Introduction to Love and Hormones
Love is a chemical cocktail of many different hormones in the brain. Oxytocin, often referred to as the “love hormone,” is considered the most important of all. It is nothing more than an ancient chain of nine amino acids produced by all mammals, while similar molecules are found in fish, reptiles, and worms. Oxytocin helps to induce contractions during childbirth, hence its name: from Greek Oxys (quickly) and case (Birth).
The Role of Oxytocin
“There is nothing inherently social about oxytocin,” said a neuroscientist. How did oxytocin get its reputation for making love possible? In the 1990s, a research group experimented with prairie voles, a species of rodent that forms long-term monogamous relationships. They found that oxytocin was essential for this behavior. But the real hype about oxytocin began when researchers discovered that it plays a similar role in humans.
Oxytocin, the Miracle Cure?
In 2005, a study had participants play a trust game in which they had to decide whether to give money to a second player. The money given would be tripled, after which the second player would be free to decide how much to keep and how much to give back. Half of the participants received synthetic oxytocin via nasal spray, the other half received a placebo. The result? Those under the influence of oxytocin invested more money and trusted the second player more. This study had an enormous impact on the public and research community. One of the study’s researchers said oxytocin is a "trust molecule."
The Effects of Oxytocin on Relationships
In 2009, the effects of nasal spray oxytocin were tested again by Swiss researchers by inviting couples to talk about a topic they often argued about. Here, too, half of the couples received oxytocin via nasal spray. Under the influence of oxytocin, couples had more constructive discussions, had more eye contact, and shared their feelings more openly.
Love in a Bottle?
Could synthetic oxytocin be a type of real love potion? Maybe not. In 2020, a researcher found a serious problem: many of the studies on the effects of oxytocin could not be reproduced. That means when researchers tried to run the same experiments again, the results were often different. This was also the case in the famous trust study from 2005. When it was replicated fifteen years later, the effect disappeared in a larger number of participants – participants who received oxytocin behaved no differently than those who received a placebo.
The Complexity of Oxytocin
A recent study of prairie voles showed that the voles continued to form pair bonds even when scientists genetically removed the animals’ oxytocin receptors. And there is another problem. "Giving people oxytocin to help them fall in love could also have side effects," a neuroscientist said. Oxytocin doesn’t just have positive effects. It has also been found to produce more negative feelings such as aggression, envy, and even schadenfreude, especially towards people that a person does not consider part of their social group. So does oxytocin promote attraction and build bonds, or does it increase aggression? “It helps turn up the volume on things that are relevant in your social world.” "It’s not as easy as saying, ‘Oh, you just love everyone when oxytocin is around.’"
