Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans

Paul J. Zak, Angela Stanton () and Sheila Ahmadi

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Human beings routinely help strangers at costs to themselves. Sometimes the help offered is generous offering more than the other expects. The proximate mechanisms supporting generosity are not well-understood, but several lines of research suggest a role for empathy. In this study, participants were infused with 40 IU oxytocin (OT) or placebo and engaged in a blinded, one-shot decision on how to split a sum of money with a stranger that could be rejected. Those on OT were 80% more generous than those given a placebo. OT had no effect on a unilateral monetary transfer task dissociating generosity from altruism. OT and altruism together predicted almost half the interpersonal variation in generosity. Notably, OT had twofold larger impact on generosity compared to altruism. This indicates that generosity is associated with both altruism as well as an emotional identification with another person.

Keywords: Oxytocin; generous; altruism; ultimatum game; dictator game; punishing; rejection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-11-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (59)

Published in PloS ONE 11.e1128(2007): pp. 1-5

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5650/1/MPRA_paper_5650.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans (2007)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:5650

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().