in the trust and the risk experiment.
Figure 3: Average back transfer of trustees to their investors.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Luhmann, N. Trust and Power (Wiley, New York, 1979)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Coleman, J. Foundations of Social Theory 91–118 (Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1990)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Arrow, K. Gifts and exchanges. Phil. Publ. Affairs 1, 343–362 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Knack, S. & Keefer, P. Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. Q. J. Econ. 112, 1251–1288 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zak, P. J. & Knack, S. Trust and growth. Econ. J. 111, 295–321 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Carter, C. S. Neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love. Psychoneuroendocrinology 23, 779–818 (1998)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Uvnas-Moberg, K. Oxytocin may mediate the benefits of positive social interaction and emotions. Psychoneuroendocrinology 23, 819–835 (1998)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Insel, T. R. & Young, L. J. The neurobiology of attachment. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 2, 129–136 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Landgraf, R. & Neumann, I. D. Vasopressin and oxytocin release within the brain: a dynamic concept of multiple and variable modes of neuropeptide communication. Front. Neuroendocrinol. 25, 150–176 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Huber, D., Pierre, V. & Ron, S. Vasopressin and oxytocin excite distinct neuronal populations in the central amygdala. Science 308, 245–248 (2005)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Carter, C. S., Altemus, M. & Chrousos, G. P. Neuroendocrine and emotional changes in the post-partum period. Prog. Brain Res. 133, 241–249 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Young, L. J., Lim, M. M., Gingrich, B. & Insel, T. R. Cellular mechanisms of social attachment. Horm. Behav. 40, 133–138 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Pedersen, C. A. Oxytocin control of maternal behavior. Regulation by sex steroids and offspring stimuli. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 807, 126–145 (1997)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Heinrichs, M., Neumann, I. & Ehlert, U. Lactation and stress: protective effects of breast-feeding in humans. Stress 5, 195–203 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Insel, T. R. & Shapiro, L. E. Oxytocin receptor distribution reflects social organization in monogamous and polygamous voles. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 89, 5981–5985 (1992)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Born, J. et al. Sniffing neuropeptides: a transnasal approach to the human brain. Nature Neurosci. 5, 514–516 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Heinrichs, M., Baumgartner, T., Kirschbaum, C. & Ehlert, U. Social support and oxytocin interact to suppress cortisol and subjective responses to psychosocial stress. Biol. Psychiatry 54, 1389–1398 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Heinrichs, M., Meinlschmidt, G., Wippich, W., Ehlert, U. & Hellhammer, D. H. Selective amnesic effects of oxytocin on human memory. Physiol. Behav. 83, 31–38 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Camerer, C. & Weigelt, K. Experimental tests of a sequential equilibrium reputation model. Econometrica 56, 1–36 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  20. Fehr, E., Kirchsteiger, G. & Riedl, A. Does fairness prevent market clearing? An experimental investigation. Q. J. Econ. 108, 437–459 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Berg, J., Dickhaut, J. & McCabe, K. Trust, reciprocity and social history. Games Econ. Behav. 10, 122–142 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bohnet, I. & Zeckhauser, R. Trust, risk and betrayal. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 55, 467–484 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Holt, C. & Laury, S. Risk aversion and incentive effects. Am. Econ. Rev. 92, 1644–1655 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Fehr, E. & Schmidt, K. M. A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation. Q. J. Econ. 114, 817–868 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Hong, K. & Bohnet, I. Status and Distrust: the Relevance of Inequality and Betrayal Aversion (Working Paper RW04-041, Kennedy School, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Steyer, R., Schwenkmezger, P., Notz, P. & Eid, M. Der Mehrdimensionale Befindlichkeitsfragebogen (MDBF) [Multidimensional mood questionnaire] (Hogrefe, Göttingen, 1997)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Gintis, H., Bowles, S., Boyd, R. & Fehr, E. Explaining altruistic behavior in humans. Evol. Hum. Behav. 24, 153–172 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Engelmann, D. & Strobel, M. Inequality aversion, efficiency, and maximin preferences in simple distribution experiments. Am. Econ. Rev. 94, 857–869 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Kendrick, K. M. et al. Neural control of maternal behaviour and olfactory recognition of offspring. Brain Res. Bull. 44, 383–395 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Fischbacher, U. z-Tree. Zurich Toolbox for Readymade Economic Experiments (Working Paper No. 21, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Univ., Zurich, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the Research Priority Program ‘Foundations of Human Social Behaviour—Altruism versus Egoism’ at the University of Zurich. Financial support from the MacArthur Foundation (Network on Economic Environments and the Evolution of Individual Preferences and Social Norms) and the Cogito Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. M.H. also acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation. We thank F. Heusi, A. Enzler, S. Gilomen, E. Götz, M. Koenigsberg, K. Korsunsky, S. Krammer, S. Lauber, P. Obrist-Rybar, M. Schellhammer, B. Studer, R. Stünzi and M. Trottmann for research assistance.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Michael Kosfeld and Markus Heinrichs: *These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zurich, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Blumlisalpstrasse 10, CH-8006, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Kosfeld, Urs Fischbacher & Ernst Fehr

  2. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurichbergstrasse 43, CH-8044, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus Heinrichs

  3. Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, 91711-6165, USA

    Paul J. Zak

  4. Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstrasse 25, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ernst Fehr

Authors
  1. Michael Kosfeld
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Markus Heinrichs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paul J. Zak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Urs Fischbacher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ernst Fehr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Markus Heinrichs or Ernst Fehr.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Reprints and permissions information is available at npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kosfeld, M., Heinrichs, M., Zak, P. et al. Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature 435, 673–676 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03701

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03701

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing