It's been a while since I have self diagnosed my Oxytocin surpluses and yes, I am aware this theory could be my argumentum ad ignorantiam too.
Let me put it this way, I am not sure how to test for Oxytocin level in my body or to be bland, I don't think my insurance company would gleefully agree to the test just full fill my curiosity. So for the time being, I am left without any solid proof for my theory.
Oxytocin is the hormone of love and boast's the empathy rating in an individual.
Thanks to Olmert's book Made for each other : The Biology of human animal bond , Oxytocin explained my surreal relationship with Max. I call it surreal only because I was afraid of dogs all my life until Max came to my life. I could see myself talking to the younger me and asking what the heck were you thinking all your life? Max oozes with Oxytocin as well, five minutes with him will change any agnostic. Our bond was one of the simplest explanation and Oxytocin fits perfectly to the theory. Also, It's a no brainer when Oxytocin explains the romantic libran inside me.
Growing up in India, romanticized by "Robinhood-Bollywood" movies, I had this profound feeling of helpness on how to help the needy. Well this could be easily explained as a teenagers idealistic view of the world and flirting with socialism. Its been a long time now since I have shed the quixotic memories and understand Adam Smith's theories (and its limits) but still every time I visit India, the omnipresent booming economy doesn't impress me. What I see instead is the other side of India which I saw all my life, unchanged. There comes this overwhelming empathy for those people who live like what humans aren't supposed to live and my rational mind consoling my empathy as this is "civilization in process". There lies the dangers of my Oxytocin to flirt with irrationality and having know its shortcoming (depending on how we use it), I despise socialism, understand the limits of capitalism and the free-riders among the people whom I empathize.
My biggest shortcoming was trust. People can sweet talk (the right way), their way into my heart and I get blind sighted even when something is obviously wrong. I don't trust everyone like an moron but the people I trusted most in life, in hindsight turned out to be someone I wouldn't have trusted if I was aware of the obviousness of some facts. At the same time, the greatest benefit in trusting people is trust becomes mutual. Oxytocin's effect on trust is beautifully inferred from this trust game study:
"The amygdala is a region of the brain involved in emotion and fear learning, and is rich in oxytocin receptors, whereas the caudate nucleus has been previously linked to reward-related responses and learning to trust . Thus, the authors hypothesized that oxytocin decreases both fear mechanisms associated with a potential aversion of betrayals (via the amygdala) and our reliance on positive feedback that can influence future decisions (via the caudate). This in turn facilitates the expression of trust even after breaches of trust have occurred."
Last time I checked I am still a social animal and I cannot simply stop trusting people which will be a ridiculous extremity. Science exposed my flaws and changing it on the surface its looks like a sisyphean task but its upto me to be prudent and vigilant.
So far Oxytocin lead to a self justification hypothesis of my goodness and even its short comings portrayed me as an innocent victim. Recently, my theory put me in spot !! I read this new research :
"Breathing in the hormone oxytocin has been shown in recent years to trigger all kinds of feel-good emotions in people, such as trust, empathy and generosity. Now scientists find it might have a dark side: Snorting oxytocin might also incite envy and gloating.
Past studies have shown that oxytocin plays a wide role in social bonding in mammals—between mates, for instance, or mother and child—and recent work suggested the hormone was linked with pro-social behavior in people, such as altruism."
That was one heck of study which bought my self justification to its toes. Not every one is a monk and we succumb to envy. To be fair, I don't get envy very easily though but there are things close to my heart leads to envy when irrationality thinks it's endangered. In retrospect, I was possessive of my Dad (and sharing his affection) and it some times reflects even to this day. About Max, there is no question I get jealous, when he avoids me to play with guest at home. Max is no saint either, he is driven by Oxytocin too, I cannot touch any another dog and for that matter, no one can touch me either. No wonder, we get along so well!! As far as gloating, I loathe it but flamboyance is inbred in me. I always adored humility and only people I look up to are the humble ones.
Oxytocin explained so much of my idiosyncrasies, my strengths and weakness but I am not blindly in love with Oxytocin, it simply answers who I am and why I am, the way I am.I am not going to be driven by confirmation bias and open to alternatives if my Oxytocin theory becomes a fallacy.
"Man will become better when you show him what he is like." - Anton Chekhov
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