Oxytocin
Pair Bonding

Oxytocin is a powerful hormone. When we hug or kiss a loved one, oxytocin levels drive up. It also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. In fact, the hormone plays a huge role in pair bonding. Prairie voles, one of nature's most monogamous species, produce oxytocin in spades. This hormone is also greatly stimulated during sex, birth, breast feeding, and the list goes on.

Oxytocin Tests

Relationship Attachment

Do you have codependency issues?

Commitment Readiness

Are you ready to commit?

The Latest on Oxytocin

What the hands and belly say about relationships. by Joe Navarro, M.A.

Are we pair bonders more vulnerable to addiction? by Marnia Robinson

What do your dainty eyeteeth mean for your love life? by Marnia Robinson

Sexy no more, so what's a guy to do to? by Frances Cohen Praver, Ph.D.

Steer your limbic system to sustain romance. by Marnia Robinson

Evolution has bequeathed us three different brain systems for love. by Helen E. Fisher, Ph.D.

How to increase sexual satisfaction through touch and affection. by Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Tender loving care - the scientific power of love by Talya Miron-Shatz, Ph.D.

A secret lover is a desparate plea for help and a catalyst for change. by Frances Cohen Praver, Ph.D.

Can romantic love and raw lust last over time? by Frances Cohen Praver, Ph.D.

Oxytocin Blogs

The Moral Molecule
Neuroscience and economic behavior
By Paul J. Zak
A Natural History of the Modern Mind
Cognition, relationships, and evolution.
By Kayla Causey and Aaron Goetz
The Pleasures of Sex
How the science of sex can lead to more pleasurable sex.
By Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Love Doc
Plumbing the depths of the psychology and neurobiology of love.
By Frances Cohen Praver, Ph.D.
The Friendship Doctor
Send in your friendship questions and quandaries and get expert answers and solutions.
By Irene S. Levine, Ph.D.
Of Human Bonding
An Anthropologist's View
By Helen Fisher