In the quest for survival, animals constantly adapt their behaviours to environmental cues, internal states, and experiences. This process involves allocating cognitive resources in the brain to promote relevant behaviours while inhibiting others. Despite recent progress in understanding biological mechanisms behind behavioural prioritization, there is still a gap in comprehending neuronal and molecular mechanisms governing the capacity to rank and prioritize competing needs. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT), produced in the paraventricular nucleus(PVN) and supraoptic nucleus(SON) of the hypothalamus, is a potential mediator of behavioural prioritization. OXT modulates social, emotional, and reward processing behaviours and has appetite-suppressing effects, suggesting its involvement in shifting attention and prioritizing behaviour.We investigated the influence of physiological conditions, particularly social and food requirements, on need preference in adult CD1 male mice. We used the Social versus Food Preference test and manipulated social needs through housing conditions and physiological needs via food deprivation. We observed that both groups of mice initially preferred social rewards, but as caloric needs increased,group-housed mice shifted toward food rewards during deprivation, while single-housed mice maintained an equal preference for both social and food rewards. Using immunofluorescence, we examined patterns of neuronal activity in brain regions implicated in reward processing and stress regulation. Our data suggest a correlation between PVN-OXT activity and preferred reward type. The SON-OXT neurons also showed elevated activity but was independent of preferred reward. Although further characterization is required, our data suggests OXT system involvement in mediating the preference between competing social and food needs in mice.