On Oxytocin And Trust
Have you ever noticed that you naturally trust some people more than others, even people you have just met or who may have just called to your door. Psychologists have shown in the past that a persons appearance and facial features can affect your judgment of them before you have even spoken to them. There are other factors as well which can influence trust such as how you speak, your body language and the clothes you wear etc. Recently though scientists have found a hormone that they think may be the ultimate controlling factor in instilling trust in the people you meet. This hormone is oxytocin.
Now, before we go on to explain how oxytocin can be of benefit to you in you everyday life lets first take a little look at the hormone itself and how it normally functions in the human and animal bodies.Oxytocin is a hormone found in mammals that acts upon the brain, it is a nine amino acid peptide that is produced in the brain and from there travels down into our bloodstream. Oxytocin is them emitted through pored in our skin and by other means.
oxytocin has been observed in a huge number of species of animals on Earth. What prompted scientists to investigate this hormone is the times when it was found at higher levels than others. Oxytocin has been observed at incredibly high levels during activities such as sexual arousal and intercourse, childbirth and during periods of bonding, mating and mutual trust. In general in all circumstances of altruistic behavior the oxytocin level is generally higher than its average level. Scientists pondered and investigated what link oxytocin played in these circumstances and whether it was a cause or result of these actions.
This leads us onto our next point of artificial oxytocin use in humans. Oxytocin is administered as a nasal spray or is directly applied to the body in similar areas as to where one would apply a cologne or perfume. What people are trying to achieve when using oxytocin in this way is to artificially stimulate feelings of trust in others who they meet and have dealings with. The logic behind this is if oxytocin would be naturally present if strong feelings of trust were evoked the presence of it being there can mimic or trick the brain into believing the person they are talking to is trustworthy. This has many benefits for people from someone in a sales position trying to close a potential client to a single trying to find a date.


