LECTURE 1 + ARTICLE The Riddle of Human Emotional Crying: A Challenge for Emotion Researchers
Learning goals:
• The student can describe the evolutionary background, developmental trajectory, and the intra- and inter-
individual effects of crying
• The student can name the determinants of individual differences in crying and explain the association thereof
with psychopathology.
Unravelling the mysteries of emotional tears
Why is the study of crying interesting?
• There are 2 major, but until now unproven, claims:
✓ Crying (with tears) has contributed significantly to our phylogenetic development and has made us the
hyper-social beings that we are (it relates to empathy, warmth, etc.)
✓ Crying brings us relief when being stressed, it is even healthy
• A better understanding of crying may have clinical significance (relationship with depression, pathological grief,
numbness after PTSD, BDP and other psychopathology, therapeutic processes, neurological disorders)
• The topic crying clearly shows how emotion can be approached from very different perspectives and disciplines
Associations with the verb “weep” and “crying”
• However sadness is not what cause us to cry, it is actually the helplessness feeling we have when being sad that
makes us cry
Evolutionary approach
• Human babies are pretty much helpless creatures
• What they can use to invoke care from others are some characteristics such as big eyes, roundness (which are
also seen in stuffed animals and cartoons)
• Also smiling invokes caregiving behavior, as well as crying
• Darwin studied emotions in his essay “The expression of emotions in man and animals” and believed that
emotional tears do not serve any purpose
What is crying?
• Emotional crying: shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, in absence of any irritation of the eyes
• This is accompanied by alterations in facial muscles, vocalizations and sobbing
• Only humans cry with tears in response to emotional events
,How does crying work?
• There are three types of tears:
1. Basal tears→ made in order to keep the eye lubricated and smooth out irregularities in the cornea
2. Reflexive tears→ made in response to irritants to the eye, such as when chopping onions or getting poked in
the eye
3. Psychic tears → produced by the lacrimal system and are the tears expelled during emotional states
• There are many factors influencing the production of tears:
✓ Meibomian glands are responsible for basal tears, which are involved in keeping the eye hydrated
✓ Lacrimal glands are responsible for reflexive tears, so tears due to irritant stuff in the eye, and emotional
tears
• The lacrimal gland and its neural innervation:
✓ Sensoric nerves detect when something is irritating the eye and send signals to the brain, which in turn
causes the eye to clean itself through reflexive tears
, ✓ However the lacrimal nuclei is also under the effect of the limbic area, which explains why we also cry
because of emotions
• There are also muscles involved in crying and when crying there is an increased activity of blood vessels of the
face, especially in the nose
Evolutionary background and developmental aspects of crying
Evolutionary background
• Ethologists have classified behavioral systems in animals (Scott, 1969)
Learning goals:
• The student can describe the evolutionary background, developmental trajectory, and the intra- and inter-
individual effects of crying
• The student can name the determinants of individual differences in crying and explain the association thereof
with psychopathology.
Unravelling the mysteries of emotional tears
Why is the study of crying interesting?
• There are 2 major, but until now unproven, claims:
✓ Crying (with tears) has contributed significantly to our phylogenetic development and has made us the
hyper-social beings that we are (it relates to empathy, warmth, etc.)
✓ Crying brings us relief when being stressed, it is even healthy
• A better understanding of crying may have clinical significance (relationship with depression, pathological grief,
numbness after PTSD, BDP and other psychopathology, therapeutic processes, neurological disorders)
• The topic crying clearly shows how emotion can be approached from very different perspectives and disciplines
Associations with the verb “weep” and “crying”
• However sadness is not what cause us to cry, it is actually the helplessness feeling we have when being sad that
makes us cry
Evolutionary approach
• Human babies are pretty much helpless creatures
• What they can use to invoke care from others are some characteristics such as big eyes, roundness (which are
also seen in stuffed animals and cartoons)
• Also smiling invokes caregiving behavior, as well as crying
• Darwin studied emotions in his essay “The expression of emotions in man and animals” and believed that
emotional tears do not serve any purpose
What is crying?
• Emotional crying: shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, in absence of any irritation of the eyes
• This is accompanied by alterations in facial muscles, vocalizations and sobbing
• Only humans cry with tears in response to emotional events
,How does crying work?
• There are three types of tears:
1. Basal tears→ made in order to keep the eye lubricated and smooth out irregularities in the cornea
2. Reflexive tears→ made in response to irritants to the eye, such as when chopping onions or getting poked in
the eye
3. Psychic tears → produced by the lacrimal system and are the tears expelled during emotional states
• There are many factors influencing the production of tears:
✓ Meibomian glands are responsible for basal tears, which are involved in keeping the eye hydrated
✓ Lacrimal glands are responsible for reflexive tears, so tears due to irritant stuff in the eye, and emotional
tears
• The lacrimal gland and its neural innervation:
✓ Sensoric nerves detect when something is irritating the eye and send signals to the brain, which in turn
causes the eye to clean itself through reflexive tears
, ✓ However the lacrimal nuclei is also under the effect of the limbic area, which explains why we also cry
because of emotions
• There are also muscles involved in crying and when crying there is an increased activity of blood vessels of the
face, especially in the nose
Evolutionary background and developmental aspects of crying
Evolutionary background
• Ethologists have classified behavioral systems in animals (Scott, 1969)
