Oxytocin, trust, and reciprocity (2007)
hugthemonkey.com
hugthemonkey.com
From what I remember of those studies, the way oxytocin operates is that it increases reciprocate behavior towards people perceive as in-group, while at the same time lowering reciprocate behavior towards out-groups. There is some link there in connection with kin-selection.
A business that has a oxytocin-rich environment might not be the best place.
This is a little tangential, but it reminds me of this archived Washington Post article from the 1980s* about a self help cult
> "I wasn't at peace with myself until that moment, when I closed my eyes and hugged myself and felt my arms on my body. I realized I was somebody. I cried enough to fill a glass."
Tl;dr of it is this: extreme bonding == crazy
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/19...
In addition, they don't seem to respond to oxytocin like other subjects, who reciprocate more strongly the more oxytocin they have. This suggests, although it doesn't prove, that they have a dysfunction in the oxytocin receptors -- the wrong location or inhibited binding -- that causes them to behave like "bastards."
> HUG: What can a business do to create a more oxytocin-rich environment?
> Zak: First, something I was so skeptical of as a practicing economist: morale building. Going out to the mountain for the day, helping people bond as a team in a stressful situation.
> Second, they should create a much more horizontal female structure. Nowadays, the biggest assets a company has are human assets. People want to feel part of a team.
I wonder if there are studies about morale building activities.
Morale and team building have only ever pushed me out.
It's not really a team activity, though. You could go in a group, but at the end of the day? I'll see you at the finish line.
Plus nearly all the GoKart places in the bay shutdown.
What I can't decide is whether that makes the analogy more accurate or less.
My anecdotal guess is that morale building activities work as long as you don't try to to make them "morale building activities".
Board game nights, fifa tournaments, paid-for conferences, drink-carts, thanksgiving potlucks & year-end parties are all morale building events. But it is important for them to appear organic and unsupervised. These serve as great ways to build genuine connections with coworkers, understand why they have certain triggers and resolve issues through a secondary activity. But if HR is breathing down your neck, forcing you to do any of that.....it won't happen.
However, it also means allowing uncertainty & odd conversations every once in a while. As long as HR only exists as a guard-rail to avoid the worst outcomes (actual aggression, black-out drunks, sexual harassment), these events can be incredibly rewarding.
That kind of comment was never normal or okay. Or even common...but anti-Muslim rhetoric was absolutely more common in the wake of 9/11.
(It's just that posts like that tend strongly toward pointless, offtopic flamewars.)