Oxytocin is lauded for how it promotes warmth, generosity…

“Oxytocin is lauded for how it promotes warmth, generosity, social bonding, cooperation, trust, and compassion.”

Robert M. Sapolsky

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Oxytocin fosters warmth, generosity, trust, and cooperation, shaping social bonds.

In simple terms: Oxytocin builds social connection.

Key Takeaway

Cultivate trust through empathy.

Themes

social bonding trust biology

Mood

analytical hopeful

Type

scientific educational

When to use this quote

team building
relationship counseling
community events

Key Concepts

neuroscience psychology empathy

Questions to Reflect On

How does oxytocin influence conflict?
Can we harness it ethically?

A Different Perspective

Overreliance may ignore other factors.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

Bonding Compassion Cooperation Generosity Oxytocin Social Trust Warmth

More by Robert M. Sapolsky

“Secure-attachment 7Rs show more generosity than average. Thus 7R has something to do with generosity—but its effect is entirely context dependent.”

Robert M. Sapolsky

But if you get chronically, psychosocially stressed, you're going to compromise your health. So, essentially, we've evolved to be smart enough to make ourselves…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“Finally, for the same criminal conviction, the more stereotypically Af-rican a black individual’s facial features, the longer the sentence.15 In contrast, juries view black…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“So testosterone does subtle things to behavior. Nonetheless, this doesn’t tell us much because everything can be interpreted every which way. Testosterone increases anxiety—you…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“pain makes aggressive people more aggressive, while doing the opposite to unaggressive individuals.”

Robert M. Sapolsky

“Thus, for our purposes, genes aren’t about inevitability. Instead they’re about context-dependent tendencies, propensities, potentials, and vulnerabilities. All embedded in the fabric of the…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“If we accept that there will always be sides, it’s a nontrivial to-do list item to always be on the side of angels. Distrust…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“In other words, the more genomically complex the organism, the larger the percentage of the genome devoted to gene regulation by the environment.”

Robert M. Sapolsky

“The subject of one experiment is a rat that receives mild electric shocks (roughly equivalent to the static shock you might get from scuffing…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“No brain region is an island, and the formation of circuits connecting far-flung brain regions is crucial—how else can the frontal cortex use its…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“We process emotionally salient information more rapidly and automatically, but with less accuracy. Frontal function—working memory, impulse control, executive decision making, risk assessment, and…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“Most broadly, the PFC chooses between conflicting options—Coke or Pepsi; blurting out what you really think or restraining yourself; pulling the trigger or not.…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“One stretch of the gene is repeated a variable number of times, and the version with seven repeats (the “7R” form) produces a receptor…

Robert M. Sapolsky

“some people always get more than their share of equality than others”

Robert M. Sapolsky

It's probably even the case that if you stoked up some Buddhist monks with tons of testosterone, they'd become wildly competitive as to who…

Robert M. Sapolsky

Explore all 280 Robert M. Sapolsky quotes

More Bonding quotes

Broken by hardships, disappointments and tragedy, people can become discouraged and cynical. But lives can also be mended. Put back together well, they won't…

Steve Goodier

I liked climbing trees and could often be found up one reading a book. I played games with Dad and drew maps for him…

Rhianna Pratchett

“If you cannot wait for time to unearth roots, you must dig.”

Nelou Keramati

“You grew up too fast, baby." Didn't always feel that way, especially this morning when I couldn't find my other flip-flop and I'd been,…

Jennifer L. Armentrout

What's cool is that in the story of the movie [The Hangover] our characters are also really kind of getting to know each other…

Ed Helms

Nostalgia is also a trait of the organizations that I call lodges - everything from corporate cultures to religious sects. Their bonding power often…

Jennifer James

Football spectators appreciate a bit of loyalty, and we're seeing that less and less. There are echelons of football, as in society, where some…

Vincent Nichols

Once we have conceived of time and space, once we have accepted their existence, then that implies that there is a structural order to…

Frederick Lenz

People do need a social license to go, "Ha ha ha," and have a good time. It's a strange thing. There's a lot of…

Dylan Moran

If there's a partnership in doing a dangerous thing, there's a real sense of bonding. Plus, the feeling of freedom is sexy.

Bridget Marquardt

I'm a social butterfly. Once I get somewhere, I can make myself at ease and start the team bonding and build a relationship with…

Drew Gooden

In some ways, the finding that financial education doesn't provide long-term payoffs is hardly surprising. After all, how much do you remember from your…

Richard Thaler