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An Allostatic Theory of Oxytocin
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
This theoretical review (species not specified) proposes an ethological framework for understanding oxytocin's role in social behavior, applying Nikolaas Tinbergen's four questions concerning mechanism, development, survival value, and evolutionary history. The authors describe oxytocin as an allostatic hormone that they argue modulates both social and non-social behavior by maintaining stability across changing environments, and discuss its relevance to interest in intranasal oxytocin administration for social difficulties.
Abstract
Oxytocin has garnered considerable interest for its role in social behavior, as well as for the potential of intranasal administration to treat social difficulties. However, current theoretical models for the role of oxytocin in social behavior pay little consideration to its evolutionary and developmental history. This article aims to broaden our understanding of the role of oxytocin in social behavior by adopting an ethological approach through the lens of Nikolaas Tinbergen's 'four questions' - how does oxytocin work; how does the role of oxytocin change during development; how does oxytocin enhance survival; and how did the oxytocin system evolve? We argue that oxytocin is most accurately described as an allostatic hormone that modulates both social and non-social behavior by maintaining stability through changing environments.
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