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Tryptophan promotes charitable donating
The link between serotonin (5-HT) and one of the most important elements of prosocial behavior, charity, has remained largely uninvestigated. In the present study, we tested whether charitable donating can be promoted by administering the food supplement L-Tryptophan (TRP), the biochemical precursor...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268492/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25566132 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01451 |
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author | Steenbergen, Laura Sellaro, Roberta Colzato, Lorenza S. |
author_facet | Steenbergen, Laura Sellaro, Roberta Colzato, Lorenza S. |
author_sort | Steenbergen, Laura |
collection | PubMed |
description | The link between serotonin (5-HT) and one of the most important elements of prosocial behavior, charity, has remained largely uninvestigated. In the present study, we tested whether charitable donating can be promoted by administering the food supplement L-Tryptophan (TRP), the biochemical precursor of 5-HT. Participants were compared with respect to the amount of money they donated when given the opportunity to make a charitable donation. As expected, compared to a neutral placebo, TRP appears to increase the participants’ willingness to donate money to a charity. This result supports the idea that the food we eat may act as a cognitive enhancer modulating the way we think and perceive the world and others. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4268492 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42684922015-01-06 Tryptophan promotes charitable donating Steenbergen, Laura Sellaro, Roberta Colzato, Lorenza S. Front Psychol Psychology The link between serotonin (5-HT) and one of the most important elements of prosocial behavior, charity, has remained largely uninvestigated. In the present study, we tested whether charitable donating can be promoted by administering the food supplement L-Tryptophan (TRP), the biochemical precursor of 5-HT. Participants were compared with respect to the amount of money they donated when given the opportunity to make a charitable donation. As expected, compared to a neutral placebo, TRP appears to increase the participants’ willingness to donate money to a charity. This result supports the idea that the food we eat may act as a cognitive enhancer modulating the way we think and perceive the world and others. Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4268492/ /pubmed/25566132 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01451 Text en Copyright © 2014 Steenbergen, Sellaro and Colzato. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Steenbergen, Laura Sellaro, Roberta Colzato, Lorenza S. Tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
title | Tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
title_full | Tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
title_fullStr | Tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
title_full_unstemmed | Tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
title_short | Tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
title_sort | tryptophan promotes charitable donating |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268492/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25566132 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01451 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT steenbergenlaura tryptophanpromotescharitabledonating AT sellaroroberta tryptophanpromotescharitabledonating AT colzatolorenzas tryptophanpromotescharitabledonating |