Marianne Schmid Mast
It’s the Powerful Who Are Interpersonally Sensitive
Authors
Marianne Schmid Mast (University of Neuchâtel)
The goal of the present research was to shed light on the controversy of whether high or low power leads to more interpersonal sensitivity. In Study 1, 76 participants were randomly assigned to be either the high or the low power person in an interaction. Following the interaction, interpersonal sensitivity was assessed with a standardized test in which participants inferred the thoughts and feelings of target people. Results showed that high power people were more interpersonally sensitive than low power people. In Study 2, 134 participants were either primed with high or low power or neutral words and then completed an interpersonal sensitivity task similar to Study 1. Individuals primed with high power did a better job at correctly inferring others’ thoughts and feelings than individuals primed with low power. Results from both studies corroborate that high power results in more interpersonal sensitivity than low power. This research shows that possessing power does not necessarily corrupt but that being in a powerful position puts us in a mindset in which we are sensitive to others around us.
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Petra Klumb
Social influences on mood and cortisol: A time-sampling study with dual-career couples
Authors
Petra Klumb (University of Fribourg)
Christiane Hoppmann (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta )
In our project on the daily life of dual-career families we theoretically and methodologically extended existing research on stress and well-being towards a social perspective. Using time-sampling methods, we observed individual self-regulation processes as a function of the couple context. We were able to link these medium-term processes to physiological reactivity and relationship satisfaction. Our analyses draw on one week time-sampling information from 52 dual-career couples regarding their goal-related activities. Results showed that cortisol levels depend on (a) the mere quantity of productive activities performed by both the actor and his or her (marriage) partner, and (b) the goal-relevance of the activities performed by both actor and partner. In addition, we found (c) relationship satisfaction to be negatively affected by the absolute difference in time partners allocated to productive activities. Hence, considering the interests of others seems to be as important for individual and dyadic well-being as pursuing one's own goals. We discuss these results in the light of a paradigm shift that took place in the social sciences over the last decade away from self-interest as the driving force behind human activity.
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Bernadette von Dawans
Arginine-Vasopressin Augments Antisocial Behavior in Humans
Authors
Bernadette von Dawans (University of Zurich)
Urs Fischbacher (University of Zurich)
Ernst Fehr (University of Zurich)
Markus Heinrichs (University of Zurich)
Insight into the neurobiological basis of social interaction in healthy humans may provide an opportunity for a better understanding of mental disorders with social deficits. In animal research, arginine-vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) play a key role in the regulation of social behavior. Studies in humans indicate that OT reduces anxiety and stress and enhances trust in humans, whereas AVP is associated with an increase in anxiety and aggression. 288 male subjects received OT, AVP or placebo intranasally and participated in a standardized social interaction paradigm with the possibility to trust and punish if they got betrayed. Salivary cortisol and testosterone, blood pressure, and repeated psychometric measures of mood, anger, and anxiety were assessed. AVP significantly enhances the readiness to punish unfair behavior in comparison to OT and Placebo. The AVP group and OT group differ significantly in the average punishment and in the maximum punishment. The groups do not differ in psychometric measures such as anger and anxiety state. The study provides initial behavioral data underpinning the role of AVP in aggression or antisocial behavior in humans. The findings concur with results from animal research and previous studies in humans and may contribute to a substantial progress in understanding dysfunctional social behavior. Further studies in patients with social disorders are needed to evaluate the clinical implications.
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Thomas Baumgartner
The Trust increasing Effect of Oxytocin during an economical Trust Game is modulated by the Neural System for Fear and Reward processing
Authors
Thomas Baumgartner (University of Zurich)
In a recent study of our lab, it has been shown that intranasal administration of the neuropeptide Oxytocin, which plays a central role in social approach behaviour in nonhuman mammals, causes a substantial increase in trust in humans. In the present study, we sought to explore for the first time the neural underpinnings of this trust increasing effect of Oxytocin. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 49 healthy male volunteers played both an economical trust game against anonymous human interaction partners and a lottery game not embedded in social interactions after intranasal administration of Oxytocin or Placebo. Whereas no behavioural group differences were observed in the lottery game, results demonstrated in the trust game a significant and selective increase in trusting behaviour in the Oxytocin group along with reduced activation in the neural system mediating fear responses (including amygdala and midbrain regions) as well as trial-and-error reward learning (striatum).
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Tania Singer
Understanding Others: Empathy and Cognitive Perspective Taking
Authors
Tania Singer (University of Zurich)
After a definition of the concepts ‘cognitive perspective taking’ and ‘empathy’ I will revise the main results of neuroscientific studies on our ability to understand other peoples intentions and believes. I will then show several fMRI studies investigating empathic brain responses elicited by the observation of others in pain and show how these empathic brain responses are modulated by several contextual and stimulus intrinsic factors. Finally, I will show results of two studies exploring the relationship between interoceptive awareness, empathy and pathologies such as Alexithymia and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). More specifically, I will show some evidence for the suggestion that impaired interoceptive awareness –a symptom observed in Alexithymia- is associated with impaired empathy but not cognitive perspective taking, the latter being frequently observed in patients with ASD.
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