Mini Good News | August 28, 2009 | 31 comments

New theory for why we cry

source: http://www.livescience.com/culture/080828-why-we-cry.html

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DeliaTheArtist
"A scientist now proposes a new theory for why crying evolved — tears can act as handicaps to show you have lowered your defenses.

"Crying is a highly evolved behavior," said researcher Oren Hasson, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel. "My analysis suggests that by blurring vision, tears lower defenses and reliably function as signals of submission, a cry for help, and even in a mutual display of attachment and as a group display of cohesion."

The shedding of tears due to emotions is unique to humans. In the past, researchers suggested that crying helps carry stressful chemicals away from the body, or that it simply makes us feel better, or that it lets babies signal health problems.

Now Hasson points out that when tears blur vision, they could readily handicap aggressive behavior. As such, tears reliably signal vulnerability, a strategy that can emotionally bind others closer to you.

Hasson suggested the use of tears could be to build and strengthen personal relationships. For instance, "you can show that you are submissive to an attacker, and therefore potentially elicit mercy from an enemy, or you could attract sympathy from others, and perhaps gain their strategic assistance," he told LiveScience.

Also, by sharing tears with others, "if you can get a mutual display of lowered defenses, that means we can bond, that shows that we are really friends who share the same emotions," Hasson said. "This is strictly human."

"Of course," Hasson added, "the efficacy of this evolutionary behavior always depends on who you're with when you cry those buckets of tears, and it probably won't be effective in places, like at work, when emotions should be hidden."

This new concept from Hasson "offers the most plausible hypothesis about the evolved function of tears and crying," said evolutionary psychologist David Buss at the University of Texas at Austin, who did not participate in this study. "Others have speculated about possible function of tears, but the notion that they operate through handicapping is highly original."
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31 comments // New theory for why we cry

  • reallybigname
    • 0
      reallybigname  

    • Um... uniquely human? What about when Koko the gorilla cried after her cat died? I suspect that crying is something that apes and monkeys just don't usually want you to see... not that they don't do it! Koko was friendly with her captors, so she lowered her defenses when faced with a loss. (not to mention, she can also sign)

      But, I think this whole theory is wrong in other ways. It acts as if you couldn't punch someone in the face whilst crying. Macho attitudes say that crying is bad. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be afraid of a dude running at you with tears streaming down his face. Tears only tell you of inner turmoil - they don't mean that the teary-eyed individual won't hurt you.

    • 2 years ago
  • Whitney_Barone
  • toolcake
  • RojoGatto
  • katiekrafka
  • TheBrownKid
    • 0
      TheBrownKid  

    • Is that a Lichenstein work as the pic?

      Anyway, crying helps in making emotional attachment? Not to sound sexist but it makes sense why men don't cry as much as women do >.>

    • 2 years ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • That last sentence is a very interesting observation, unimatrix, and one that strikes me as exceptionally perceptive. I was engaged in a conversation a couple of years ago when the person to whom I was speaking said that she "didn't know HOW she felt" about a certain situation. My (infantile) knee-jerk reaction was to think to myself: "how can someone NOT know how they feel? Who ELSE but them is going to know how they feel?"

      My smugness began to dissipate, however, when I began trying to precisely identify my own emotions a few times each day. Am I sad or just suffering from low blood sugar right before lunch? The same event can seem to make me feel Excited (good) and then wonder ten minutes later whether what I was feeling wasn't more along the lines of Anxious (bad) (or vice versa).

      I haven't cried in so many years (decades?) that I am not even sure what the stimuli would have to be to get me there -- with one exception...I can make myself a little "misty-eyed" if I dwell too long on the possibility of something happening to my children. And since I want to treasure them for as long as I am fortunate enough to have them, that seems like a particularly bone-headed thing for me to do...

      Anyway, thank you for your thought-provoking post..,.

    • 2 years ago
  • unimatrix0
    • 0
      unimatrix0  

    • Interesting speculation; there is truth in all the various theories, crying means different thing depending upon their context

      Tears can be quite powerful in manipulating other people's behavior, thoughts and actions.

      Indeed, emotional intelligence is probably more important than intellectual intelligence for having what is considered a happy and successful life.

    • 2 years ago
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  
    • unimatrix0:

      I totally agree. The ability to express deep emotion by way of tears can indicate a larger capacity for empathy. Some actors have the capacity to cry almost at will. I could never understand this ability. A baby's cry can cause a breastfeeding mother to involuntarily express milk even when the cry is not from her own child. I suspect that it has evolved for a number of reasons. An interesting post.

    • 2 years ago
  • sk0j0
  • JuJubeez
  • MoonLoon
  • veronaaa
  • asherp
  • asherp
  • Mind_wide_open
  • CalgarC
  • hunzedog
  • ash_theory
  • JorGHETTO
    • 0
      JorGHETTO  

    • TL;DR.

      No but seriously, I think it's crap. This is only a theory.

      If a theory is proven enough times it might become a law, & with that being said, this crap theory is just.. dumb.

    • 2 years ago
  • timetosee
  • timetosee
    • 0
      timetosee  

    • Even if this some how is true, it seems incredibly against the evolutionary theory of becoming stronger and adapting to one's environment. I don't think humility is an evolutionary trait.

    • 2 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  
    • timetosee:

      The article says "tears lower defenses and reliably function as signals of submission, a cry for help, and even in a mutual display of attachment and as a group display of cohesion."

      I can see how that would be useful from an evolutionary standpoint, especially in societies.

    • 2 years ago
  • Betico
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  
    • timetosee:

      I can see that a display of emotion could disarm aggresssiveness. I also agree that the sharing of tears in an extremely emotional moment could be a binding influence. For instance, at the birth of my first daughter I suffered an overwhelming emotion of love and relief that resulted in many tears. But of course, I am a big sissy!

    • 2 years ago
  • unimatrix0
    • 0
      unimatrix0  
    • timetosee:

      Tears can be quite powerful in manipulating other people's behavior, thoughts and actions.

      Indeed, emotional intelligence is probably more important than intellectual intelligence is having what is considered a "successful" life.

    • 2 years ago
  • Whitney_Barone
    • 0
      Whitney_Barone  
    • timetosee:

      I have always wondered why I cry more easily than normal, even though I have an extroverted personality. Deep sadness paired with deep compassion. I was a quiet and happy baby, so maybe it was a learned trait?

    • 2 years ago
  • Blood13
    • 0
      Blood13  

    • Sorry, I find this to be kind of stupid. It doesn't explain a whole heap of reasons why people cry. Just because someone makes a study, doesn't mean any of the information is accurate or anywhere near the truth. Seriously, not all people fucking cry when they are scared shitless from an "attacker". You don't even have time to think about that.

    • 2 years ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • My grandmother used to tell me: "Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Cry, and you cry alone."

      ...scary old broad...

    • 2 years ago
  • idealist
    • 0
      idealist  

    • according to Scientology were only sad because the lost souls of ancient aliens from around the universe..
      hahahahahah ahhhh but seriously.

      people are sad because we can be happy.
      without sadness we wouldn't have anything opposite to being happy and every one would have a ... "blah" attitude about them.
      "there is no light without dark"

    • 2 years ago
  • iamfree
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