Final answer:
Feeling liked and encouraged by intimate friends and family promotes the release of the hormone oxytocin, which enhances feelings of social bonding and closeness. Oxytocin is involved in the positive feedback loop during labor and childbirth, and also plays a role in the parent-infant bonding and breastfeeding post-birth.
Step-by-step explanation:
Being liked and encouraged by intimate friends and family is promoted through the involvement of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is sometimes referred to as the 'love hormone' and plays a significant role in social bonding, enhancing feelings of love, closeness, and the parent-infant bond. Due to oxytocin's association with social bonding, it is typically increased, not reduced, when an individual feels supported and cared for by their intimate friends and family.
In terms of childbirth, oxytocin is critical for initiating and sustaining labor. It stimulates uterine contractions, leading to the dilation of the cervix in what's known as a positive feedback loop during labor and birth. Post childbirth, oxytocin aids in maternal behaviors, influences the milk ejection reflex in breastfeeding, and contributes to the bonding between the newborn and the parent.