Chapter 54
Crying
People Affected: everyone
Type of Emotion: autonomic involuntary expression
Trigger Emotion: loneliness
Facial Expression: tears
Vocal Expression: none - wailing is a voluntary vocal expression
Key Feature: frequently suppressed
Key Feature: suppressed crying is indirectly released by other emotions
Key Feature: not usually triggered until 3 months
Key Feature: more frequently triggered in women
Key Feature: not more frequently triggered in children
Synonym: weeping
Type of Emotion: autonomic involuntary expression
Trigger Emotion: loneliness
Facial Expression: tears
Vocal Expression: none - wailing is a voluntary vocal expression
Key Feature: frequently suppressed
Key Feature: suppressed crying is indirectly released by other emotions
Key Feature: not usually triggered until 3 months
Key Feature: more frequently triggered in women
Key Feature: not more frequently triggered in children
Synonym: weeping
Purpose
Crying encourages kin to interact with you. Crying triggers compassion in kin, which they stop by interacting with you.
Crying also helps groups. If your co-workers or friends see you cry, your crying encourages non-kin interaction.
Trigger Emotion
Crying is only triggered by loneliness.
Crying is frequently suppressed. Crying is suppressed because it has the stigma of immaturity or instability. Suppressed crying does not go away.
Suppressed crying is indirectly released by other emotions. These emotions cause mental distraction which prevents the continued suppression of crying. That is why people cry when they are with others and therefore not lonely. Tears of joy are the release of suppressed crying by positive emotions like pride or affection. Suppressed crying can also be released by negative emotions, like humiliation or pain, or by reflexes, like fear.
Contagious crying is the release of suppressed crying by the sight of others crying. If you see someone crying, you feel compassion. Your compassion indirectly releases your suppressed crying. Your crying then causes others to feel compassion and to release their suppressed crying and so on. The global cry-a-thon following the death of Princess Diana was a good example.
While crying is a biological adaptation, the suppression of crying is a cultural adaptation. Suppression varies by culture. Men suppress crying more than women. Adults suppress crying more than children.
Crying is usually not triggered until 3 months after birth. Crying cannot be triggered until a child feels loneliness. Newborns are rarely left alone long enough to feel loneliness. Crying is not usually seen until 3 months after birth, as reported by Charles Darwin in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
Crying is more frequently triggered in women. Loneliness is generally stronger in women.
Crying is not more frequently triggered in children. Loneliness is not generally stronger in children. Children seem to cry more because they suppress less.
Facial Expression
Crying encourages kin to interact with you. Crying triggers compassion in kin, which they stop by interacting with you.
Crying also helps groups. If your co-workers or friends see you cry, your crying encourages non-kin interaction.
Trigger Emotion
Crying is only triggered by loneliness.
Crying is frequently suppressed. Crying is suppressed because it has the stigma of immaturity or instability. Suppressed crying does not go away.
Suppressed crying is indirectly released by other emotions. These emotions cause mental distraction which prevents the continued suppression of crying. That is why people cry when they are with others and therefore not lonely. Tears of joy are the release of suppressed crying by positive emotions like pride or affection. Suppressed crying can also be released by negative emotions, like humiliation or pain, or by reflexes, like fear.
Contagious crying is the release of suppressed crying by the sight of others crying. If you see someone crying, you feel compassion. Your compassion indirectly releases your suppressed crying. Your crying then causes others to feel compassion and to release their suppressed crying and so on. The global cry-a-thon following the death of Princess Diana was a good example.
While crying is a biological adaptation, the suppression of crying is a cultural adaptation. Suppression varies by culture. Men suppress crying more than women. Adults suppress crying more than children.
Crying is usually not triggered until 3 months after birth. Crying cannot be triggered until a child feels loneliness. Newborns are rarely left alone long enough to feel loneliness. Crying is not usually seen until 3 months after birth, as reported by Charles Darwin in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
Crying is more frequently triggered in women. Loneliness is generally stronger in women.
Crying is not more frequently triggered in children. Loneliness is not generally stronger in children. Children seem to cry more because they suppress less.
Facial Expression
Crying is autonomic because it triggers compassion. If crying could be voluntarily triggered, it
would be used fraudulently. All children
would cry to obtain attention, whether they were lonely or not. Truly lonely children would not receive attention.
The release of suppressed crying looks like a muscular facial expression. People who are releasing suppressed crying have muscular twitching around their chins that looks like frowning. These twitches are the relaxation of the muscles that suppress crying. Choppy breathing also accompanies the release of suppressed crying for the same reason. Choppy breathing is caused by the relaxing of the diaphragm muscles, which also help suppress crying.
Other Species
Humans are the only primates that use tears to communicate.
A few non-primates also use tears to communicate, as Elaine Morgan reports in The Scars of Evolution. Gulls produce copious nasal drippings in confrontations. Sea otters shed tears when frustrated. Both species also use tears to leak salt, which helps their kidneys handle the salinity spikes caused by eating marine seafood.
The release of suppressed crying looks like a muscular facial expression. People who are releasing suppressed crying have muscular twitching around their chins that looks like frowning. These twitches are the relaxation of the muscles that suppress crying. Choppy breathing also accompanies the release of suppressed crying for the same reason. Choppy breathing is caused by the relaxing of the diaphragm muscles, which also help suppress crying.
Other Species
Humans are the only primates that use tears to communicate.
A few non-primates also use tears to communicate, as Elaine Morgan reports in The Scars of Evolution. Gulls produce copious nasal drippings in confrontations. Sea otters shed tears when frustrated. Both species also use tears to leak salt, which helps their kidneys handle the salinity spikes caused by eating marine seafood.
Happiness Dissected is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.
