Thin-slicing study of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and the evaluation and expression of the prosocial disposition

1. Aleksandr Kogan^a,¹,
2. Laura R. Saslow^b,
3. Emily A. Impett^a,
4. Christopher Oveis^c,
5. Dacher Keltner^d, and
6. Sarina Rodrigues Saturn^e

+ Author Affiliations

1. ^aDepartment of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON, Canada L5L 1C6;
2. ^bOsher Center, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94115-3010;
3. ^cRady School of Management, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0553;
4. ^dDepartment of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650; and
5. ^eDepartment of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331

1. Edited* by Shelley E. Taylor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, and approved October 19, 2011 (received for review August 19, 2011)

Abstract

Individuals who are homozygous for the G allele of the rs53576 SNP of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene tend to be more prosocial than carriers of the A allele. However, little is known about how these differences manifest behaviorally and whether they are readily detectable by outside observers, both critical questions in theoretical accounts of prosociality. In the present study, we used thin-slicing methodology to test the hypotheses that (i) individual differences in rs53576 genotype predict how prosocial observers judge target individuals to be on the basis of brief observations of behavior, and (ii) that variation in targets’ nonverbal displays of affiliative cues would account for these judgment differences. In line with predictions, we found that individuals homozygous for the G allele were judged to be more prosocial than carriers of the A allele. These differences were completely accounted for by variations in the expression of affiliative cues. Thus, individual differences in rs53576 are associated with behavioral manifestations of prosociality, which ultimately guide the judgments others make about the individual.

Thin-slicing study of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and the evaluation and expression of the prosocial disposition

Footnotes

• ↵¹To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: alex.kogan@utoronto.ca.

• Author contributions: A.K., L.R.S., E.A.I., C.O., D.K., and S.R.S. designed research; A.K. performed research; A.K. analyzed data; and A.K., L.R.S., E.A.I., C.O., D.K., and S.R.S. wrote the paper.
• The authors declare no conflict of interest.
• ↵*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.
• This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1112658108/-/DCSupplemental.