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Why Study Virtues?

Monetary sacrifice among strangers is mediated by endogenous oxytocin release after physical contact By V. Morhenn, J. Park, E. Piper & P.J. Zak. Why Study Virtues? Virtuous behavior (by oneself and others) is associated with greater happiness (Haidt, 2006; Peterson & Seligman, 2004)

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Why Study Virtues?

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  1. Monetary sacrifice among strangers is mediated by endogenous oxytocin release after physical contact By V. Morhenn, J. Park, E. Piper & P.J. Zak

  2. Why Study Virtues? • Virtuous behavior (by oneself and others) is associated with greater happiness (Haidt, 2006; Peterson & Seligman, 2004) • Robust evolutionary models for virtuous behavior do not exist (e.g. when an interaction is blinded) • Arguably, virtues are the social glue of relationships and societies • The neural substrates of virtues are not well understood

  3. Questions • Why sacrifice to help a stranger when no one is looking? • Why sacrifice to a stranger when it is costly? • Why do we have the typical human ritual of pressing palms together (or sometimes bodies)? • Could these be related?

  4. Sacrifice • From Middle English meaning "to make sacred” • Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.

  5. Rationale In rodents, and in some human studies, stroking releases OTQ: Is there any effect of endogenously released OT on social behaviors? HYPOTHESES: 1. Massage will increase OT 2. DOT will predict the degree of monetary sacrifice to a stranger

  6. Oxytocin • Our lab has previously shown that • oxytocin is released by the brain when we are trusted by a stranger and is associated with trustworthiness • Oxytocin infusion can cause one to be more trusting toward a stranger • Oxytocin infusion can increase generosity towards a stranger substantially

  7. Design Subjects randomized to receive eitherA) a 15min moderate pressure back massage by a licensed massage therapist, clothes on in a semi-private room, or B) rest quietly for 15mins in the same room.Subjects then play the trust game 1 time.Blood draw before massage and after decisions.A control group got a massage and blood draw but didn’t play the trust game.

  8. Design

  9. The Trust Game Decision-maker 1 chooses some amount X of his/her $10 to send to decision-maker 2 Decision-maker 2 receives $3X, then can send all, some, or none back to decision-maker 1 Subjects receive $10 when they show up and are randomly and anonymously matched in pairs Trustworthiness Trust signal Blood draws

  10. Definition • Sacrifice: A DM2 transfer in trust game that is greater than the average return – trustworthiness (or more strongly, unrelated to the amount received) • Nash Equil. predicts NO SACRIFICE

  11. Design

  12. Findings • Groups • MT: massage+trust [MT], N=42; RT: rest+ trust N=30; M: Massage only N=24 • 53% female • OT change • M no change (basal OT=187.3 pg/ml, activated OT=189.5 picogram/mililiter, p=.62) • MT higher (basal OT=192.4 activated OT 221.5, p<.0001) • RT lower(basal OT= 256.9 activated OT 223.3, p=.006 ) In press

  13. Findings $9.00 * $8.00 $7.00 $6.00 $5.00 Massage (MT) Rest (RT) $4.00 $3.00 $2.00 $1.00 $0.00 DM1 sent DM2 returned

  14. Findings

  15. Findings • OT & Behavior • DM1: DOTnot related to trust • DM2: DOT corr with signal of trust rec’d in MT (p=.03); weakly in RT (p=.10) • DOT predicts monetary sacrifice in MT and RT groups controlling for $ rec’d (p=.04) • OLS predicts that massage induces an extra $4.94 sacrifice (actual=$4.85) • RT: $ rec’d & DOT predict $ returned by DM2s; MT: only DOT matters (!)

  16. Implications: Sacrifice • No gender diff in sacrifice (p=.32) • But…women were more susceptible to the massage prime (female basal OT 235.6 pg/ml, male basal OT =179.5 pg/ml, p=.05) • MT: higher basal OT => larger DOT (p=.05)…women drive our results! • Entire sample, Corr ( basal OT, DOT)= -.28, p=.007)

  17. Implications • Female sacrifice to offspring is the hallmark of mammals, and OT appears to explain sacrifice to a stranger, esp. in women. • Touch appears to “prime” the release of OT • Why? OT causes ventromedial dopamine release. It may feel good to sacrifice (otherwise, why do it?)

  18. Current Research Trust, Oxytocin and fMRI

  19. Side Notes Trust and Oxytocin -Massaging Politicians could improve the country? -U turns signs -Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank -Former English Subjects "No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which by far the greater part of numbers are poor and miserable," Adam Smith (1776).

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