目标:污名可以在社会内部造成分裂,阻碍社会凝聚力和合作。值得注意的是,它具有重大的公共卫生影响,特别是在像COVID-19这样的传染病爆发期间。然而,对疾病相关柱头的神经和分子基础以及它们与个体差异的关联知之甚少。
方法:为了解决这个问题,我们表演了双盲,安慰剂对照,70名男性的受试者内设计研究,调查鼻内催产素(OT)给药对疾病相关污名的显性和隐性加工的影响(即,COVID-19污名)。自我给药24IU的OT或安慰剂后,参与者完成了污名评估任务和内隐关联测试(IAT),以评估污名评估的显性和隐性过程,分别。
结果:结果显示,催产素放大了明确的COVID-19污名的高和低社交焦虑参与者之间的差异,更倾向于将污名化目标的污名化状态归因于污名化目标(即,COVID-19相关组)对高社交焦虑个体的个人原因,但与安慰剂治疗相比,在催产素下的低社交焦虑个体中,减少了对污名化目标的指责。此外,催产素加强了责任归属与其他过程之间的联系(即,情感,方法动机,社会偏差)。虽然结果显示两组的OT对内隐污名没有调节,OT确实调节了明确污名的特定维度之间的关联(即,社会偏差和接近动机)带有内隐污名。
结论:结论:这些发现表明,鼻内注射OT可以在时间上影响对疾病相关污名的明确认知判断,但不影响这种污名的内隐方面;此外,它在具有不同社交焦虑水平的个体中以不同的方式调制。这些发现强调了性状依赖性催产素对疾病相关污名的调节,这意味着催产素部分参与与疾病相关的污名的内分泌系统。通过解开柱头的分子基础及其与个体性状的关联,比如社交焦虑,我们可以定制干预措施,以满足未来不同个体的特定需求。
OBJECTIVE: Stigma can create divisions within societies, hindering social cohesion and cooperation. Notably, it has significant public health implications, especially during infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19. However, little is known about the neural and molecular basis of disease-related stigmas and their association with individual differences.
METHODS: To address this gap, we performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design study with 70 males, to investigate the effect of intranasal oxytocin (OT) administration on the explicit and implicit processing of disease-related stigma (i.e., COVID-19 stigma). After self-administrated 24 IU of OT or placebo, participants completed a stigma evaluation task and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess the explicit and implicit processes of stigma evaluation, respectively.
RESULTS: The results showed that oxytocin amplified the difference between high and low social anxiety participants in explicit COVID-19 stigma, with a higher inclination to attribute the stigmatized status of the stigmatized targets (i.e., COVID-19 related group) to personal causes in high social anxiety individuals, but reduced blame towards the stigmatized targets in low social anxiety individuals under oxytocin compared to placebo treatment sessions. Furthermore, oxytocin strengthened the connections between responsibility attribution and the other processes (i.e., emotional, approach motivation, social deviance). While the results showed no modulation of OT on implicit stigma for both groups, OT did modulate the associations between specific dimensions of explicit stigma (i.e., social deviance and approach motivation) with implicit stigma.
CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that intranasal OT administration could temporally impact explicit cognitive judgment on disease-related stigma but not implicit aspect of this stigma; furthermore, it modulated in a distinct way in individuals with different levels of social anxiety. These findings highlight the trait-dependent oxytocin modulation on disease-related stigma, implying that oxytocin is partly involved in the endocrine system of disease-related stigma. By unraveling the molecular basis of stigma and its association with individual traits, such as social anxiety, we can tailor interventions to meet specific needs of different individuals in the future.