AJP October 2018

'''Piva, M., & Chang, S. W. (2018). An integrated framework for the role of oxytocin in multistage social decision‐making. American Journal of Primatology, e22735.'''

The impact of hormones on various cognitive processes has received much attention in the nonhuman primate literature. Specifically, oxytocin has been posited as a promoter of prosocial behavior per the prosocial hypothesis. However, results from the literature have been inconclusive. Piva and Chang (2018) sought to address two explanatory hypothesis, the social salience hypothesis and the approach/ withdrawal hypothesis, which argue that oxytocin works to increase the salience of social stimuli or to increase the tendency to approach and decrease the tendency to withdraw, respectively. With regard to social decision making, the authors suggest that oxytocin influences decision-making in social situations at multiple stages, including sensation, perception, evaluation, and action. They review evidence from research with rodents, humans, and nonhuman primates and conclude that the three seemingly contradictory hypothesis may be equally valid and dependent on individual differences and/ or the specific context of the situation.