Writing in the New York Times, Nicholas Wade put it as follows :

As oxytocin comes into sharper focus, its social radius of action turns out to have definite limits. The love and trust it promotes are not toward the world in general, just toward a person’s in-group. Oxytocin turns out to be the hormone of the clan, not of universal brotherhood. Psychologists trying to specify its role have now concluded it is the agent of ethnocentrism.

You can read an excellent interpretation of the study’s results here.

Oxytocin, a hormone which is produced by breast-feeding mothers and by both genders during sexual activity, could eventually be used as an antidepressant, say researchers.

According to Dr. Ziad Nahas, a researcher at the Medical School of South Carolina, when depressed subjects inhaled the hormone, their brain activity began to more closely resemble that of healthy subjects.

Oxytocin has been linked to social bonding and attachment, said Nahas, and acts as a stress reliever.  Since depressed individuals feel anxious and socially disconnected, oxytocin might help them feel less depressed.

Source : Hormone Shows Potential as Anti-Depressant

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The participants were paired up with a computer and virtual partners, some of whom appeared to be reliable (the type to share the money) and some who appeared unreliable (those likely to keep it all for themselves).

Compared to participants who were given the placebo, those who received the oxytocin offered more money to the computer and the reliable partners. However, those in the oxytocin group were no more likely than those who received the placebo to share money with a seemingly unreliable partner.

Oxytocin increases trust, not gullibility

The experiment was performed on one person only, but if accepted does appear to have implications both for understanding how oxytocin is triggered in human relationships and also in taking seriously the idea that online networking is just as ‘real’ as offline human interaction.

In a sense, social networking is undeniably safer and more controlled than that in the real world – you can easily block unwanted contacts for example.  Therefore, it shouldn’t be altogether surprising that the ‘trust hormone’ is easily switched on when interacting online.

Dr Carsten De Dreu, of the University of Amsterdam, said that the phenomenon was known as “parochial altruism” or “tend and defend”.

This meant that boosted levels of oxytocin produced “in-group love” and “out-group aggression”, he said.

Dr De Dreu, who published the findings in Science, said: “Oxytocin is a double edged sword. It makes you kinder to your group but more aggressive to those outside.”

Source : Love Hormone Oxytocin helps soldiers like each other and hate the enemy

source : Drugs improve social skills of autism sufferers.

Eric Hollander, who led the research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, believes that oxytocin could have an important impact on the core symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders and could form the basis for the first successful medications to treat autistic symptoms.

Oxytocin seems to be the first investigative treatment approach that holds promise for treating core symptoms like social cognition problems.

Click to read more on how Oxytocin helps autistics recognise emotions.