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What Causes What
Biology & endocrinology

Oxytocin

IU (intranasal) or pg/mL (plasma)

Neuropeptide sold as the trust hormone. The registered replication of the 2005 Nature RCT did not find the main effect.

Intranasal oxytocin was the 2010s shortcut from a nasal spray to social capital. Kosfeld et al. (2005) reported higher trust-game transfers after OT. Later reviews and a 2020 registered replication (Declerck et al., including original authors) did not recover the headline effect under the original minimal-social-contact condition. Treat OT as a molecule with a replication file, not as a management tool.

Also called OT, intranasal oxytocin.

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