Oxytocin facilitates valence-dependent valuation of social evaluation of the self

Abstract

People are eager to know the self in other's eyes even with personal costs. However, what drives people costly to know evaluations remains unknown. Here we tested the hypothesis of placing subjective value on knowing social evaluations. To quantify the subjective value, we developed a pay-to-know choice task where individuals trade off profits against knowing social evaluations. Individuals computed independent unknown aversion towards positive and negative social evaluations and placed higher values on knowing social evaluation on positive than negative aspects. Such a valence-dependent valuation of social evaluation was facilitated by oxytocin, a neuropeptide linked to feedback learning and valuation processes, by decreasing values of negative social evaluation. Moreover, individuals scoring high in depression undervalued positive social evaluation, which was normalized by oxytocin. We reveal the psychological and computational processes underlying self-image formation/update and suggest a role of oxytocin in normalizing hypo-valuation of positive social evaluation in depression.

Physical Effort Exertion for Peer Feedback Reveals Evolving Social Motivations From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

“…Shielding oneself from rejection is a self-protective strategy (Beauregard & Dunning, 1998; Hughes & Beer, 2012) that orients individuals toward attainment of hedonically positive feedback at the expense of complete or realistic information, which is theorized to maintain favorable self-views and greater well-being (Alloy & Abramson, 1979). Adults’ preferential motivation for positive peer feedback aligns with previous findings showing a self-reported desire for (Hepper et al, 2011) and enhanced neural reward response to (Spreckelmeyer et al, 2009; Wang & Ma, 2020) positive over negative feedback. Because adults have a more consistently positive self-concept (Sebastian et al, 2008) and stable social network (Cairns et al, 1995), and because they perceive themselves as more socially competent (Neemann & Harter, 1986), they may have less of a need to continually consume realistic feedback.…”

“…Although social information is considered intrinsically valuable (Tamir & Hughes, 2018), social evaluative information may hold particular value, as it can resolve uncertainty related to social status and belonging (Leary & Baumeister, 2000). Work in humans and nonhuman primates has demonstrated that receiving social information (viewing attractive faces, conspecifics), including evaluative information (how other people describe us), is worth incurring a cost (juice, money, effort; Deaner et al, 2005; Hayden et al, 2007; Wang & Ma, 2020) and engages similar anticipatory and consummatory responses in reward-related neural circuitry (Izuma et al, 2008; Powers et al, 2013; Spreckelmeyer et al, 2009).…”

A neurobiological perspective on social influence: Serotonin and social adaptation

“…Individuals with high scores in depression tended to devalue positive social evaluation. This was normalized after oxytocin administration (Wang & Ma, 2020). Additionally, growing evidence points toward an important role of oxytocin in promoting interpersonal synchronization (Gebauer et al, 2016; Josef et al, 2019) which is a key component of social alignment.…”

Intertwined associations between oxytocin, immune system and major depressive disorder

“…In chronic depression disorders, OXT increased attentional preference for the eye region during facial emotion recognition than controls, which can be a means of augmenting psychotherapy [34] . Individuals with high depression scores undervalued positive social evaluation, a common symptom of depression that was normalized by oxytocin [35] . In resistant depression, intranasal OXT twice daily for 4 weeks as an adjunct with escitalopram improves depressive symptoms [36] .…”