Love hormone: to trust and to become racist

Oxytocin, the chemical in our brains known as the “love hormone,” is known to foster both trust and generosity between people, but now scientists are finding that it has a dark side, Scientific American reported on Wednesday.

Researchers at the University of Amsterdam discovered that the “love drug” may actually work best at promoting love among people of similar backgrounds and, rather than love, can lead to ethnocentrism, prejudice and xenophobia.

Until now, the role of oxytocin in social behavior focused only on whether and how it created altruistic responses. It is known to help bond mothers to their children and scientists studying this relationship have theorized it may be involved in maternal aggression. However, in a report to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences he said that it is clear that it has a downside of discrimination against people who are not part of your group.



Read more: http://www.techeye.net/science/love-hormone-turns-dutch-men-into-racists#ixzz1AvXPncdA
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/12/love-hormone-produce-loving-feelings/#ixzz1AvWgHkD7

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