Data for: The Effect of Oxytocin on Group Formation and Strategic Thinking in Men

Abstract Decision-making in groups is a remarkable and decisive element of human societies. Humans are able to organize themselves in groups, engage in collaborative decision-making processes and arrive at a binding agreement, even in the absence of unanimous consent. However, the transfer of decision-making autonomy requires a willingness to deliberately expose oneself to the decisions of others. A lack of trust in the abilities of others or of the underlying decisionmaking process, i.e. public trust, can lead to a breakdown of organizations in political or economic domains. Recent studies indicate that the biological basis of trust on an individual level is related to Oxytocin, an endogenous neuropeptide and hormone, which is also associated with pro-social behavior and positive conflict resolution. However, little is known about the effects of Oxytocin on the inclination of individuals to form or join groups and to deliberately engage in collaborative decision-making processes. Here, we show that intranasal administration of Oxytocin (n = 60) compared to placebo (n = 60) in males causes an adverse effect on the choice for forming groups in the presence of a competitive environment. In particular, Oxytocin negatively affects the willingness to work collaboratively in a p-Beauty contest game, whereas the effect is most pronounced for participants with relatively high strategic sophistication. Since our data provide initial evidence that Oxytocin has a positive effect on strategic thinking and performance in the p-Beauty contest game, we argue that the adverse effect on group formation might be rooted in an enhanced strategic sophistication of participants treated with Oxytocin.摘要 群体决策是人类社会中极具标志性且至关重要的组成部分。人类能够以群体形式开展组织协作，参与协同决策流程并达成具有约束力的共识，即便未获得全体一致同意。然而，决策自主权的让渡需要个体主动自愿地接受他人的决策。若对他人能力或底层决策流程——即公共信任——缺乏足够信任，可能会导致政治或经济领域的组织运转失灵。 近期研究表明，个体层面的信任生物学基础与催产素（Oxytocin）相关，它是一种内源性神经肽与激素，同时也与亲社会行为及积极的冲突解决存在关联。但目前对于催产素如何影响个体组建或加入群体、主动参与协同决策的倾向，相关研究仍较为匮乏。 本研究证实，在男性群体中，与安慰剂组（n=60）相比，经鼻给药催产素组（n=60）在存在竞争环境的场景下，对群体组建选择产生了负面影响。具体而言，催产素会降低个体在p-选美博弈（p-Beauty contest game）中的协作意愿，且该效应在战略复杂度相对较高的参与者中表现最为显著。鉴于本研究数据首次证明催产素对p-选美博弈中的战略思维与表现具有积极作用，我们认为其对群体组建的负面影响，可能源于催产素给药后参与者战略复杂度的提升。