Giving people oxytocin alongside positive social pressure increases kindness toward refugees, even in those with a fear of foreigners, new research has found.

The hormone is released naturally by humans during social and sexual behaviour, and research has shown it breeds trust and generosity in others.

Oxytocin, known as the love or 'cuddle hormone', together with being surrounded by charitable peers was found to boost people's willingness to donate money to refugees in, even in those with a sceptical attitude toward migrants.

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Giving xenophobic people oxytocin along with positive social influence from peers increases kindness toward refugees, new research has found (stock image)

WHAT IS OXYTOCIN? Oxytocin, known as the 'love hormone', engenders trust and generosity. The hormone is released naturally in the blood and brains of humans and other mammals, during social and sexual behaviours. The hormone is produced by women during labour to help them bond with their baby. It is also released during lovemaking, leading to it being nicknamed the 'cuddle chemical'. Other loving touches, from hugging a teddy bear to patting a pet dog, also trigger its release. Advertisement

The researchers, from the University of Bonn in west Germany, claim their finding could eventually help people adapt to living around migrants.

'The combined enhancement of oxytocin and peer influence could diminish selfish motives,' study lead author Professor Rene Hurlemann said.

'Given the right circumstances, oxytocin may help promote the acceptance and integration of migrants into Western cultures,'

In the first of two experiments, scientists, from the University of Bonn in western Germany, showed 183 German study participants a series of 50 brief, real-life stories of refugees or native people in need.

Each of the accounts, shown as text on a computer screen, described the personal needs of poor people.

Half of the stories of people in need were portrayed as refugees, and half as German natives.

Pictured are examples of native (left) and refugee (right) cases presented to participants in the study. In total, the task consisted of 50 such 'vignettes' briefly describing the personal needs of poor people

OXYTOCIN MYSTERY Two main theories exist on how and why the body releases oxytocin. Some scientists believe that the hormone is released primarily to enhance a relationship and make it stronger when you're with someone you love. But others believe that oxytocin levels increase primarily when we find ourselves in difficult or even threatening situations. In those cases, the hormone helps us seek out new social relationships. Scientists are yet to definitively answer which of the two theories is true. Advertisement

The personal needs were all what the United Nations has defined as minimum standards for leading a safe and dignified life, namely access to food, adequate housing, or participation in social and cultural life.

Subjects were given €50 (£45 or $59) and could donate a maximum of €1 (£0.91 or $1.20) to each case, leaving them the rest as personal payoff.

'We were surprised that the participants in the first experiment donated around 20 percent more to refugees than to local people in need,' said Ms Marsh.

In another independent experiment involving over 100 participants, the subjects' personal attitudes towards refugees were assessed in a questionnaire.

Then, half of the group received the bonding hormone oxytocin via a nasal spray.

The other half of the group received a placebo before they went through the donation task used in the first experiment.

Under the influence of oxytocin, the individuals who tended to show a positive attitude towards refugees doubled their donations to both the locals and the refugees.

However, oxytocin had no effect in individuals who expressed a more defensive attitude towards migrants: In those participants, the tendency to donate was very low to locals and refugees alike.

'Oxytocin clearly increases generosity towards those in need, however, if this altruistic fundamental attitude is missing, the hormone alone cannot create it,' said Professor Hurlemann.

The new study found that oxytocin, known as the 'love hormone', can even make non-xenophobic people kinder toward refugees, without the need for a social push (stock image)

In a third experiment, the team found that the addition of positive social cues drastically increased generosity among xenophobic test participants.

In this test, the team presented participants with the average donation their peers made in the first experiment under each donation story.

Half of the participants once again received oxytocin, while the other half got a placebo.

'Now, even people with negative attitudes towards migrants donated up to 74 per cent more to refugees than in the previous round,' said Ms Marsh.

Through the combined administration of oxytocin with a social norm, the donations for refugees in those sceptical towards migrants nearly reached half of the sums donated by the group, which showed a positive attitude towards refugees.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE 'LOVE HORMONE' A study published in May 2017 suggested that oxytocin could play a role in how we deal with crises. Researchers discovered that the hormone is released when people feel their relationship is under threat, helping them to re-engage with their partner. An international team of researchers led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, looked at the effects of oxytocin when a relationship was under threat. The researchers examined 75 American couples, and 148 Norwegian individuals who were one of the partners in their relationships. Participants were asked to spend a few minutes thinking about their relationship, before writing about ways that their partner responds to them, or how they wished their partner would respond to them. Oxytocin levels were measured both before and during the tasks. The partners who were more invested in a relationship released more oxytocin when they thought about their relationship than the less invested partner did. Here, oxytocin may be acting like a relationship 'crisis hormone'. Advertisement

'Our results suggest that there should be a greater focus on enabling positive social encounters among citizens of hosting countries that communicate a prosocial norm,' Ms Marsh told MailOnline.

'For example, if people whom we trust, such as supervisors, neighbours or friends, act as a role model by making public their positive attitude towards refugees, more people would probably feel motivated to help.

'In such a 'prosocial' context, oxytocin could increase trust and minimise anxiety – experience shows that the oxytocin level in the blood increases during social interaction and shared activities.'