Now Oxytocin Gets Blamed for Everything

Hans Reiser is a former SF Bay Area technology executive now serving 15 years for second-degree murder, after he accepted a plea bargain and led police to his wife's body.

Why I bring this up is that Reiser, who certainly seems to have a couple fried circuits, wants to appeal his conviction, in part because he thinks his attorney didn't represent him properly. According to Henry K. Lee's San Francisco Chronicle News Blog, Reiser says his attorney, William Du Bois, exhibits symptoms of oxytocin excess. To wit, he enjoys betraying others.

Reiser railed against lead defense attorney William Du Bois, saying the lawyer "seems to match the symptoms for oxytocin excess as described in an article in the Scientific American this year." By way of explanation, Reiser wrote, "Persons with oxytocin excess enjoy betraying others. Mr. Du Bois has an extraordinary facility for engendering trust in others and extraordinary people skills. (This is consistent with high oxytocin). He also very apparently gets a charge from duping and betraying juries who trust him."

This is based on something Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University's Neuroeconomics Dept. has found: A few people in his studies show very high levels of oxytocin in their blood, and yet instead of being cooperators, they seem to get a charge out of screwing the other person in the economic games they play in Zak's studies.

Nevertheless ... Come on, dude! Get a grip.