Dollars and Scents
June 8, 2005
Swiss scientists have found a hormone that inspires trust among people. It makes people more willing to part with their own posessions and to engage in activities that normally require levels of trust. So next time a store, or a person has an alluring scent, beware, it could be more than just a fragrance -- it could be a hormone-laced perfume! Read more below.
Trust Hormone Identified
Breathe and believe: Swiss researchers show that inhaling a hormone called
oxytocin makes you a more trusting investor.
June 2, 2005
Researchers at the University of Zurich reported Thursday that a small
protein called oxytocin makes you more willing to part with your money,
raising the prospect that the hormone could have lucrative implications.
The findings published in the journal Nature suggest that if organizers of
an investment conference were to spray the hormone through the air, they
could increase the deal flow between attendees.
In the experiment led by Ernst Fehr, 178 men in their 20s were given 12
credits worth 40 Swiss centimes each ($0.32) with which to play an
investment game. Some subjects sniffed oxytocin from an inhaler, while the
rest were given a placebo.
The results demonstrate that people's trust levels can be manipulated. Men
who inhaled oxytocin invested 17 percent more overall, compared to those
who'd received a placebo. They invested the maximum amount 45 percent of the
time, while just 21 percent of men who had not taken the hormone invested
the maximum.
Oxytocin has been known for many years as an important promoter of maternal
behavior. When given to virgin rats it spurs them to build nests, and when
neutralized with antibodies it can prevent mother rats from accepting their
offspring.
It is also known as the "love hormone" because its concentration in the
fluid bathing the brain spikes during sex and breast-feeding.