Early Environments Shape Neuropeptide Function: The Case of Oxytocin and Vasopressin.

Oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) are neuropeptides that govern the social-emotional functioning of humans. We contend that to fully understand their function, research should consider how they are flexibly fitted to maximize survival and reproduction given the variety of human experience. In a series of two studies, we show that early life stress is associated with change in the core function of OT and AVP in evolutionary predictable ways: Under high early life stress, AVP promotes threat-detection capabilities, whereas OT motivates non-selective proximity seeking to others.

Effective Disengagement: Insecure People Are More Likely to Disengage From an Ongoing Task and Take Effective Action When Facing Danger.

Objective: People believe that they can respond effectively to threats, but actually they experience difficulties in disengaging from ongoing tasks and shifting their attention to life-threatening events. We contend that this tendency is especially true for secure people with respect to their worldview and perception of others and not for insecure individuals.

Method: In Study 1 (N = 290), we examined individuals' reactions to various threat scenarios.