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100 More Things #149: OXYTOCIN IS THE BONDING CHEMICAL

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Singing and theater are favorite hobbies of mine. At various points in my life I have sung in a choir, played in concert bands, played in a marching band, played and sang in jazz ensembles, and acted and sang in musical theater productions. It’s great fun on many levels, but one of things that makes it the most fun is the feeling of camaraderie that comes from making music with others.

I wasn’t surprised, then, to find out that a neurochemical is released in the brain when people engage in synchronous activity with others, for example, singing, playing a musical instrument, chanting, drumming, or dancing. That neurochemical is oxytocin.

The Bonding Chemical

In The Moral Molecule, Paul Zak discusses research showing that when people bond through group activity, oxytocin levels are elevated. This explains why doing group activities bonds the group.
Oxytocin is released by the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Oxytocin has several effects:

  • Women release oxytocin during labor. Oxytocin produces the contractions that start the birthing process.
  • Women also release oxytocin when they nurse their babies.
  • Oxytocin reduces inflammation and helps heal wounds. This is one of the reasons why having a strong social network keeps you healthy—the bonding releases oxytocin and the oxytocin reduces inflammation.
  • Oxytocin makes people feel content, calm, and secure. It also decreases anxiety.
  • People are more likely to trust someone after oxytocin is released.

Whenever oxytocin is released, people feel love, tenderness, empathy, and trust. They feel a sense of belonging and connectedness. People who are incapable of releasing oxytocin have a tendency to become sociopathic, psychopathic, or narcissistic.

When you hug someone or stroke a dog, your body releases oxytocin. In fact, research shows that not only does your oxytocin level go up, but so does that of the dog.

Think of oxytocin as the tribal hormone. Some research shows that oxytocin is related to a feeling of connectedness to one’s group or tribe, and suspicion of “others” outside the group or tribe.

Heart rates in sync

In addition to releasing oxytocin, group musical and rhythmic activity has other effects. When people sing together, their breathing and heartbeats sync up. Björn Vickhoff (2013) attached pulse monitors to the ears of choir singers. When the choir began to sing, their heart rates slowed down, probably due to the regularities in breathing that singing requires. The slower heart rates didn’t surprise Vickhoff, but the syncing of the heart rates did.

Synchronous Behavior And Cooperation

Scott Wiltermuth and Chip Heath (2009) conducted a series of studies to see whether, and how, synchronous behavior affects how people cooperate. They tested combinations of walking in step, not walking in step, singing together, and other movements with groups of participants.

Synchronous activities are actions that people take together, where everyone is doing the same thing at the same time in physical proximity to one another. Dancing, tai chi, yoga, singing, clapping, and chanting in time are all examples of synchronous activity.
The researchers found that people who engaged in synchronous activities were more cooperative in completing subsequent tasks, and more willing to make personal sacrifices to benefit the group.

Wiltermuth and Heath’s research also showed that people don’t have to feel good about the group, or the group activity, in order to be more cooperative. The mere act of doing the synchronous activity seemed to strengthen social attachment among the group members.

Do people need synchronous activity to be happy?

In his article “Hive Psychology, Happiness, and Public Policy,” Jonathan Haidt goes so far as to say that because synchronous activity promotes bonding, it helps the survival of the group. He believes that there’s a certain type of happiness that humans can achieve only by engaging in synchronous activity.

Designing For Synchronous Interactions

As a designer, you probably spend most of your time designing interactions that are asynchronous—not synchronous. If you’re designing a website or software, there’s a high probability that each member of your target audience will be using that application on his own, without singing, drumming, or chanting!

But there may be opportunities for synchronous behavior. If you’re creating a video, you could include a well-known song with lyrics that people will be encouraged to sing along with. If you have a choice about how to convey information, you could choose a more synchronous way, for example, have people meet via video conference rather than sending emails or tracking documents in a workflow app.

Takeaways

  • Look for opportunities to have your target audience do something at the same time. For example, meeting via video conference is better than not meeting at all.
  • Look for opportunities to have your target audience do something synchronous with you and your brand. Even including a catchy song that they can sing along to will produce a small amount of bonding.
  • Look for opportunities to have your design team bond together.

Comments

One response to “100 More Things #149: OXYTOCIN IS THE BONDING CHEMICAL”

  1. Jane Doe Avatar
    Jane Doe

    This article is fascinating! I learned a lot about oxytocin.

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