An evolutionary perspective on oxytocin and its behavioral effects

Oxytocin (OT) has received a tremendous amount of attention from psychologists and neuroscientists over the past decade, most notably through OT administration studies. An understanding of OT's evolved functions in humans, however, requires an understanding of the circumstances under which people are designed to release OT. A phylogenetic perspective suggests that OT's effects in social contexts were evolved from its adaptive regulation of maternal behavior. More generally, OT may function to and gear motivational systems toward maintaining and regulating valued but at-risk relationships of various types, including romantic relationships. A general framework for understanding endocrine hormones suggests that OT may more generally have been shaped by selection to modulate allocation of limited resources.