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The hormones oxytocin and vasopressin are thought to affect how people behave toward each other. For example, lab tests have found that people play nicer in economic games after having oxytocin squirted up their nose. “This is an attempt to take this into the real world a little bit,” says Michael Poulin, of the University at Buffalo. He co-wrote the paper with Anneke Buffone of the University at Buffalo and E. Alison Holman of the University of California, Irvine. “We really haven’t seen it applied as much to broader-scale social behaviors—giving to charity, participation in the civic arena, and so on.” [continue reading…]