Enhancement in dopamine reduces generous behaviour in women

Abstract

Generosity is a human behavior common in social contexts. However, humans are not equally generous to everyone alike. Instead, generosity decreases as a function of social distance, an effect called social discounting. Studies show that such social discounting effect depends on diverse factors including personality traits, cultures, stress or hormonal levels. Recently, the importance of the neurotransmitter dopamine in regulating social interactions has been highlighted. However, it remains unclear how exactly dopamine agonist administration modulates generous behavior as a function of social discounting. Here, we investigate the causal effect of dopamine agonist administration on social discounting in a pharmacological intervention study. We employ a randomized, double-blind, within-subject design to investigate the impact of the D2/D3 receptor agonist pramipexole on social discounting by keeping gender constant. We apply hyperbolic social discount model to the data and provide evidence that women under pramipexole become less generous in general, especially towards close others. Our results highlight the crucial role of dopamine in social decision making.

Therapeutic Potential of Dopamine and Related Drugs as Anti-Inflammatories and Antioxidants in Neuronal and Non-Neuronal Pathologies

“…The use of cabergoline (0.5 mg for eight days) and bromocriptine (2.5 mg for 16 days) are efficient in the prevention of moderate and early-onset ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in patients [ 158 ]. The role of DA in crucial social role decision-making was shown using pramipexole in women, allowing them to become less generous in general, modulate smoking behavior or produce subjective effects of cocaine, improve sleep behavior disorder and tinnitus, and help against pain, fatigue, function, and global status in patients with fibromyalgia [ 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 ]. Finally, Table 2 summarizes diverse clinical trials in progress.…”

Reckless Generosity, Parkinson's Disease and Dopamine: A Case Series and Literature Review

“…10 This finding is in line with other studies showing that reward learning can be impaired in patients with ICDs. 28 Two studies in healthy adults suggest that dopaminergic medication leads to reduced social discounting 8 and more egalitarian behavior. 9 However, another study suggests that the availability of dopamine inversely affects women and men, with men becoming more generous and women becoming less generous towards close loved ones after being administered a dopamine-antagonist.…”

“…Three randomized‐controlled studies 8–10 examined the effect of dopaminergic medication on generous behavior in healthy persons, measured with variants of the Dictator Game; a task in which subjects decide to keep a certain amount of money for themselves or give some of it to people of varying degrees of social distance. One study 8 examined the effect of 0.35 mg pramipexole and placebo on sharing behavior in women. Interestingly, after being administered pramipexole, women shared less with close loved ones, but more with socially distant people.…”

“…A total of 14 records were identified and assessed for eligibility, with six articles included in the review. An additional four articles were identified via screening of references of articles, with 10 studies finally included in the review 4,7–15 …”

“…An additional four articles were identified via screening of references of articles, with 10 studies finally included in the review. 4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Studies could be classified into the following categories: studies examining the relationship between PD and generosity; studies examining the relationship between dopaminergic medication and generosity; and studies examining the relationship between specific dopamine-related genotypes and generosity.…”