Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms

Abstract Social contact is known to impact the partners' physiology and behavior but the mechanisms underpinning such inter-partner influences are far from clear. Guided by the biobehavioral synchrony conceptual frame, we examined how social dialogue shapes the partners' multi-system endoc...

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Main Authors: Amir Djalovski, Sivan Kinreich, Orna Zagoory-Sharon, Ruth Feldman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2021-06-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91626-0
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author Amir Djalovski
Sivan Kinreich
Orna Zagoory-Sharon
Ruth Feldman
author_facet Amir Djalovski
Sivan Kinreich
Orna Zagoory-Sharon
Ruth Feldman
author_sort Amir Djalovski
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Social contact is known to impact the partners' physiology and behavior but the mechanisms underpinning such inter-partner influences are far from clear. Guided by the biobehavioral synchrony conceptual frame, we examined how social dialogue shapes the partners' multi-system endocrine response as mediated by behavioral synchrony. To address sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms, we recruited 82 man–woman pairs (N = 164 participants) in three attachment groups; long-term couples (n = 29), best friends (n = 26), and ingroup strangers (n = 27). We used salivary measures of oxytocin (OT), cortisol (CT), testosterone (T), and secretory immuglobolinA (s-IgA), biomarker of the immune system, before and after a 30-min social dialogue. Dialogue increased oxytocin and reduced cortisol and testosterone. Cross-person cross-hormone influences indicated that dialogue carries distinct effects on women and men as mediated by social behavior and attachment status. Men's baseline stress-related biomarkers showed both direct hormone-to-hormone associations and, via attachment status and behavioral synchrony, impacted women's post-dialogue biomarkers of stress, affiliation, and immunity. In contrast, women's baseline stress biomarkers linked with men's stress response only through the mediating role of behavioral synchrony. As to affiliation biomarkers, men's initial OT impacted women's OT response only through behavioral synchrony, whereas women's baseline OT was directly related to men's post-dialogue OT levels. Findings pinpoint the neuroendocrine advantage of social dialogue, suggest that women are more sensitive to signs of men's initial stress and social status, and describe behavior-based mechanisms by which human attachments create a coupled biology toward greater well-being and resilience.
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spelling doaj.art-c4e46d8585974b95a600cf458aeb08ca2022-12-21T22:43:27ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-06-0111111010.1038/s41598-021-91626-0Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanismsAmir Djalovski0Sivan Kinreich1Orna Zagoory-Sharon2Ruth Feldman3Center for Developmental Social Neuroscience, Interdisciplinary Center HerzliyaDepartment of Psychiatry, State University of New York Downstate Medical CenterCenter for Developmental Social Neuroscience, Interdisciplinary Center HerzliyaCenter for Developmental Social Neuroscience, Interdisciplinary Center HerzliyaAbstract Social contact is known to impact the partners' physiology and behavior but the mechanisms underpinning such inter-partner influences are far from clear. Guided by the biobehavioral synchrony conceptual frame, we examined how social dialogue shapes the partners' multi-system endocrine response as mediated by behavioral synchrony. To address sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms, we recruited 82 man–woman pairs (N = 164 participants) in three attachment groups; long-term couples (n = 29), best friends (n = 26), and ingroup strangers (n = 27). We used salivary measures of oxytocin (OT), cortisol (CT), testosterone (T), and secretory immuglobolinA (s-IgA), biomarker of the immune system, before and after a 30-min social dialogue. Dialogue increased oxytocin and reduced cortisol and testosterone. Cross-person cross-hormone influences indicated that dialogue carries distinct effects on women and men as mediated by social behavior and attachment status. Men's baseline stress-related biomarkers showed both direct hormone-to-hormone associations and, via attachment status and behavioral synchrony, impacted women's post-dialogue biomarkers of stress, affiliation, and immunity. In contrast, women's baseline stress biomarkers linked with men's stress response only through the mediating role of behavioral synchrony. As to affiliation biomarkers, men's initial OT impacted women's OT response only through behavioral synchrony, whereas women's baseline OT was directly related to men's post-dialogue OT levels. Findings pinpoint the neuroendocrine advantage of social dialogue, suggest that women are more sensitive to signs of men's initial stress and social status, and describe behavior-based mechanisms by which human attachments create a coupled biology toward greater well-being and resilience.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91626-0
spellingShingle Amir Djalovski
Sivan Kinreich
Orna Zagoory-Sharon
Ruth Feldman
Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms
Scientific Reports
title Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms
title_full Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms
title_fullStr Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms
title_full_unstemmed Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms
title_short Social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners' endocrine response via sex-specific, hormone-specific, attachment-specific mechanisms
title_sort social dialogue triggers biobehavioral synchrony of partners endocrine response via sex specific hormone specific attachment specific mechanisms
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91626-0
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