“Our study shows that oxytocin not only plays a role in modulating cooperation and benevolence, but also in driving aggression,” said Carsten De Dreu, a social psychologist at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands…

Researchers cautioned that the findings only apply to males so far, given that no females participated in the experiments. But the results may have relevance to understanding male-dominated conflicts, ranging from prehistoric hunter-gatherer skirmishes to .

“The most important practical implication is that we should stop treating oxytocin as a panacea for distrust and conflict,” De Dreu pointed out.