Do culture and oxytocin receptor polymorphisms interact to influence emotional expressivity?

Abstract

Drawing on recent evidence suggesting that individuals having the G allele of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) polymorphism are especially susceptible to socio-cultural environmental influences, including cultural norms, the present study investigated the interplay of culture and two OXTR polymorphisms (rs53576 and rs2254298) in the domain of emotional expressivity, which is culturally encouraged in Western cultures. Testing Japanese and European Canadian undergraduates, we found cultural differences in negative emotional expressivity and positive emotional expressivity. As expected, the European Canadians were greater in positive emotional expressivity than the Japanese. In contrast, the pattern was reversed in negative emotional expressivity. A series of multiple regression analyses entering gender and personality traits as control variables showed that neither culture nor the two OXTR polymorphisms interact to negative emotional expressivity and positive emotional expressivity. The present null findings suggest that continued examination with larger samples would better elucidate results on the interactions among culture, OXTR, and socioemotional behaviors.