SEROTONIN AND NEUROPEPTIDES IN AFFILIATIVE BEHAVIORS

The neuropharmacological study of serotonin and behavior has followed two fundamentally different strategies. One approach has used behavior as a dependent variable for assaying drug effects. To characterize se rotonergic drugs, most studies have used relatively simple behaviors, such as locomotor activity, startle, exploration, operant responses, a nd sleep. A second approach has focused on behavior, with drugs used a s tools to elucidate the physiological role of serotonin. These studie s have increasingly focused on behaviors of ethological importance, in cluding aggression, sexual behavior, and other forms of social interac tion. Here we review studies using this approach to focus on one parti cular kind of social interaction: affiliation. (C) 1998 Society of Bio logical Psychiatry.