Lecture 3 - Love and prosocial behaviour 2

Question 1

What are the two components of empathising?

Answer 1

1) A cognitive ability component:
‘mindreading’ i.e. inferring others’ beliefs, emotions etc
2) An emotional/motivational personality component:
warmth & caring for the other person

Question 2

How could you make people come together more?

Answer 2

1a) By increasing the immediate reward from, & 1b) reducing the barriers (anxiety and stress) to, social interaction

Question 3

What is enhancing the social approach? (1a)

Answer 3

Enhancing the rewards of social interaction
i.e. it is rewarding to be near another, be hugged and chat and get smiles

Question 4

What are natural and artificial ways to decrease the anxiety and stress of social interaction? (1b)

Answer 4

Artificial - alcohol and ecstasy - ecstasy directly relates to oxytocin
Natural - oxytocin and vasopressin

Question 5

What is social buffering of stressful events? (1b)

Answer 5

Animals including humans reduce their stress by being with each other. More resilient to stressful events when they are shared.

Question 6

2) What are the three ways of improving the outcomes of interaction?

Answer 6

Enhancing memory for social identity
Increasing trust in interacting partner
Increasing the empathy in social interaction

Question 7

2a) How does enhancing memory for social identity improve social interaction outcomes?

Answer 7

Rewarding events with person X aids attachment to X.
No ‘partner preference’ (friendship) if no memory for that person.
Reap more rewards when you remember people and thus form bonds
- Social identification helps reciprocal altruism - only works if you remember each other
- “You scratched my back two days ago, I will scratch yours now, then you will scratch mine…etc” . Need to recall ‘you’.
- Can trade off strengths and weaknesses in a group by identifying who people are and what they are good at

Question 8

2b) How does increasing trust in interacting partner improve the outcomes of interaction?

Answer 8

This enhances the gains achievable from longer-term, co-operative behaviour.
Couple as economic unit. Gains from division of labour. Friendship network gains.

‘I am doing a lot of nesting work for our child, while I could be on the make with another mate, don’t let me down!’
‘It’s uncertain you will pay me back, but I will risk it for you!’

Go beyond Zero-sum games.
e.g. think of children, any multi-month projects, and trading exchanges (‘I give you spice, you give me axes’.)

Question 9

2ci) What are examples of cognitive empathy and how does it improve outcomes of interaction?

Answer 9

‘mind-reading’, inferring mental states
- ‘I can tell from your non-verbal cues that you feel hurt.’ or
- ‘You can infer I am jealous when you talk to that guy.’
This makes for better adult pair bond, friendships, parenting.
This may help us come to an exchange agreement.

Question 10

2cii) What are examples of emotional empathy?

Answer 10

‘I feel your pain’. ‘I am so sad your friend died’.

These are dissociable: e.g. ‘I understand your feelings, but I just don’t care about you.’ or ‘I didn’t guess your hurt, but now you have told me about it, I am distraught too.’

Question 11

Predictions - should OXT and VASP increase the frequency and closeness of social interaction, and increase the beneficial outcomes from social interaction?

Answer 11

The frequency & closeness of social interaction
1a) OXT & VASP should increase rewards (warmth?) of social interaction
1b) OXT & VASP should reduce social anxiety

2) Beneficial outcomes from social interaction
OXT & VASP should
2a) enhance memory for social identity
2b) enhance trust
2c) enhance cognitive empathy and emotional empathy

All these effects together enhance pair bonding & parenting.

Question 12

Lecture summary: category 1 (increasing frequency and closeness of social interaction)

Answer 12

OXT (& VASP) systems have various effects enhancing social ties, e.g.:
Category 1:
Increasing frequency & closeness of social interaction
1a) ↑ Interpersonal warmth (MDMA effect via OXT – Thompson et al 2007)
1b) ↓ Anxiety/Stress

Question 13

Lecture summary: category 2 (beneficial outcomes from social interaction)

Answer 13

Category 2:
Beneficial outcomes from social interaction
2a) ↑ Recognition memory
2b) ↑ Trust
2c) ↑ EMPATHY
↑ Attention to social cues (e.g. eyes vs mouth, face vs objects)
↑ Mind-reading’ - inferring mental states (e.g. ‘mind in the eyes’)
↑ Empathic concern

Question 14

Lecture summary: what are three ways to measure social interaction?

Answer 14

a) In objective tests with implied interaction (Mind in the eyes test)
b) In objective tests with actual interaction (Parenting, a bit ‘forced’?)
c) In self-report questionnaires (e.g. Davis Empathy Q, 1983)

Question 15

Lecture summary: what is a positive and a negative of testosterone?

Answer 15

Positive: Increase partner n! have lots of progeny
Negative: Delayed-maturing young need resources to thrive.

Question 16

Lecture summary: What is a positive and a negative of oxytocin?

Answer 16

Oxytocin: Care sensitively for progeny! (time, attention, mindreading, ‘love’).
Limitation: Too few progeny.

Question 17

1) What did Thompson et al. (2007) find out about the role of MDMA-induced OXT in rats? How did they increase OXT?

Answer 17

Key results:
MDMA increases social interaction – rats huddle up together

MDMA activates Oxytocin-containing hypothalamic neurons
Hypothalamus then releases OXT into bloodstream
MDMA increases Oxytocin levels in plasma

Question 18

1) What do studies of clubbing humans show about the hormonal changes MDMA induces?

Answer 18

MDMA increases plasma OXT and vasopressin levels
[Wolff et al, 2006, J Psychopharmacology]

Question 19

1) What behaviour change is observed when an Oxytocin-receptor antagonist is co-administered with MDMA?

Answer 19

Blunts the pro-social effects of MDMA
Shows OXT induces pro-sociality

Question 20

1) What two components do oxytocin pro-social effects involve?

Answer 20

1) Increased social approach
2) Reduced avoidance

Question 21

2a) What is the social recognition test in rodents?

Answer 21

Procedure:
Social isolation for 3 days
Test rat appears for 3 min
Then, either retest same for 3 min
OR retest different for 3 min

Question 22

2a) What results are expected in the social recognition test in rodents?

Answer 22

The success depends upon accurate perception of another’s individual olfactory signature, AND memory for previous olfactory signatures,
THUS social novelty detection

As rats are polygamous, they tend to spend more time with novel person
Success in polygamous - recognising who they have already spent time with, spending time with someone else - oxytocin mediated
Oxytocin facilitates social recognition

Question 23

2a) Why are female mice’s ovaries sometimes removed in psychological studies?

Answer 23

So there is no menstrual cycle variation and so female does not do any sexual behaviour

Question 24

2a) How is the social recognition test done on mice?

Answer 24

Basically same as rats
Male mouse is exposed to female ovariectomized mouse for 1 min for 4 trials in a row.
Then to a novel ovariectomized female.
Mice displaying normal social recognition show a decline in investigation of female 1 over 4 trials, then increase again in investigation of female 2 in trial 5

Question 25

2a) Does knocking out the vasopressin receptor V1aR in male mice severely impair social recognition? (Bielsky et al, Neuropharmacology, 2004, LJ Young’s group)

Answer 25

Yes

Question 26

2a) What is a crucial brain region for V1aR-mediated social recognition? (Bielsky et al, Neuropharmacology, 2004, LJ Young’s group)

Answer 26

Lateral septum

Question 27

2a) If someone has more vasopressin receptors, are they more likely to have more accurate social recognition behaviour?

Answer 27

Yes

Question 28

2b) What effect did intranasal oxytocin have in (Kosfeld et al, Nature, 2005)? (Investors)

Answer 28

Intranasal Oxytocin increased trust in trustees in an investment game where ‘investor’ and ‘trustee’ stand to gain money, but the trustee can ‘betray’ the investor. - Investor giving money to trustee - can give some, all or none to them - whatever trustee gets is multiplied by 3 - they can then choose to take all money themselves or give some back to investor - If they were selfish they could take all the money - Investor has to decide whether to potentially get more money by investing in trustee, or ensure they have the same amount of money by not investing

Question 29

2b) In the investment experiment (Kosfield et al., 2005), was the oxytocin-increased investment specific to the social risk version of the game?

Answer 29

Yes - only happened when investor knew trustee was real person and not a computer - shows social element

Question 30

2b) An fMRI study that followed up on Kosfield et al. (2005) investor study showed what about oxytocin? (betrayal, amygdala and caudate)

Answer 30

It promoted trust even after ‘betrayal’ in this investment game, (builds resilience to betrayal) - Reduced amygdala activation (meaning not clear!: reduced fear? Reduced social avoidance?), & increased caudate activation (involved in rewards and decision-making). - Amygdala and caudate have high oxytocin receptor density.

Question 31

2c) Are eyes generally the most powerful facial social cue

Answer 31

Yes

Question 32

2c) How did Guastella, Mitchell and Dadds (2008) investigate the effect of oxytocin on gazing at eye region?

Answer 32

Double-blind, placebo control Tracking eye movements while subjects saw: 24 faces, 2 seconds each face (Neutral faces) Intranasal OXT (n = 24) vs placebo (n = 24)

Question 33

2c) What were the results of Guastella, Mitchell and Dadds (2008) study on the effect of oxytocin on gazing at eye region?

Answer 33

OXT = more gazing and fixation at eye region than placebo, large effect sizes for both OXT = reduction in forehead and cheek region gazing and fixation, none for placebo Overall, OXT induces less looking at areas not giving social cues as much

Question 34

2c) How is face looking behaviour different in people with ASD?

Answer 34

Do not show same ratio of looking behaviour at different parts of face Less attention on socially relevant parts of face

Question 35

2c) What is the reading the mind in the eyes test?

Answer 35

A picture of only someone's eyes is shown - you have to choose one of four mental states as to what this person is thinking

Question 36

2c) In Baron-Cohen et al (2001), how did high-functioning autistic, asperger's syndrom and neurotypical controls perform on the mind in the eyes test?

Answer 36

Those diagnosed as high-functioning autistic, and as having Asperger’s syndrome, score significantly worse than controls e.g. means around ~22/36 for HFA/AS, ~26-28 for standard controls, ~30 for controls IQ-matched to HFA/AS group

Question 37

2c) Baron-Cohen et al, 2001 - was there an inverse correlation between MindinEyes test score and Autism Spectrum Quotient? Were men slightly better than women at MindinEyes test?

Answer 37

Yes, there was an inverse correlation No, women were slightly better than men but this was not significant

Question 38

2c) What five categories does the autism spectrum quotient test? (Baron-Cohen et al, 2001)

Answer 38

Social skill, attention switching, attention to detail, communication, imagination

Question 39

2c) What did autistic vs non-autistic people score on the autism spectrum quotient?

Answer 39

Means were around: ~38 for HFA/AS ~16-18 for randomly selected and student controls

Question 40

2c) Do men have higher scores on the autism spectrum quotient than women?

Answer 40

Yes - modestly higher scores

Question 41

2c) What does the inverse correlation between Mindineyes test score and Autism Spectrum Quotient show?

Answer 41

The more autistic traits a person has, the worse they are at judging person's thoughts based on their eyes - cognitive empathy Autistic people do not typically focus as much as neurotypical people on eye region

Question 42

2c) How were Mindineyes scores changed due to intranasal oxytocin? (Domes et al., 2007)

Answer 42

Higher scores after intranasal oxytocin - better cognitive empathy skills Only a strong difference observed for difficult items - no difference for easy items OXT increases mentalising ability for other humans Promotes cognitive empathy

Question 43

2c) Rodrigues et al (2009) examined variation in the gene coding for the oxytocin receptor - particularly if individuals have 0, 1 or 2 copies of rs53576 portion of gene. What did the adenine allele of this gene increase likelihood of?

Answer 43

Adenine allele increases likelihood of Autistic Spectrum Disorder diagnosis Adenine allele predisposes to higher stress

Question 44

2c) What are endogenous vs exogenous changes to oxytocin levels

Answer 44

Endogenous = pre-existing e.g. gene variability Exogenous = experimentally induced e.g. OXT nasal spray

Question 45

2c) In Rodrigues et al. (2009), what were the three aspects of empathy in the Davis questionnaire for individual differences in empathy?

Answer 45

1) Perspective taking – ‘cognitive’ e.g. “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective” 2) Empathic concern – ‘emotional’ e.g. “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me” 3) Fantasy – bit of both? e.g. “I really get involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel” immersion in book or film

Question 46

2c) In Rodrigues et al. (2009), what differences did they find for the Mindineyes test and Davis questionnaire of empathy for people with AA/AG allele (increased autism risk) and the GG allele?

Answer 46

People with the GG allele get more answers correct in the Mind-in-eyes test than those with AA/AG allele. About ½ a SD better Those with GG allele scored higher than AA/AG on empathy questionnaire

Question 47

2c) What did Bartels and Zeki find regards to neural correlates of maternal and romantic love?

Answer 47

Using a neuroimaging subtraction technique (looking at own daughter/partner vs another's daughter/partner), they found core brain activations underlying parental and romantic love Both types of attachment [ie maternal and romantic love] activated regions specific to each, as well as overlapping regions in the brain's reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin and vasopressin receptors

Question 48

2c) What is the parenting strategy that oxytocin and vasopressin promote?

Answer 48

‘Quality of bond not quantity’ Commitment to existing bonds i.e. enhancement of adult pair bond i.e. enhancement of parenting Reduced aggression with mate & progeny Co-operative: brings the benefits of monogamy Promotes ‘love’ The 'mammalian' strategy

Question 49

2c) What is the parenting strategy that testosterone promotes?

Answer 49

‘Quantity of mates not quality’ Focus upon more partners More attractive partner? i.e. more ‘mating’, less ‘pair bonding’ i.e. more children Higher aggression with mate & progeny? Competitive: brings the benefits of polygamy (infidelity) Promotes ‘lust/sex’

Question 50

2c) (Gordon et al., 2010) - after measuring parent's oxytocin level in their blood and videotaping 10-minute play sessions, what two parent-child behaviours were coded for?

Answer 50

Affectionate play, which consists of: Positive Affect (praising child) Motherese Vocalisation Affectionate Touch Stimulatory play, which consists of: Proprioceptive touch Object presentation Stimulatory Touch

Question 51

2c) (Gordon et al., 2010) - how did oxytocin correlate with mother's and father's stimulatory and affectionate play?

Answer 51

Higher OXT in mother = more affectionate play Higher OXT in father = more stimulatory play OXT mediates different types of play in different gendered parents

Question 52

2c) (Feldman et al., 2012) - Polymorphisms (mutations) in Oxytocin related genes create greater risk for what?

Answer 52

ASD

Question 53

2c) (Feldman et al., 2012) - what is the relation between OXT and touching baby behaviour in mothers and fathers?

Answer 53

Higher OXT - more touching their babies Positive correlation in both fathers and mothers: The higher the levels of oxytocin, the more they touch their babies Low risk alleles for ASD also show more touching behaviour

Question 54

2c) (Feldman et al., 2012) - what predicted the longest gaze synchrony?

Answer 54

High OXT levels and low risk allele for ASD (Low OXT and high risk allele had the shortest gaze synchrony) So assuming gaze synchrony is a good measure of sensitive parenting Then it’s good to have high oxytocin levels And it’s better if oxytocin-related signalling is working well

Question 55

2c) Are married father's more likely to have low testosterone levels than unmarried non-fathers?

Answer 55

Yes

Question 56

2c) Is it rare to find someone with high levels of both oxytocin and testosterone?

Answer 56

Yes - almost always are opposite levels

Question 57

2c) What are the predisposition and experience explanations for testosterone levels?

Answer 57

Predisposition?: Higher Testosterone man less likely to get married and have kids Experience?: Higher T man produces less T because of subsequent romantic and paternal activity

Question 58

2c) Neighbouring Tanzanian tribes - Hadza exhibit more paternal care, Datoga provide minimal direct paternal care - were measured for T levels - what was found? (Muller et al., 2009)

Answer 58

No differences between Datoga non-fathers and uninvolved Datoga fathers Lower testosterone in involved Hadza fathers compared to Hadza non-fathers Children in household in both - the thing affecting T is the role of being a father and interacting with the kids - simply having children does not increase T

Question 59

2c) Are testosterone levels heritable?

Answer 59

Yes - Harris et al. (1998) showed that: Correlations in MZ > correlations in DZ Identical twin values (MZ) are very similar (in both males & females) and higher than for non-identical twins: males: 0.66 > 0.34 females: 0.60 > -0.01

Question 60

2c) How does testosterone change due to age, romantic relationship and high-caring fatherhood?

Answer 60

Age – low as kid, higher as young adult, lower as older adult Lowers in long-term romantic relationship Lowers in high-caring fatherhood

Question 61

2c) How do testosterone levels and tesicular volume correlate with parental caregiving in fathers?

Answer 61

The larger a man’s testes, the less his parental caregiving. The higher a man’s Test levels, the less his parental caregiving.

Question 62

2c) Higher baseline testosterone levels predict less time spent affectionately touching baby, predict less time spent gazing towards baby, and predict less time speaking in higher pitch 'motherese'. True or false?

Answer 62

True

Question 63

2c) (Chin et al., 2020) - Measured: PREnatal testosterone (averaged over Wks 12,20,28,&36) POSTnatal Questionnaires re relationship & parenting The lower the T levels in a birth mother, how much baby care did she do relative to her partner and how good did she feel at parenting?

Answer 63

More baby care relative to partner She felt she was good at parenting

Question 64

2c) According to Mascaro, Hackett and Rilling (and others), the biology of human males represents a trade-off between what two things?

Answer 64

a) effort spent on mating & b) effort spent on parenting A simple interpretation and hypothesis: The effort on mating is mediated by testosterone The effort on parenting is mediated by oxytocin Of course there will be many other factors than testosterone and oxytocin explaining individual differences in parenting