Social psychoendocrinology of oxytocin: A critical review

Critical reviews
By Anthony Lane, Olivier Luminet, Moïra Mikolajczak
English

Oxytocin (OT), a polypeptide hormone well known for the role it plays in labor, has aroused growing interest in the scientific community for more than two decades now. Past research has demonstrated OT’s crucial role in many psychosocial process—so much so that OT has been promoted as the “pro-social” hormone par excellence. But is this reputation scientifically well founded? Does OT really deserve its media nickname of “the love hormone”? Our literature review aims to answer those questions. We first give a comprehensive overview of the various studies carried out on OT. Secondly, we provide an interpretative framework that allows us to correct current representations of OT. Finally, we point out the gaps in this literature, and suggest some relevant avenues of research for the future.

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