When The 'Trust Hormone'(Oxytocin) Is Out Of Balance

[Illadelphian]

This is a story about a fickle little hormone that plays a large role in our lives.

The name of the hormone is oxytocin, and until recently it was mostly dismissed by scientists. They knew it played a role in inducing labor and facilitating breast-feeding, but otherwise didn't give it much attention.

But over the past 10 years, oxytocin has come up in the world, and several researchers have begun making big claims about it. Now dubbed "the trust hormone," oxytocin, researchers say, affects everything from our day-to-day life to how we feel about our government.

The narrative of oxytocin -- the trust hormone -- is being rewritten.


Full Story (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126141922)

[blode]

That's really interesting. I wonder if we could work out some way of manually triggering it so when you're meeting new people you instantly get a friendly feel. Wow, thanks for that article.

[Falc]

That's really interesting. I wonder if we could work out some way of manually triggering it so when you're meeting new people you instantly get a friendly feel. Wow, thanks for that article.

That'd be terrible. One thing I've always been able to rely on is that I get vibes from people I meet for the first time, and if someone is genuinely up to no good when I meet them for the first time and they aren't really good at hiding it, I can tell. Getting a friendly feel from everyone would be completely letting your guard down.

[dnbmember]

I had a source for oxytocin but he was a steroid source as well. I never got any, perhaps it was to counteract roid rage? Who knows, I never knew what it was and did not bother asking.

[dudenothanks]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126224885

This article actually goes along with the scenario of getting good vibes from everyone you meet...it actually kinda blew my mind exactly how much trust stops us from doing things, but with good reason honestly


/stoned

[RobotPoop]

That'd be terrible. One thing I've always been able to rely on is that I get vibes from people I meet for the first time, and if someone is genuinely up to no good when I meet them for the first time and they aren't really good at hiding it, I can tell. Getting a friendly feel from everyone would be completely letting your guard down.

This sums my feeling up perfectly. I rely on my impressions of people and my judgment far to heavily to have it dulled by some Brave New World type of shit. If someone is a cocksmoker I'd like to know right away haha.

[withinyouwithoutyou]

governments new lsd to try and control the masses, perhaps to make us trust the government? purely for the sake of argument :]

[Ukera]

governments new lsd to try and control the masses, perhaps to make us trust the government? purely for the sake of argument :]

There's always one, heh ;). Only fucking with you.

I think that the idea of being able to take something to make you trust people is sketchy as shit; I think it's safe to say that everyone relies on their ability to trust people or not.

Could you like use this to control people? "Come with me little girl, I have a magical van filled with ice cream and sugar doughnuts!"

[Ahkei]

Could you like use this to control people? "Come with me little girl, I have a magical van filled with ice cream and sugar doughnuts!"

By the sounds of the second article linked above, fuck yes it could.

I think it's a chemical not to be fucked with. There would be some use in the medical community no doubt, like that disorder that won't let people leave the house and other things like that, but to the average human I wouldn't dare it near them. This sounds more like the date rape drug more than any drug that merely disturbs our judgement.