Psychologists from the Universities of Ulm and Sussex have conducted several studies to investigate why we cry in certain situations. Based on a total of over a thousand reports from adults, the researchers were able to identify a number of thematic triggers that are often associated with emotional tears. These include the categories loneliness, powerlessness, excessive demands, harmony and media consumption. The work on the five reasons for crying was published in the journal “Motivation and Emotion” .

Emotional human crying is probably unique

Humans are probably the only living beings capable of shedding emotional tears, that is, crying because of feelings. These include tears of joy or tears of sadness, fear or anger. In addition to the emotional tears examined, there are also basal tears that always keep the eye moist and protect it. The third type is reflex tears, which occur, for example, in cold, wind or when chopping onions. According to a new study by researchers at Ulm University and the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, most episodes in which adults cry for emotional reasons can be reliably assigned to one of five categories. These include loneliness, powerlessness, excessive demands, harmony and media consumption.

Connection between crying and basic psychological needs

The division into these categories is based on the idea that emotional tears always occur when basic psychological needs are either violated or very intensely satisfied.

“Similar to basic biological needs such as sleep or food, it is assumed that the frustration or satisfaction of these psychological factors influence our subjective well-being.”

First author Michael Barthelmäs, now a postdoc in the social psychology department at Ulm University.

The needs for “closeness” (feeling connected), “autonomy” (being able to influence things) and “competence” (being able to do something successfully) have been established in research as central basic psychological needs. As expected, “loneliness” in the study was particularly characterized by an experienced frustration of the need for closeness. Tears from heartache or homesickness were assigned to this category. Tears in the “harmony” category, on the other hand, were characterized by an intense satisfaction of the need for closeness and appeared, for example, as tears of joy at a wedding celebration. An example of “powerlessness” was tears in response to news of death (frustration of autonomy); Tears of “overwhelm” were often reported in the work context (frustration of competence).

Books and films also make us cry

Every fourth episode observed fell into the “media consumption” category, which has several peculiarities. In comparison to the other categories, the crying person is only indirectly affected and the tears appear “vicariously”. The trigger is an experience that happens to the main character of a book or film in which the person empathizes. In addition, you can shed tears during a drama, but also during a comedy. So tears of joy and tears of sadness can flow in this category.

Details about the study design

In total, the researchers conducted three studies in which students were interviewed alongside people from the general population. The average age was 30.3 years; the proportion of female test subjects was 64 percent. In two studies, participants were asked in online surveys to provide retrospective information about the last episode in which they shed emotional tears.

In a third study, the participants were asked about their well-being and about crying once a day via smartphone as part of a 30-day electronic diary study. There was a trend that younger people cried more often due to being overwhelmed compared to older people. In addition, fewer episodes of powerlessness were reported in the diary study than in the two retrospective studies. So it could be that news of a death is more likely to be associated with crying than other categories. This means that the study participants remember it better and report it more often.

Closing the gap in research on emotional crying

The new studies by scientists at the Universities of Ulm and Sussex close a gap in the research into emotional tears. The classification forms an important cornerstone in further research into the phenomenon of emotional tears.

“So far, relatively little is known about the role emotional tears play in mental illness. Furthermore, systematic knowledge about how tears regulate social interactions is lacking. That means what influence tears have, for example, on whether one person supports another.”

Professor Johannes Keller, head of the social psychology department at Ulm University, where the study was carried out

Identifying the five most common reasons for crying can help answer these questions in the future. The original study can be here .

Source: German health portal

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