AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Exhaustion. The correct answer is B. (A tend-and-befriend response). Explanation: Oxytocin is a hormone which is released when people, for example, cuddle.

Detailed explanation-2: -The most well-known situations, which are related to oxytocin release, are labor and breastfeeding, when oxytocin stimulates uterine contractions and milk ejection respectively.

Detailed explanation-3: -Women are more likely to respond to stress through tending and befriending than men. Paralleling this behavioral sex difference, estrogen enhances the effects of oxytocin, whereas androgens inhibit oxytocin release.

Detailed explanation-4: -In particular, the pituitary hormone oxytocin, which downregulates the sympathetic nervous system activation that is characteristic of “fight or flight” reactions to stress, is released when females engage in nurturing and affiliative behavior, said Taylor.

Detailed explanation-5: -Females are often inclined to nurture and protect offspring. In sum, the tend and befriend theory says that humans, particularly females, often respond to stress by tending to young ones and by seeking connection or befriending one another. When social interactions are comforting, stress levels decrease.