LMU-Munich, Department of Psychology, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany; Ulm University (present affiliation), Department of Psychology, Albert-Einstein-Allee 47, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
University of Kassel, Institute of Psychology, Holländische Str. 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 May;103:83-86. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.01.011. Epub 2019 Jan 12.
Research on terror management theory found evidence for the idea that attachment and interpersonal touch attenuate existential concerns and worldview defense reactions after mortality salience. Oxytocin, on the other hand, is known for stimulating the attachment system. Therefore, we hypothesized that worldview defense reactions after mortality salience would be attenuated under oxytocin. In the present study, participants administered oxytocin or placebo and performed a typical terror management paradigm: After visualizing death or a control topic, worldview defense reactions were assessed by evaluating the authors of a pro- and an anti-German essay. Overall, the results did not provide strong support for the hypothesis. There was no effect of mortality salience on the overall worldview defense measure and, importantly, no moderation by oxytocin. However, with regard to the sympathy dimension, the expected pattern was revealed: The pro- and anti-German authors were evaluated as more balanced under oxytocin after mortality salience, whereas this was not the case under placebo. This was due to more positive evaluations of the anti-German author in the oxytocin group. Although this specific result was not expected a priori, sympathy was the only trait among all worldview defense variables that referred to a social level. Therefore, it seems possible that oxytocin is able to buffer existential concerns, but only if they are socially relevant.
恐怖管理理论的研究为以下观点提供了证据，即依恋和人际接触可以减轻死亡凸显后存在的担忧和世界观防御反应。另一方面，催产素以刺激依恋系统而闻名。因此，我们假设在死亡凸显后，催产素会减弱世界观防御反应。在本研究中，参与者接受催产素或安慰剂，并进行了典型的恐怖管理范式：在想象死亡或控制主题后，通过评估一篇支持和一篇反对德国的文章的作者来评估世界观防御反应。总的来说，结果并没有强有力地支持假设。死亡凸显对整体世界观防御措施没有影响，重要的是，催产素也没有起到调节作用。然而，关于同情维度，揭示了预期的模式：在死亡凸显后，催产素组对亲德和反德作者的评价更加平衡，而在安慰剂组则不是这样。这是因为催产素组对反德作者的评价更加积极。尽管这个特定的结果不是先验预期的，但同情是所有世界观防御变量中唯一与社会层面有关的特征。因此，催产素似乎能够缓冲存在的担忧，但前提是它们与社会相关。
