Elsevier

Biological Psychology

Volume 77, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 1-10
Biological Psychology

Review
Attachment, aggression and affiliation: The role of oxytocin in female social behavior

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.001Get rights and content

Abstract

The peptide hormones oxytocin and vasopressin have been implicated in a range of mammalian social behaviors including maternal care, pair bonding and affiliation. Oxytocin is of special relevance to female behavior because its effects are strongly modulated by estrogen. This article reviews animal and human research and is organised in terms of two research perspectives. The specific attachment model identifies oxytocin as orchestrating special bonds with offspring and mates, including the use of aggression in the protection of these relationships. The trait affiliation model considers oxytocin in relation to the trait of general social motivation that varies between and within species. Implications for understanding and researching the role of oxytocin in women's attachment, affiliation and aggression are discussed.

Section snippets

Background

The peptide hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) have been implicated in the regulation of mammalian social behavior. OT and AVP are highly conserved across species in terms of structure and function. Both are composed of nine amino acids (sharing seven in common) and have peripheral and central effects. AVP modulates a number of behaviors exhibited only by males (Goodson and Bass, 2001) while OT is more closely involved in female behavior.

Peripherally, OT regulates uterine

Maternal care and defence: animal studies

The role of OT in maternal behavior has been extensively researched and thoroughly reviewed elsewhere (Broad et al., 2006, Insel, 2000, Kendrick, 2000). Although females in many mammalian species avoid and even attack newborns, these hostile nulliparous females quickly become nurturant after giving birth. In late pregnancy, in response to rising estrogen levels, OT receptors are upregulated in the uterus and the brain. Vagino-cervical stimulation during parturition triggers activation of OT

Trait affiliation model

Oxytocin has been implicated in the motivation to affiliate more generally. Affiliation is conceived of as an enduring trait, similar to sociability, subject to variation between species and individuals in contrast to ‘attachment’ which characterises a specific dyadic relationship.

Issues in research interpretation and implementation

The bulk of OT research to date has been performed on rodents. Even within these taxa, there is inconsistency in the findings. In addition, there is considerable variation in receptor distribution across mammalian species. Extrapolation to humans presents the additional problem of the extent to which ‘hard-wired’ responses, such as maternal behavior, pair bonding and aggression, have been superseded by the learning and cultural transmission afforded by increased cortical size.

Within species, it

Implications for research on women's affiliation and aggression

Oxytocin is explicitly incorporated in the ‘tend and befriend’ biosocial model of women's affiliation and aggression proposed by Taylor et al. (2000). They argue that mammalian females’ evolutionarily role in nursing and defending offspring meant that a fight-or-flight response in the face of threat might risk injury to or fatal abandonment of their offspring. While testosterone primes aggressive behavior in men, females largely lack androgens and so ‘are unlikely to show a physical ‘fight’

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