--- title: Oxytocin Could Make You Racist, New Study Finds description: A new study suggests that the "love hormone" oxytocin, triggered by the party drug MDMA, only makes you love people in your in-group canonical: https://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-04T05:35:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:30.647Z article:section: Health og:title: Oxytocin Could Make You Racist, New Study Finds og:description: A new study suggests that the "love hormone" oxytocin, triggered by the party drug MDMA, only makes you love people in your in-group og:url: https://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba918478d096d6ee/698688eecd68483177093f44/ecstasy-drug.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ecstasy pills. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oxytocin Could Make You Racist, New Study Finds twitter:description: A new study suggests that the "love hormone" oxytocin, triggered by the party drug MDMA, only makes you love people in your in-group twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba918478d096d6ee/698688eecd68483177093f44/ecstasy-drug.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 'Love Hormone' Can Make You Hate: Study by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Apr 4, 2014 5:35 AM UTC  Ecstasy pills. Ecstasy pills.DEA/Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Apr 4, 2014 5:35 AM UTC **Corrected:** April 5. The oxytocin hormone is often described as the “love hormone” or “cuddling chemical,” but there might be a darker side to it. Not only does it make you feel all loved-up and happy, but also contribute to intolerance and violence, a 2011 study [suggests.](http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/01/06/1015316108) In the study, professor of psychology at the University of Amsterdam Carsten de Dreu found that the loved-up feeling you get when flooded with oxytocin — which is also released by the popular party drug Molly, also known as Ecstasy or MDMA — only extends to your “in-group.” Oxytocin, [he wrot](http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/01/06/1015316108)e, “motivates in-group favoritism” and “derogation” of outsiders. According to the study, oxytocin had “a role in the emergence of intergroup conflict and violence.” According to a [Vice report published this week](http://www.vice.com/en%5Fuk/read/can-mdma-make-you-racist?utm%5Fsource=vicetwitteruk), the study’s participants — all Dutch males — were told that they had to choose five persons out of six that would gain access to a life-saving lifeboat. The men on oxytocin were more likely to deny men with Muslim or German-sounding names access and save the men with Dutch names, while the men who were given a placebo didn’t pay attention to the origin of the names. **Correction:** The original story has been updated to reflect that the study examined the effects oxytocin on behavior, not MDMA, and was published in 2011. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/"},"headline":"The 'Love Hormone' Can Make You Hate: Study","datePublished":"2014-04-04T05:35:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:30.647Z","description":"A study from the Netherlands suggests that oxytocin might only make you love people in your in-group, and can contribute to conflict with outsiders","url":"https://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/","keywords":["Drugs","Newsfeed","Racism","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba918478d096d6ee/698688eecd68483177093f44/ecstasy-drug.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba918478d096d6ee/698688eecd68483177093f44/ecstasy-drug.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ecstasy pills.","caption":"Ecstasy pills.","creditText":"DEA/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/drugs/","name":"Drugs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/","name":"The 'Love Hormone' Can Make You Hate: Study"}}]}] ```