IT SOUNDS like a boon for con artists: a hormone that makes people trust you. Just give them a crafty whiff of it, and hey presto! 鈥� they鈥檙e giving you all their money with no questions asked.
That is one possibility suggested by a study showing that three puffs of a nasal spray containing the hormone oxytocin makes people more likely to trust strangers with their money. The study centred on a game in which an 鈥渋nvestor鈥� player gives money to an anonymous 鈥渢rustee鈥�, whom the player never meets face to face. There is no obligation for the 鈥渢rustee鈥� to give anything back, so trust is crucial.
Michael Kosfeld鈥檚 team at the University of Zurich in Switzerland found that investors gave away their money far more willingly if they first sniffed oxytocin (Nature, vol 435, p 673). Yet the difference disappeared in a second version of the game in which the human trustee was replaced by a computer program.
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鈥淚nvestors gave away their money far more willingly if they first sniffed oxytocin鈥�
Kosfeld speculates that the hormone reduces people鈥檚 fear of betrayal by overcoming an unwillingness to initiate interaction with strangers, as has been seen in animal studies. 鈥淚t helps animals to approach one another, which is a parallel with trust in our game,鈥� says Kosfeld.
Kosfeld and his colleagues believe the hormone has potential as a treatment for shy, withdrawn people. 鈥淚n companion with psychotherapy, it could have a positive effect,鈥� he says.
But could it really be used to con people? Although oxytocin is already available commercially, Kosfeld thinks such a scam would be difficult. Even if con artists could trick people into sniffing the hormone, it takes nearly an hour to reach the brain and have any effect.
