Paul J. Zak is an American neuroeconomist who explores the relationships between the brain and the economy. In particular, he is interested in knowing what physio-neural mechanisms determine or intervene in human and social economic activity. In 2012 he published a surprising essay entitled The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, whose ideas serve as a starting point for the book we are now discussing: Trust Factor. The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies.
Zak defends the thesis that what distinguishes us humans from animals is that we are the only ones who develop moral feelings. As humans we are obsessed with morality, whether we have faith in God or not. Based on this axiom (whose veracity he accepts without the need for proof) he asks himself as a scientist if this ‘obsession’ has a biological basis. More specifically, he is interested in discovering whether there is a chemistry of morality. His investigations, which results are spread throughout the book that we review, lead him to conclude that there really is, because everything is related to oxytocin, a hormone that is released before pleasant stimulation, such as hugging, caressing, or performing actions that make us feel good. The release of oxytocin into our blood makes us more confident, open and friendly.
The conclusion that Zak draws is this: Oxytocin is the substance that moves us to be good people, and not so much specific ideas or beliefs. Moreover, as he has stated on other occasions, the act of praying with confidence to God causes the release of oxytocin in people with faith, which moves them to feel pleasure in prayer and to perform courageous actions of generosity and dedication to others. For this author, we are moral beings because we release oxytocin. And, for the same reason, we are immoral because we lack it. Oxytocin is the substance that makes us simply human (p. 21).
If we apply these conclusions to the field of business and economics, we find the thesis that Zak defends in this book: a company is predisposed to success when all employees enjoy good levels of oxytocin. Therefore, executives should encourage good business habits to stimulate oxytocin among their employees, as they will have more confidence, more empathy and more cooperation, the business will be more profitable and the income will increase.
Zak, who ‘scientifically’ supports all these arguments, concludes that in companies with a high level of trust, compared to those with a low level of confidence, their employees are 50% more productive, have 106% more energy, are 76% more involved and are 66% more sociable with other employees (p. 196). In addition, they suffer less stress by 74% and work more happily by 36% (p. 195).
These results combined with knowledge of the hormonal processes involved in oxytocin release show that building trust can be truly beneficial, both for managers, employees and companies in terms of productivity and effectiveness.
To build trust, Zak proposes eight actions or attitudes that can be encouraged within companies to help employees release as much oxytocin as possible while working. As he insists on demonstrating, these are measures that are easy to introduce, as long as managers have sufficient will, energy and strategy. These actions, with some forcing, make up the acronym ‘OXYTOCIN: Ovation, eXpectation, Yield, Transfer, Openness, Caring, Invest, and Natural’. Each one of them is explained and developed in individual chapters, which comprise the greater part of the book. Two final chapters, Joy and Performance, serve to conclude the work. According to Zak, it is important to encourage the eight actions, because each one contributes to organizational trust in a specific percentage, measured with great scientific precision by the author. ‘The model shows that the OXYTOCIN factors can be used as leverage to increase organizational trust. Trust, combined with an organization’s transcendent purpose, creates a culture of high engagement. Enthusiastic colleagues delight customers by providing extraordinary service. Customers are appreciative and express their happiness, causing colleagues to experience joy at work ("Joy"). When colleagues get this positive feedback, the organization sustains high performance’ (p. 24).
The focus of the book is eminently practical, written in a pleasant and accessible style, and addressed to an audience more interested in doing business than in science. The author illustrates his ideas with numerous anecdotes coming from different experiments and observations made in medium and large companies. In addition, at the end of each chapter he offers a series of tasks or suggestions for good practice to be applied in the company (Monday Morning List). In this sense, it is an entertaining book and, at a certain point, interesting, because beyond the strong biological determinism that dominates the whole text, it is true that many of the ideas are based on common sense, without the need to submit them to a laboratory experiment. I mean that it is always a good idea to promote in organizations a climate of cooperation, understanding, openness, care, etc., as measures that presumably favor employee satisfaction – and not the opposite. After all it is true that the companies that perform better are those where employees are happier and where an atmosphere of trust prevails.
But, I really have to disagree with the underlying message that is evident between the lines: it is useful and interesting to be a good person because it is the best way to guarantee your economic success. This utilitarian vision, which puts one’s own individual well-being as the reason for acting freely, proves in the long run to be fallacious because the exercise of good habits –or virtues- implies a way of acting that does not guarantee such success. Moreover, if the aim is only to achieve such a success, very soon mischief or personal weakness will offer us more direct ways, even if they are immoral.
There is also a great biological determinism in Zak’s considerations that lead to a somewhat utilitarian approach to the relationship with employees: it is not so much their personal and human development that is of interest, but rather that they perform as well as possible economically.
Indeed, there are voices that have been raised against Zak and, by extension, against a commercialist interpretation of neural studies. Molly Crockett, a Yale University neurophysiologist trained at Oxford, is perhaps one of the most critical of Zak’s theses, as they lead to a false exploitation of neuroscience for commercial purposes. She has also been very critical towards some science journalism’s practice of exaggerating the results that have occurred in this field in recent years. She has carried out similar studies on the relationship of the brain with decision-making, taking serotonin as a reference substance. Her conclusion is that science has no capacity to judge the morality of our decisions. Science, in itself, can only explain the chemical mechanisms that are activated in our organism when we make one or another decision, but that has nothing to do with morality. A good moral action can provoke the same chemical reactions in the organism of one person as a bad action in the organism of another. For example, just as some people find pleasure in petting puppies, so do others find pleasure in torturing them. In both cases the same segregation of oxytocin and serotonin chemicals is produced. According to her, recent discoveries in neuroscience have led to exaggerated expectations with little foundation. One of those affected by this fever would be Dr. Zak. Recognizing the value of his experiments, many others like him show instead that oxytocin stimulates envy, arrogance or people seeking the selfish interest of their group against others. So, oxytocin could also be called the immoral molecule.
In short, it is important to take care of our corporal health, precisely because a healthy body allows a correct secretion of oxytocin to help us act freely and responsibly. But this does not mean that the chemical components of our organism absolutely determine our spiritual being and, therefore, the exercise of our freedom.
Facoltà di Comunicazione Sociale Istituzionale, Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Roma, Italia
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