Oxytocin and testosterone coordinate adaptive social behaviors with stimuli in the environment. Administration of oxytocin and testosterone is associated with increased and reduced indicators of empathy, respectively, but how levels of these hormones are jointly affected by naturalistic empathy-inducing stimuli remains unclear. In this study, salivary oxytocin and testosterone levels were measured in 173 healthy adults before and after watching a video involving a gravely ill child. Participants also completed questionnaires to assess psychological variables predicted to affect oxytocin reactivity (Autism-Spectrum Quotient, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Empathy and Systemizing Quotients). On average, there was a 14% increase in oxytocin (p = 0.003) and 4% decrease in testosterone (p = 0.001) pre- to post-video. Opposite directional changes in hormone levels occurred together, as supported by a chi-square test (p < 0.001) and a circular statistics test (p < 0.05). Considered separately, psychological traits did not predict hormone levels or changes to any appreciable degree. However, oxytocin and testosterone changes were linked with empathy relative to systemizing such that: (1) 'Empathy Bias' was associated with a large oxytocin increase but little change in testosterone, while (2) 'Systemizing Bias' and 'Balance' between empathy and systemizing were associated with a decrease in testosterone but little change in oxytocin. These findings suggest that participants were divisible into 'high oxytocin responders' (relatively empathetic) and 'high testosterone responders' (balanced or systemizing-biased). These findings support a model of joint, opposite changes in oxytocin and testosterone under experimental empathy induction, with high, somewhat predictable, diversity in individual responses.

中文翻译：

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实验共情诱导促进催产素增加而睾丸激素减少。

催产素和睾丸激素通过环境刺激协调适应性社会行为。催产素和睾丸激素的使用分别与共情指标的升高和降低有关，但尚不清楚这些激素的水平如何受到自然的共情诱导刺激的共同影响。在这项研究中，在观看涉及重病儿童的视频之前和之后，对173名健康成年人的唾液催产素和睾丸激素水平进行了测量。参与者还完成了问卷调查，以评估预计会影响催产素反应性的心理变量（自闭症频谱商，人际反应性指数，同理心和系统化商数）。录像前至录像后，催产素平均增加14％（p = 0.003），睾丸激素减少4％（p = 0.001）。卡方检验（p <0.001）和循环统计检验（p <0.05）支持了激素水平的相反方向变化。单独考虑，心理特征不能预测激素水平或任何明显的变化。但是，催产素和睾丸激素的变化与共情相关，与系统化相关：（1）“ Empathy Bias”与催产素的大幅增加但睾丸激素变化不大有关，而（2）“系统化Bias”和“ Balance”之间的共情和系统化与睾丸激素减少但催产素变化不大有关。这些发现表明，参与者可以分为“催产素高应答者”（相对移情）和“睾丸激素高应答者”（平衡或系统偏见）。