It is well know among biology students that the subject may have a lot to do with our behavior, especially in social situations. As part of the animal kingdom, human beings are no exception and our behavior is very much influenced by our biological constituent as dictated by our gene. According to a new study published in the Current Biology journal as reported by Times, a research conducted in collaboration between University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco have discovered that humans given a dopamine pill can actually make them more compassionate.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with ‘feeling good’ and can be produced naturally by our body. According to Ignacio Saez, one of the authors of the study, a group of 35 men and women were involved in the study and they were randomly given a pill with dopamine and placebo which is unknown to the research subjects. The subjects given dopamine were shown to have being more compassionate and willing to share money among strangers and themselves compared to those given the placebo pill.
Placebo are pills made of sugar or starch and has no medicinal value.
“We have taken an important step toward learning how our aversion to inequity is influenced by our brain chemistry, Studies in the past decade have shed light on the neural circuits that govern how we behave in social situations. What we show here is one brain ‘switch’ we can affect.” says Ignacio Saez.
