Can Your Candidate Count on Your Support? Or Is He Counting on Oxytocin?
Political races are revving up and at least one researcher, Dr. Antonio Damasio of the University Of Iowa College Of Medicine, has offered up a new idea for politicians looking for crowd support. He wondered aloud, in the hearing of the BBC reports no less, if political operators would spray a crowd with Oxytocin at political rallies to gain more enthusiasm.
Why the concern?
And be sure you understand he made the suggestion with concern, not approval. Oxytocin is a powerful hormone that is released when new mothers nurse their babies or when a couple snuggles a bit after having sex. The substance is responsible for the feeling of safety and security you enjoy when you hold your new baby or when you feel a sudden urge to hold onto a kiss a woman who was a stranger in a club just a few hours ago.
Imagine if you were attending a political rally for a candidate you thought you might like. Then suddenly you felt an overwhelming urge to protect the candidate. You supported him, you loved him, you wanted to hug him! Hopefully though, you don’t feel an overwhelming urge to rock and feed him, but the point remains. If the staff of that candidate walked through the crowd blowing sprays of Oxytocin on the participants, you might be ready to support the candidate come hell or high water.
You would probably be more willing to part with your money as well.
Too Much Trust from Oxytocin?
In the original study of the effects of Oxytocin, written up in a 2005 version of Nature magazine, groups of men were given poker chips and paired off. One man was the investor and the other guy was the broker. The investor had to decide how many chips he was willing to give his broker.
Half of the “investors” were given a sniff of spray Oxytocin before the exercise began. The other half were given a sniff of a placebo.
Those who had the dose of Oxytocin demonstrated quite a bit more trust in their broker during the game. The Oxytocin investors gave up either the majority or all of their tokens. Half of the investors gave the brokers – who were complete strangers – all of their tokens as a sign of trust. Almost all of the investors gave up the majority of their tokens.
Of those who didn’t have the Oxytocin, or the control group, only one fifth of the investors were willing to give up all of their tokens and only a third give up the majority. Almost half kept all of their tokens or gave up only a minority for “investing”, demonstrating perhaps a rational concern about investing with a stranger – or at least a rational concern for those of us who have a hard time trusting others with our money.
Money and Oxytocin
Money makes the politician it seems, and with the underhanded tactics that occasionally present themselves at political events and races, it’s not too far removed to expect someone to try the Oxytocin trick in the near future – 2012 will be a contentious year for politics regardless, and playing dirty to gain the upper hand may reach new heights including collecting money from the crowds.
Playing it Safe with Oxytocin
There are tremendous benefits to using Oxytocin, and they aren’t all reserved for politicians. If you were to invest in your own spray container, you can help your colleagues and boss at work trust you that much more. You can gain the trust of women or men you meet in clubs and on the street. You can be an all-together more likable person with just a quick spray every day.
But used in the wrong hands, you can see where Oxytocin might be dangerous. It would be a bit foolhardy to dismiss Oxytocin off-hand because it’s not for most situations. Who can argue with being more relaxed and confident at work? That’s certainly not a bad thing.
But if you’re planning on attending a large party fundraiser or perhaps a political rally, keep an open eye. Don’t stand by the spray mister on a hot day and perhaps most importantly of all, don’t bring any poker chips or real paper checks to a political rally. You might be inspired to part with them, or at least more of them than you’d prefer to give up in that particular setting.
