Social interactions are vital for various taxa and species. Prosocial and affiliative dynamics within a group and between individuals are not only pleasurable and rewarding, but also appear to actively contribute to well-being, cognitive performance, and disease prevention. Moreover, disturbances in acting or being prosocial can represent a major burden for an individual and their affective partners. These disruptions are evident across a spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions, including depression and autism spectrum disorders. Importantly, interactive patterns of prosocial and affiliative behavior can vary with sex. The fact that genders are differentially affected by neuropsychiatric disorders associated with social impairment underscores the high importance of this research in uncovering the underlying neural correlates and mechanisms. This review focuses on elucidating sex-related differences in prosocial and affiliative behaviors and their potential association with sexually different neural correlates. Specifically, we aim to shed light on the complex interplay between sex, behavior, and neurobiology in affiliative and prosocial interaction patterns.
Nocebo effects are a heterogenous phenomenon in which contextual cues trigger or exacerbate symptoms independently of active interventions. Suggestion, conditioning, and social observation are widely recognised as hallmark methods for inducing nocebo effects, but the extent to which nocebo effects are differentially influenced by suggestion type (e.g., direct or indirect suggestion) and mode of administration (e.g., verbal, textual, visual, etc.) across symptom domains remains unknown. We conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number CRD42023402097) to quantitatively synthesize available research on the factors that moderate effects in controlled nocebo experiments. Of 8,469 search results, 105 experiments comprising 5,017 participants and 391 effect sizes were analyzed. A multi-level meta-analysis revealed an overall moderate effect size for nocebo effects, g=0.50, [0.39, 0.62]. The magnitude of symptom expectancy effects was a significant moderator of nocebo effects. Verbal suggestion and social observation yielded moderate and comparable nocebo effects whereas technological devices, sham stimulation, and conditioning were independently associated with the induction of large nocebo effects. Greater specificity in the reporting of nocebo induction methods is required to elucidate the efficacy of different types of suggestions in inducing nocebo effects.