CORRESPONDENCE Oxytocin: Prosocial Behavior, Social Salience, or Approach-Related Behavior? To the Editor: e read with much interest the article by Shamay-Tsoory and colleagues, which reported that oxytocin increases envy and gloating (1), and recent correspondence debating whether oxytocin is engaged in positive prosocial behavior (2) or increases the salience of social behaviors more generally (3). Shamay-Tsoory et al. (1) required participants to play a game of chance with another (fake participant) who either won more money (envy manipulation), lost more money (gloating manipulation), or won and lost equal amounts of money. The authors concluded that oxytocin may provoke a wide range of social behaviors including the negative social emotions, envy and gloating. Mattie Tops (2) argued, however, that the results can be explained by oxytocin-induced increases in social engagement and perspective taking, rather than negative social emotions, given that one of the envy-related emotion items (“I would like to be in the other person’s shoes”) was more affected by the administration of oxytocin than other items. We should point out that although Shamay-Tsoory et al. state that oxytocin does not increase envy when the participant gained more money than the other player (i.e., the relative gain condition, a condition in which envy would not be expected to be elicited), the statistic for this finding actually bordered on significance (for envy ratings p ⫽ .051, but not for the envy index, p ⫽ .12). We suggest an additional alternative hypothesis not discussed in the commentary on Shamay-Tsoory et al. (1): that oxytocin may serve to increase approach-related behaviors while inhibiting withdrawal-related behaviors. Approach and withdrawal behaviors are dimensions on which affective processes may be organized (4 – 6). Approach behaviors are appetitive in nature, generally associated with positive affective states, and involve moving toward a desired goal (e.g., happiness, enthusiasm, trust). Withdrawal behaviors are considered aversive in nature and involve moving away from a source of negative stimulation (e.g., fear, disgust, anxiety). A key component of both approach and withdrawal behavior is motivation, and therefore relates to the organization of affect more generally (7,8). We distinguish between positive/negative social behaviors and approach/withdrawal-related behaviors, such that whereas positive social behaviors (or prosocial behaviors) are generally approachrelated, negative social behaviors may also be approach related (e.g., envy and gloating). Research has recently highlighted the distinction between positive emotions and approach-related behaviors (9,10). For example, although anger is a negative emotion, it is an approach-related behavior because it involves approaching a particular desired outcome, which may involve the creation of discomfort for someone else or of rectifying an injustice (9). Similarly, jealousy, an experience consistent with envy, is correlated with anger (10) and belongs to the “family” of approach-related emotions (11). Moreover, both jealousy (10) and anger (12) elicit left frontal cortical activation, a pattern of activation consistent with approach-related behaviors. Gloating is the malicious pleasure at another’s misfortune (13) and is therefore related to happiness, an approach-related behavior, albeit in a negative social context. Recent neuroimaging studies highlight that oxytocin reduces amygdala activation in response to fear-inducing stimuli (14) and emotional faces regardless of valence (15), suggesting reductions in uncer- W 0006-3223/10/$36.00 tainty about the predictive value of social stimuli, which may then facilitate approach behaviors. Shamay-Tsoory et al. (1,3) argue that their hypothesis relating to a more general effect of oxytocin on social salience reconciles the prevailing view that oxytocin increases prosocial behavior with contradictory findings of increased aggression following administration of oxytocin (16). We note that the psychology and neuroscience of aggression has also conceptualized this behavior as approach-related (17). Importantly, the dimensional approachwithdrawal model may be a better explanation for brain activation associated with different emotions than the valence (positive/negative) and arousal (high activation/low activation) model (18). In conclusion, the findings reported by Shamay-Tsoory are important in that they highlight the complexity of oxytocinmediated changes in social behavior. We highlight an alternative interpretation of their findings such that oxytocin serves to increase approach-related behaviors, which may include negative social emotions such as envy and gloating, while decreasing withdrawal-related behaviors as suggested by neuroimaging studies that have focused on the impact of oxytocin on amygdala function. Future research should examine the impact of oxytocin more broadly and directly test the hypothesis that oxytocin increases approach-related behaviors while decreasing withdrawal-related behaviors. Andrew H. Kemp School of Psychology University of Sydney Sydney, Australia E-mail: akemp@usyd.edu.au Adam J. Guastella Brain and Mind Research Institute University of Sydney Sydney, Australia The authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest. 1. 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