Women are better at reading emotions from other people's facial expressions than men are. A new study suggests that oxytocin, the sociability-inducing hormone that women get by the bucketload from childbirth, boosts mood-reading. Researchers in Zurich found that men could also read moods from faces much better after they were sprayed with synthetic oxytocin -- but only for a short time.
So, gentlemen, if you ever find yourself caught in an "if you really loved me you'd read my mind" loop, carry a discrete supply of oxytocin in a nasal sprayer and give yourself an edge. Think of it as leveling the playing field.
Who knows, maybe someday they will put the stuff in the water supply, like fluoride, to improve social life.
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3 comments:
Gruntled:
No matter how eagerly I receive this news, and am ready for my prescription, I am dubious. If this were reliable, then Rush Limbaugh's radio show would have done a U-turn over those months of his addiction, and with it the mood of the country.
Alas, I will continue to be inept at reading minds . . .
Oops . . .
Oxytocin, oxycontin; a big difference between very similar words : )
Ah -- now I understand your first comment better.
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