Lemondrop

Men. They can be just as confounding as women when it comes to emotions -- especially if it has to do with expressing them. But a recent study conducted by Dr. Rene Hurlemann of Bonn University's Clinic for Psychiatry and Dr. Keith Kendrick of the Cambridge Babraham Institute is finally offering some insight into why men are lacking in the empathy department. Hint: Blame it on Mother Nature.

In the experiment, Hurlemann and Kendrick recruited 48 men, half of whom were spritzed with "empathy" spray -- aka the hormone oxytocin -- before being shown emotionally charged photos, like a kid crying or a man mourning. The results: Men in the oxytocin group registered higher empathy levels than those in the placebo pool. Intrigued, we mined professor Kendrick for more about how the male emotional mind really works.



Lemondrop: Where did you get the idea for this experiment?
Professor Kendrick: It all started with research I was doing with sheep in the 1980s. I found that oxytocin was released in the brain when females gave birth or suckled their young, allowing them to form emotional and empathetic bonds with their offspring. Over the last decade, further research has confirmed that it's also important for promoting pro-social behavior, including trust and generosity. Going into the study, we knew that certain recreational drugs, such as Ecstasy, have pro-social effects on people because they're involved in the release of oxytocin. But what we wanted to uncover is whether oxytocin by itself can act as an empathogen.

Be honest, why did you choose to focus on male subjects?
Several previous studies concluded that men typically have lower levels of empathy than women, so we deemed that it would be easier to show the effects of oxytocin treatment in males. Men also tend to be more susceptible to social disorders like autism, which are marked by problems with emotional communication and responsiveness. So the ultimate goal of our research is to aid the development of more effective treatments for individuals with social and affective disorders.

Is it a proven fact that men have lower levels of oxytocin? If so, why is this the case?
As far as concentrations of oxytocin in the blood are concerned, a number of experiments have shown basal levels to be similar in men and women, although women can have considerably higher concentrations when they give birth and breast feed than men will ever experience.

Some studies have also indicated that pro-social stimuli, such as comforting a distressed baby, evoke greater oxytocin release in women than men. In males, oxytocin clearly doesn't play a key role in promoting the nurturing of offspring. Animal-based research has shown that males actually release another closely-related peptide, vasopressin, which is associated more with increased anxiety and aggression. This contrasts markedly with oxytocin, which has potent effects in reducing anxiety.

So how did the guys respond to the "empathy spray"?
The test we used measures both cognitive empathy (identifying an emotion) and emotional empathy (the intensity of feeling experienced in response to an emotion). Our subjects viewed a range of pictures showing people expressing strong positive or negative emotions. We then asked the men to correctly identify the emotions that the people in the photos were exhibiting, as well as score, on a scale of 1-9, how strongly they felt for the person (direct emotional empathy) and how aroused they were by the image (indirect emotional empathy).

The oxytocin treatment increased both direct and indirect responses in men by around 30%, and that was regardless of whether positive or negative emotions were shown in the pictures. For comparison, responses in untreated females registered similar high emotional empathy ratings as the oxytocin-treated men.

Is it possible for some men to produce higher levels of oxytocin, making them more nurturing than the average guy?
Animal studies have shown that the distribution of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in the brain is similar in both sexes, but we haven't yet looked at whether there are differences in humans, or if men with higher social skills have increased oxytocin levels in the brain.

Do you see a future in which people can take drugs to boost their oxytocin count? And what effect would this have on the way men and women interact?
Many would argue that increasing sociability and empathy in the human population could have beneficial effects, ranging from better social relationships to reducing aggression and even our propensity for making war. People already take illegal drugs to raise their oxytocin levels, but unlike Ecstasy, oxytocin doesn't promote feelings of euphoria, and there's no evidence that it's addictive. However, we still have much to learn about how it works. And while oxytocin could possibly be used safely to enhance empathy and sociability in individuals, we're not exactly looking to promote it as a social Viagra!


Liz Ozaist has written a number of posts for Lemondrop about men and women. More than an oxytocin infusion, she wishes her husband would learn to cook.