Specific hormones stimulate non-sexual intimate behavior
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
confidence 86/100
Specific neuropeptide hormones, most notably oxytocin and vasopressin, play a fundamental role in stimulating and regulating non-sexual intimate behaviors such as social bonding, affectionate touch, affiliation, and prosocial engagement.
Evidence for · 6
The Monogamy Paradox: What Do Love and Sex Have to Do With It?
2018 · cited by 55
Paper 0 establishes that oxytocin and vasopressin pathways support non-sexual social features of monogamy such as selective affiliation and lasting social bonds.
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More for · 5
Frank Beach award winner: Neuroendocrinology of group living.
2019 · cited by 29
Paper 3 reviews how non-sexual affiliative behaviors and peer relationships are impacted by oxytocin and HPA axis signaling.
Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels: An ecological momentary assessment study.
2023 · cited by 18
Paper 4 demonstrates that affectionate touch increases endogenous oxytocin levels and buffers stress on a hormonal level.
Fear, love, and the origins of canid domestication: An oxytocin hypothesis.
2022 · cited by 15
Paper 5 discusses oxytocin's critical functions in affiliative social behavior, social engagement, and cooperation.
The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development.
2023 · cited by 9
Paper 8 highlights how oxytocinergic functioning underlies prosocial development and supportive social relationships.
A review of the effects of different types of social behaviors on the recruitment of neuropeptides and neurotransmitters in the nucleus accumbens.
2025 · cited by 6
Paper 10 concludes that oxytocin, endocannabinoids, and mu-opioid receptors positively regulate rewarding non-sexual social behaviors like affiliation and play.