APRESENTAÇÃO

DE APOIO

OCITOCINA, HORMÔNIOS QUE

REGULAM A VIDA SOCIAL
 Ementa da disciplina
Estudo do impacto dos hormônios na vida dos seres humanos, controlando desde o
ritmo de vida, as funções corporais, fome ou saciedade, felicidade ou raiva, entre outros, até
nossas atitudes no contato com outras pessoas (relações sociais).
 Professores
PAUL ZAK BRENO SANVICENTE-VIEIRA
Professor convidado Professor PUCRS
 Encontros e resumo da disciplina
AULA 1 AULA 2 AULA 3

Não se sabe com exatidão de O ser humano é extremamente O sono tem papel essencial
onde vem a felicidade, mas adaptativo. na regulação do humor.
entender as raízes evolutivas
pode auxiliar na descoberta.

Os hormônios serão sempre

fundamentais para a sobrevivência. Não se analisa sintomas
Experiências imersivas isolados; deve-se observar
movem, causam ações e todo o contexto.
reações.

As respostas fisiológicas são Percepção social é a capacidade

O autocuidado é essencial para ser
muito relacionadas com as de perceber mudanças no
capaz de se conectar com os outros.
emoções. ambiente social.

PAUL ZAK BRENO SANVICENTE-VIEIRA BRENO SANVICENTE-VIEIRA

Professor convidado Professor PUCRS Professor PUCRS
@pauljzak
Overview
1. Are we meant to be happy?
2. Happiness vs. life satisfaction
3. The sources of happiness
4. The molecule of happiness
5. How happiness improves life satisfaction
6. Hacking the sources of happiness
Evolution and Happiness
Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation's final law
Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek'd against his creed
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850
 Evolution and Happiness
• There is a tension between
survival and happiness

• Evolution is not designed to

make us happy

• Ultimate vs. proximate causes

of biological success

• Evolutionary success =
grandchildren

• Or, could something be

missing as family sizes fall?
 Evolution and Happiness
• A mutation around 200,000 years
ago increased the number of oxytocin
receptors in the homo sapiens brain.
This mutation spread through humans
because it increased survival and
children
• This made early humans more sensitive
Indus Valley civilization
to social information Period: 3300 BC–1900 BC
• This enabled groups larger than the
family to live together starting 10,000
years ago
• Cooperation among nonfamily
members can have strong benefits but
also risks
Evolution and Happiness
• “Good” people have more
opportunities to collaborate to find
food and other resources

• Across cultures, there is wide

agreement on what “good,”
“virtuous” and “trustworthy” mean

• Homo reciprocans/Golden rule

• Humans have long memories and

“bad” people will be ostracized from
the group decreasing their survival
Evolution and Happiness
• The mutation in the oxytocin
receptor gene had another
effect

• Humans are among the 5% of

mammals that pair-bond

• Children raised by two

caregivers are more likely
themselves to reproduce

• T-shirts and mating vs. pair-

bonding, testosterone vs.
estrogen and ovulation
Evolution and Happiness
• “Good” people might also have a
mating advantage

• Sharing resources is a key mating

requirement

• More generally, people who are

happy and funny are more desired
as partners

• Neurotic people are less desired

• Thus, happiness might have a

reproductive advantage in
producing children who will also be
happy and reproduce
Happiness vs. Satisfaction with Life

• Happiness is an acute feeling state

• Satisfaction is thriving, flourishing and eudaimonia, all long-term
states
• Happiness can contribute to life satisfaction

𝑇𝑇
Flourishing = ∫𝑡𝑡=𝑜𝑜 𝛽𝛽𝑡𝑡 ℎ𝑡𝑡 𝜒𝜒 𝑑𝑑𝑡𝑡 ,

Where t is time, h is happiness, 𝜒𝜒 is genes and other factors you

cannot directly control, and 𝛽𝛽 ∈ 0,1 is a temporal discount factor.
In other words, life satisfaction can be seen as adding up all the
happiness you have weighted towards the present
• Nearly all philosophical and religious traditions argue that life
satisfaction more than happiness is what matters.
Satisfaction with Life: What you cannot
control (𝜒𝜒)
• Genetics (set-point): 32-50% of SWL

• Personality: openness to new experiences (+), neuroticism (-)

• Chronotype: Morning larks have slightly higher SWL than evening

owls

• Age(+/-): SWL increases after middle age for most people

• Seasons (+/-): Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) [can be treated]

 Satisfaction with Life: What you can control
(h)
• Marriage (+): Especially when strong attachment between partners
and frequent sex

• Children(+/-): It depends

• Quality/closeness of relationships (+, family, friends)

• Purpose (+): found in fulfilling careers (often helping careers), care

for others, and volunteering

• Religion (+): Especially for those who actively participate.

• Social Life (+): Time spent socializing

 Satisfaction with Life: What you can
control (h)

• Mood: Having positive

experiences increases your
life satisfaction

• One way to think of

satisfaction is adding up
the happy experiences
and subtract the negative
ones
Satisfaction with Life: Set Point vs.
Experience
• The brain is an adaptive organ so if
we have enough of ”right” kind of
experiences (h), we can “hack” our
life satisfaction

• To do this effectively, we need to

delve into the neurochemistry of
happiness (for more on this, see my
previous lecture)
Neurochemistry: Oxytocin
• Oxytocin is made in the brain stem—this is an evolutionarily old
system

• Positive social interactions cause the brain to release oxytocin

and humans are anatomically hyper-aware of social interactions

• Oxytocin also released in blood and binds to the heart and

vagus nerve, motivating social interactions

• Oxytocin is a very shy and fragile molecule, but my lab

developed a protocol to measure it in living humans

• My lab has also developed a way to get synthetic oxytocin into

the human brain safely
Neurochemistry: Oxytocin & Mood
 Neurochemistry: Oxytocin
• Oxytocin increases empathy
• Oxytocin modulates brain
activity and induces the release
of the neurotransmitters
dopamine and serotonin.

• This reinforces positive social

behaviors (dopamine) and
reduces anxiety (serotonin)
when interacting with others.
Neurochemistry: Oxytocin
• Oxytocin increases prosocial
behaviors including
generosity, trustworthiness,
and charity

• Oxytocin provides a mood

lift

• Oxytocin reduces stress

• Oxytocin is the biological

substrate of love
Key Insight
• The oxytocin system in the brain is
adaptive.
• In animals and humans, when oxytocin
is released consistently, the brain
develops a bias, increasing the
likelihood of future oxytocin release.

• This is called “long term potentiation.”

If the brain is getting many
interactions that increase one’s mood,
then it will be easier to get a mood
lift for your next interaction. Very
cool!
 A Twist: Immersion
• When is an interaction good?
• Self-reported “liking” of an experience is
mostly unpredictive of what people actually
do. For example, people are unable to
identify new music or movies that will be
hits. Otherwise, 80% of Hollywood movies
would not lose money every year.
• A set of signals from the brain that I have
called “immersion” predicts what people
will do with 80%+ accuracy.
• This links an experience, to the brain, to
behavior
 Immersion in Experiences
• Oxytocin immerses us into other
worlds, but does not do this by
itself

• “Immersion” is a neurologic state

that occurs when someone is
attentive to the experience they
are having (dopamine) and the
experience is emotionally
resonant for them (oxytocin)

• When people are immersed in an

experience, this influences their
behavior, they remember it, and
enjoy it
 Attention
+ Emotional Resonance

© 2020 Immersion Neuroscience. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.

 Lab Neuroscience

© 2020 Immersion Neuroscience. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.

 Distributed Neuroscience

© 2020 Immersion Neuroscience. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.

 Hack 1: Movies, Videos, Adverts
• Movies, commercials and videos can
drive immersion and increase mood and
improve life satisfaction, but do not
always do this (correlation immersion and
positive mood = .43).

• Videos with a narrative arc are the most

effective way to immerse people

• Let’s assess if people know a good video

from a bad one based on “liking” and
then look at some examples

© 2020 Immersion Neuroscience. All Rights Reserved. Confidential.

Movies, Commercials & Videos
2018 Super Bowl commercials USA Today
Immersion Rank Rank
Diet Coke Groove 4.57 1 16
M&M's Human 4.26 2 5
E*Trade This is getting old 4.1 3 9
Doritos Blaze vs MTN Dew Ice 4.05 4 3
Toyota's One Team 4.04 5 11
Rocket Mortgage Keenan-Michael
Key 3.99 6 10
Pepsi This is the Pepsi 3.96 7 13
NBC Olympics Winter Olympics 3.94 8 7
Amazon's Alexa Loses Her Voice 3.93 9 1
Movies, Commercials & Videos

Prediction Immersion USA Today liking

YouTube views correlation +0.27 correlation -0.33

YouTube correlation +0.25 correlation -0.38

comments
Movies, Commercials & Videos
Movies, Commercials & Videos
Movies, Commercials & Videos

Why movies move us

Movies, Commercials & Videos
Movies, Videos, Adverts: Sports
Health Insurance?
 Neurosegmentation
10

6 English
Spanish
5

2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

• Although similar in patterns, immersion is 70% lower for Spanish

speakers compared to English speakers
• Content needs to be tested and targeted neurologically to generate
highest impact on brain and behavior
Social Purpose
Stories, Books, Podcasts
• Neurons that fire together wire together
• Immersive stories train your brain to experience Joy
• You are what you do!
Hack 2: Experiences

• Shopping is immersive and improves mood

Experiences
Activities that are moderately stressful and done with other
people raise oxytocin. My recent tandem skydive produced a
200% oxytocin spike. Try being a single rider on a roller
coaster and you'll have an immediate bond with the person
next to you.
Hack 3: Reduce Stress

1. Meditation: My lab has

found that a form of
meditation called "metta," in
which one focuses on loving
others, is more immersive than
standard
mindfulness meditation.
Reduce Stress
• Stress inhibits immersion in people or experiences by
reducing the ability to enjoy them
Reduce Stress
• Sleep is necessary for an effective immune system and to
reduce the risk of dementia
 Hack 4: Produce Joy at Work

• People who work in high

trust and high purpose
organizations enjoy their
jobs
Produce Joy at Work

Performance
Top quartile of Ofactor score have:

74% less 106% more 50% more 60% more 50% more 70% more
STRESS ENERGY at work PRODUCTIVITY JOY RETENTION PURPOSE

The Neuroscience of Trust: Setting Leaders up for Success 42

Produce Joy at Work

Performance
Top quartile of Ofactor score have:

56% higher 22% more 13% fewer 29% more

JOB SATISFACTION INNOVATION SICK DAYS SATISFIED
with their lives

43
 Produce Joy at Work
• Even with remote
meetings, do an
“emotional check-in”
by inquiring about
the emotions you see
in others

• “Hi Chris, you look

__________ today.”
Hack 5: Invest in Relationships

• Invest in love
Invest in Relationships

• Measure Immersion to repair relationships

Invest in Relationships

• My 50th birthday
Invest in Relationships
• End every conversation with “How can I be of service to
you?”

• Tell those around you why you are grateful to them and
write this down in a gratitude journal

• Use the “L” word often

Invest in Relationships

• Hugs not drugs

Invest in Relationships

Hugs not drugs

Invest in Relationships
Surprise someone with a gift and tell them why you care
about them
Invest in Relationships
Even connecting remotely increases oxytocin
 Invest in Relationships

• Simple mnemonic:
LOVE+
Invest in Relationships
• Pets, especially dogs, are potent oxytocin
releasers and mood enhancers
 KEY POINTS
• You become what you experience, so curate your life for
as many positive experiences as possible; train your
oxytocin system by having these experiences with other
people

• Immersive experiences are enjoyable and add to life

satisfaction.

• To become immersed you must be 1) fully present, 2)

calm enough to have an emotional experience

• Your life can get better, and you can make this happen!
Thank you!

@pauljzak