Syncing Contacts from my iPhone 4 to my MacBook Pro

I have my Contacts on my iPhone 4 but there is nothing stored on my MacBook Pro - how do I share the contacts with my MacBook Pro and then keep them sync'd?

I also have my Hotmail a/c set up to sync with my iPhone, although the contacts don't copy between them either.

I see there is an option to sync contacts via iTunes when I dock my iPhone but am reluctant to use that until I understand what I'm doing (in case it copies from my Mac to the phone, rather than visa versa).

I have also reset my sync history via iSync.

Thanks.