Tears Demystified: Why Humans Cry

DivineCaroline:

Crying is an emotional reaction that's completely unique to humans. Our capacity for complex thoughts and feelings means that we can cry whether we're overwhelmed with any emotion--happiness, despair, or fear--but not everyone cries the same way or for the same reasons. Some people break into tears at the drop of a hat; others remain stony-faced even when confronted with great tragedy or pain. Understanding the impulse to cry isn't always easy, but understanding the psychological and evolutionary reasons we do it is even more complicated.

Read the whole story: DivineCaroline

Comments

[johnqsittinzen]

"One can scarcely question tears."

- Jim Harrison, TRUE NORTH

[discourse jockey]

The girl in the picture isn't crying.

[NoblesseOblige]

newsflash: it isn't a girl.

[Budokan]

Now if we can only explain why RepubliKans don't have a heart....

[Enigma2008]

Was it the movie Broadcast News where Holly Hunter's character had a therapeutic cry every morning? That always made sense to me.

[PhilipB]

What an interesting article!

[wm1066]

The idea that tears have 'spent hormones' is something I believe also, thank you for articulating this. Tears can be away of shedding toxic elements that the body produces.