Intranasal oxytocin increases cooperation of heterosexual men with women

Abstract

Sexualization may lead to sexual objectification, which is thought to be the prelude of misogynistic behavior. On the other hand, sexualization can also increase approach and courtship from the opposite sex. It is still unclear how the sexualization of women biases social cooperative decisions towards them. In an EEG experiment with the Prisoner’s Dilemma, using a between-subject double-blind placebo-controlled design, we investigated if the sexualization of women could influence cooperative behaviors from heterosexual men (n = 50) and if oxytocin (OT), thought to have a key role in social cognition, modulates this effect. We found sexualized women were perceived as more attractive, sexy, and sexually available, and less moral but not objectified. Our main finding was that OT pervasively increased general cooperation probability, as well as cooperation probability specifically after reciprocal cooperation. Additionally, OT increased cooperation probability after betrayal, particularly for non-sexualized and when they played before the sexualized women. Neurally, we found sexualization affected P300 and FRN responses during the game’s outcomes, and that the former’s latency was also increased by OT when men played with non-sexualized before the sexualized women, tentatively reflecting the above behavioral results. Our findings corroborate existing theories of OT increasing trust and rendering prosocial or pro-approach behavior rewarding and extend them to the context of the other’s sexualization.