Oxytocin makes inexperienced men more selective in their dating strategy

Oxytocin (OT) is known to be involved in pair-bonding. This, however, does not take the form of an undifferentiated approach behavior but rather a behavior adapted to the current needs. Therefore, in this study, we hypothesized OT to promote adaptive pair-bonding strategies by increasing appropriate selectiveness in the dating context. To test this, 110 participants intranasally self-administered OT or placebo and then conducted a “Tinder” style task in which they rated pictures of medium attractive individuals in terms of their romantic and sexual interest. Two patterns of results revealed: First, we found a less selective dating strategy among males compared to females, both with regard to romantic and sexual dating. Second, this unselective strategy was mostly pronounced among the rather inexperienced males which, however, was restored to the level of experienced males by OT. These findings support previous insights on pair-bonding and add to the understanding of the neuromodulator OT. Specifically, OT seems to adjust behaviors during social interactions to help individuals fit into social environments.