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Method

Sixty healthy young adult men (mean age= 21.2 years, SD= 2.4) completed measures of demographics, risk taking (Jackson, 1994), self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1979), kindness (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004), agreeableness (Costa & McCrae, 1992), social competence (Petrides, 2009), emotional dispositions (Petrides & Furnham, 2003), and psychological disorders (Derogatis, 1993). Participants were then randomly assigned to receive intranasal OT (n= 30; 32 IU Syntocinon Spray, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland) or intranasal placebo (n= 30). To avoid gender differences in OT response, we recruited only males. Forty-five minutes after substance inhalation (the time required for OT to be fully active), participants received instructions for the trust game. Each participant assumed the role of investor and could transfer money to a “trustee,” in whose hands the funds would triple. The trustee would then transfer …