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]

10:45 PM on 07/01/2009

"One can scarcely question tears."

- Jim Harrison, TRUE NORTH

[discourse jockey]

08:10 PM on 07/01/2009

The girl in the picture isn't crying.

[NoblesseOblige]

07:58 PM on 07/05/2009

newsflash: it isn't a girl.

[Budokan]

06:37 PM on 07/01/2009

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

[Enigma2008]

06:29 PM on 07/01/2009

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

[PhilipB]

11:59 AM on 07/01/2009

What an interestin­g article!

[wm1066]

11:35 AM on 07/01/2009

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.