Paul J. Zak

Now let's go deeper.

Could biology affect trust? In 2005, researchers Michael Kosfeld, Markus Heinrich, Paul Zak, Urs Fischbacher, and Ernst Feyer published a study in Nature titled, Oxytocin increases trust in humans Participants received either intranasal oxytocin or placebo before participating in a trust game The researchers reported that oxytocin increased trusting behavior and argued that the effect was specific to social risk rather than a general increase in willingness to take risks That finding became extremely famous But here's where we need to be careful.

The study does not mean oxytocin is the trust hormone.

It does not mean more oxytocin automatically makes people trustworthy.

I wonder, how often do we actually design our work or our life in a way that gives us that? And there was some lovely synergy with this conversation and some of our previous guests too.

Paul Zak talked about how the brain is designed to deal with short, sharp stresses, followed by proper recovery.

Zap Mercurio talked about how resilience is built in community.

And in fact, if you've listened to that episode, you might recall a story of me hanging upside down on the monkey bars and the people around me literally having my back.