Is oxytocin a trust hormone? Salivary oxytocin is associated with caution but not with general trust

PLoS One. 2022 May 6;17(5):e0267988. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267988. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Studies on the association between trust and oxytocin, a neuropeptide of the central nervous system, have not reached a consensus, thereby challenging the possibility of a direct association between the two. However, previous studies have not examined how oxytocin is correlated with trust, based on its categorization into different factors in the field of social science. For instance, based on Yamagishi's trust theory, trust can be categorized into two factors: general trust and caution. General trust refers to beliefs about the trustworthiness of others, whereas caution refers to the belief that caution is needed when dealing with high social uncertainty. In this study, to examine the relationship between these two factors and oxytocin, we analyzed data of 197 adults (men = 98, women = 99; mean age = 41.7 years; standard deviation for age = 10.4 years) and examined the relationships between these two factors of trust and endogenous salivary oxytocin levels. We found that oxytocin was positively correlated with caution rather than with general trust thereby suggesting that oxytocin plays a role in regulating caution rather than general trust among the components of trust. The present study demonstrated that salivary oxytocin level can act as a biomarker that partially predicts one's trust, especially as reflected by caution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Oxytocin* / physiology
  • Saliva
  • Trust*

Substances

  • Oxytocin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Number, JP19H04915 and AMED under Grant Number JP18dm0307001. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.