Antidepressants affect people's moral behaviour, study finds

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AspieUtah
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03 Jul 2015, 8:07 pm

ScienceAlert.com wrote:

Moral behaviour is usually considered the province of philosophers and ethicists, but a new study suggests the way we treat others is actually tied to our brain chemistry.

Researchers from the University College London have found that commonly prescribed antidepressant medication can affect people’s decision-making when choosing between whether to act selfishly or selflessly....

ScienceAlert.com: "Antidepressants affect people's moral behaviour, study finds" (July 3, 2015)
http://www.sciencealert.com/antidepress ... tudy-finds

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xenocity
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03 Jul 2015, 10:43 pm

How much money did they spend on this?

They could have asked me for the answer and I would have told them that based on my trip down antidepressant lane.
Though it didn't outright change my moral and ethical behavior, it did slightly impact it.

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chapstan
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04 Jul 2015, 4:36 pm

I admit I only read the first few pages but the baseline established with the placebo group, no drugs, normal people is how much they chose to shock people for money. Then that is compared to those who have taken certain meds and then how much of a shock they wanted to give people for money.

Shocking a little versus more and more, is the baseline for Moral Behaviour.

Vomelche
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10 Jul 2015, 10:56 am

I suspected something like this. There are a lot of people taking those type of drugs these days, especially up here. Some do seem to behave a little off ethically.

blauSamstag
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10 Jul 2015, 3:31 pm

Vomelche wrote:

I suspected something like this. There are a lot of people taking those type of drugs these days, especially up here. Some do seem to behave a little off ethically.

I am unclear on which you are referring to.

The research suggests that increased dopamine supply decreases benevolence, and decreased serotonin reuptake (which seems to increase serotonin supply) increases benevolence.

cyberdad
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10 Jul 2015, 9:52 pm

Vomelche wrote:

I suspected something like this. There are a lot of people taking those type of drugs these days, especially up here. Some do seem to behave a little off ethically.

You've inadvertently pointed out a flaw with the author's study which is directionality. Do people with low moral behavior take drugs or do drugs result in low moral behavior?

blauSamstag
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10 Jul 2015, 10:05 pm

cyberdad wrote:

Vomelche wrote:

I suspected something like this. There are a lot of people taking those type of drugs these days, especially up here. Some do seem to behave a little off ethically.

You've inadvertently pointed out a flaw with the author's study which is directionality. Do people with low moral behavior take drugs or do drugs result in low moral behavior?

Did you read the linked article?

The researchers gave the subjects the drugs to take.

Some of them got citalopram - a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. An antidepressant. This made them MORE moral.

Some of them got l-dopa, which is a precursor for dopamine, and results in higher dopamine levels in the brain. It also results in dopamine in the rest of your body, which isn't usually the case because dopamine is too large to traverse the blood-brain barrier.

Lots and lots of people take citalopram to treat depression, probably some to treat neuropathy too.

Some people take l-dopa to treat the symptoms of parkinsons disease.

androbot01
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10 Jul 2015, 10:09 pm

cyberdad wrote:

Vomelche wrote:

I suspected something like this. There are a lot of people taking those type of drugs these days, especially up here. Some do seem to behave a little off ethically.

You've inadvertently pointed out a flaw with the author's study which is directionality. Do people with low moral behavior take drugs or do drugs result in low moral behavior?

So, neither then...I take antidepressants (since 1985.) The specific medications have changed over the years, but I have never been and don't consider myself to be immoral. But I suppose it's hard to judge oneself. Nobody's ever attempted to manipulate me into shocking people (did they really do this?) and if they did I think I would freak out.

blauSamstag
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10 Jul 2015, 10:13 pm

Footage of the study:

androbot01
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10 Jul 2015, 10:14 pm

blauSamstag wrote:

Footage of the study:

Hahaha

blauSamstag
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10 Jul 2015, 10:23 pm

From the article:

Quote:

The researchers found that, among the deciders in the zapping experiment, those receiving a one-off dose of citalopram were willing to pay almost twice as much to prevent harm to themselves or others when compared to a placebo group. In contrast, zappers on levodopa acted more selfishly, displaying a preference for harming others for the cash reward.

So, antidepressants make you nice.

parkinsons drugs make you mean.

Vomelche
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14 Jul 2015, 10:46 am

Yes, the study suggests that different drugs have different effects. And, maybe there are other drugs they have not tested.

Also, something like obvious physical pain may cause a different reaction than say emotional pain. That would be an interesting further study.

blauSamstag
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14 Jul 2015, 12:03 pm

L-dopa is not an antidepressant.

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