Why do people cry? Crying is a natural emotional response to certain feelings, usually sadness and hurt. But, people cry in response to something of beauty as well. Crying may also have a biochemical purpose. It's believed to release stress hormones or toxins from the body. When you cry, it's a signal you need to address something. It may mean you are frustrated, overwhelmed or even just trying to get someone's attention. People with a history of trauma have been found to cry more, and that's especially true if they dwell on that past. But why do women tend to cry more as men? Women have more permission to cry. It's viewed by many, particularly men, as a sign of weakness. Although crying can be embarrassing, it's not healthy to hold in your tears too often. Experts say it's better to postpone the cry, but not cancel it all together.
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http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/why-we-cry-the-truth-about-tearing-up?page=3
An article I read stated that tears are not only caused by emotional responses, but for for a wide variety of reasons. Cutting an onion will cause someone to cry, yet they're not sad. Humans are one of the only animals to display sorrow through crying, and the visual signal of tears causes more intimate interactions between people.
ReplyDeleteAdrianna Tan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/apr/14/why-do-humans-cry-biology
What a great article! I found another article on tears. This one was about why tears might have evolved as a human response to emotional stress. The hypothesis of the article was that tears tend to provoke assistance from a spectator. As a result, people who cry recieve more help during those difficult times than people who do not: http://www.froes.dds.nl/Tears.htm
ReplyDeleteI found an article that stated that crying may not have originated from emotions, but instead became associated with emotions.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blogland/2013/may/08/why-cry/
I learned about why people in psychology, but I think I remember the book saying that it is somewhat unknown. I looked more into it, and found some interesting things that go along with what you said in the article. Apparently there are 3 types of human tears, emotional, basal, and reflex. Basal and reflex are pretty much the same, but emotional tears contain more magnanese and prolactin, which when unregulated can lead to a lot of stress. Their regulation though crying can also lead to better controlled stress. Maybe this is why people cry.
ReplyDeletehttp://scienceline.org/2006/10/ask-driscoll-tears/