Shelley E. Taylor, Teresa Seeman, and Alison Moore University of California, Los Angeles
In threatening times, people seek positive social contacts, because relationships provide protection to maintain personal safety and that of offspring. This "tend-and-befriend" account of social responses to stress is the basis for our work. Our previous research has found that oxytocin is implicated in social responses to stress, especially in women. The present work, tests the idea that oxytocin acts as a social thermostat that is responsive to adequacy of social relations, which prompts people to seek social contact if relationships fall below an adequate level, and which reduces biological and psychological stress responses, once positive social contacts are reestablished. Vasopressin, a hormone very similar to oxytocin, has been tied to male social behavior under stress in animal studies, and so the research also includes men to test whether vasopressin and/or oxytocin modulate men's responses to stress. One-hundred-eighty healthy young adults will be recruited for a study of social responses to stress. Through questionnaires and a daily diary, satisfaction with social contacts will be measured to see whether gaps in social relationships are associated with elevated oxytocin. Participants then complete stressful tasks in the laboratory in the presence of a supportive audience, a hostile audience, or no audience. Heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol are assessed at multiple times during the stress protocol. Oxytocin will be related to information about relationships and to biological stress responses during the stress tasks. This research represents the first test of a biosocial process proposed to underlie human social responses to threats and the stress-reducing effects of social contact.
The broader impact of the work stems from its multidisciplinary approach to understanding why people seek social contact in times of stress and why those contacts have such clear benefits for psychological adjustment and health. There currently exists a profound gender gap in stress studies, with men substantially. Thus, the broader impact of the work also stems from its exploration of sex differences in social responses to threat and their biological underpinnings. Previous work by the researchers on this "tend-and-befriend" approach to stress has not only influenced current directions in stress research, but has also made its way into the public consciousness through hundreds of media portrayals that detail the significant benefits of social contacts under stress.
