Unit 08

What makes humans kind, caring, and helpful?

If evolution breeds evil, if amygdalas make heartless maniacs, and if societies will justify harm in the name of good… what makes us love each other and stick together?  This is where it gets hard to wrap your head around this because it is impossible to divorce yourself from your experience.  Could “good” really be understood at the chemical level in your brain?  Is oxytocin the anti-evil? Can we teach empathy?

08-A: Oxytocin and the Benefit of 8 Hugs a Day 

• Where is oxytocin found, what is its function, and what effect does it have on thought and behavior? Be clear about its role in bonding. Relate its effects to Dr. Love's prescription for you.

• Explain the statistical and conceptual relationship between levels of trust and levels of poverty.  How would you explain the correlation?  In what way does this relate to evil? 

• Describe in detail Zak’s methodology for operationalizing trust and trustworthiness.

  • • What prediction did economists make about what humans would do?

    • What did Zak demonstrate about human nature instead?

    • What evidence is there that oxytocin mediates the link between being trusted and acting in a trustworthy way?

    • What effect did introducing oxytocin have on behavior?  What about testosterone?

• Describe the methodology that Feldman et al. (2012) used to test the affect of oxytocin on parenting behaviors and what they found.

*NOTE - Some of Zak's research findings (and others related to oxytocin) are currently being questioned because others failed to reproduce them, and Zak may be overstating and overdramatizing some of the results. Nonetheless, we will explore the methodology and claims made, and then discuss the limitations when we meet in class.

One point of clarification that will be helpful on the worksheet quiz - it was subtle, but Zak explains that both participants started with $10, and then one is randomly selected to be the giver.

To get a broader sense of how oxytocin might affect thought and behavior, read this brief article that summarizes some recent research studying fathers and their infants.

READ: Oxytocin Produces More Engaged Fathers and More Responsive Infants 

08-B: Empathy, Sympathy and Personal Distress

• What is an empathetic response?  Differentiate between three distinct types:

  • • Empathy

    • Sympathy

    • Personal distress

• Which kind of empathetic response is most related to prosocial (helping) behavior?  Why?

An empathetic response relates to affect -- do you have an emotional reaction to the experience of another person?  Whether it is a suffering animal, a terrified child, or an elated adult, our ability to not only understand the emotional states of others, but to be affected by them, is a powerful force for keeping social groups working together in altruistic ways.  Read more about the various forms of empathetic responding, how they relate to prosocial behavior, and what we know about the role of brain structures in empathy.

Closing Thoughts...

Building on what you previously learned about the evolution of good and evil, now consider how the evolution of empathetic responses supported life in groups and allowed humans to advance beyond opportunistic murderous savages.  Of course, empathetic responses can also cause distress, interfere with potentially important tasks, and in some cases may even lead to irrational and counter-productive decisions... so consider the amazing advantages that this remarkable cognitive and affective capacity provides our species (and, to at least some extent, many other species), as well as the situations in which the adaptive response is to suppress empathetic responses altogether.

If you're interested in learning more...

Some people have even suggested that we can use oxytocin as a prescription drug to help married couples remain in love with each other.  Do you think we should?  Would you take it?  If you are interested in learning more, check out this article from CNN.

READ: Does your relationship need a "love drug"? 

READ: "...As you Would have Them Do Unto You": Does Imaging Yourself in Other's Place Stimulate Moral Action?" -- Read Batson et al's entire study (2003) but feel free to skim over the "Results" section that includes specific statistical analysis. 

How does parenting behavior influence the empathetic responses of children?