Frith and Frith (2006) defined “the term mentalizing was coined to refer to the process by which we make inferences about mental states.” These mental states involve perception of self and perception of others. Such mental states are characterized by emotions (e.g., I think Joan is angry). Mentalizing overlaps with the idea of empathy which refers to “sharing another's emotions or beliefs.” Mental states are believed to influence human behaviors (for example, Joan yells at me because she is angry) and this hypothesis is known as the “Theory of Mind”. Understanding the emotional states of others is important in social interaction. A neuropeptide oxytocin has been found to promote various social behaviors. Additionally, studies suggest that oxytocin can improve mentalizing. In this essay I will explain why oxytocin can lead to such an internal capacity, I will provide evidence in favor of the oxytocin idea and I will discuss the validity of the relevant experimental evidence and the effect of oxytocin in mentalizing and I will provide other views on oxytocin and mentalization. One way to infer the emotional states of others is through evaluating social cues. For example, facial expression, voice intonation, body language, and so on (Adolphs, 2002). One of these signals is “reading from the eyes”. The eyes serve as a source of information, they allow you to evaluate the other person's attention, mood and desire, etc. (Langton, Watt & Bruce (2000). The Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) (Baron-Cohen, Jolliffe, Mortimore, & Robertson, 1997) was designed to examine people's ability to make social inferences. task, individuals were presented with a series of photographs focusing on the eye region, and then asked to choose a most appropriate emotional photo. ... half of the article ....... First, i limitations of research techniques lead to suspicion of experimental validity. Second, dubious issues such as the gender difference in mentalizing and neural signaling hypothesis are challenged by the idea that interaction occurs between various components of the brain and of the body. Finally, empathy suggests “sharing emotions” to understand the mental states of others. The alternative social approach also provides another sensitive model to explain the effect of oxytocin in social ability. Overall, the effect of oxytocin on mentalizing still remains questionable. The phrase “oxytocin from the neural signal influences the mentalization of the individual” is not so convincing. In future studies, it is suggested to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of oxytocin so that its effect on mentalizing can be understood in more depth..
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