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Asked by thewackyscientist to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Will on 20 Jun 2012.
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Karen Reed answered on 20 Jun 2012:
hiya – great question – I think its basically a way of showing emotion – its communicating what you are feeling to others.
Obviously sometimes you can cry when you are happy – so body language also comes into this.
You also cry if you have something in your eye and that’s to try and get it out.
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Sarah Martin answered on 20 Jun 2012:
Hi again thewackyscientist!
As far as scientists can tell, we humans seem to be the only species that shed tears for emotional reasons. Scientists who study evolution say crying probably conferred some benefit and did something to advance our species — because it’s stayed with us.
One theory is that crying may have evolved as a kind of signal — a signal that was valuable because it could only be picked up by those closest to us who could actually see our tears. Tears let our intimates in — people within a couple of feet of us, who would be more likely to help. You can imagine there’d be a selection pressure to develop a signal that would let people close to you see that you’re vulnerable, but that’s not visible from far away, so predators won’t know!
Seeing tears helps us figure out what people are feeling. Here are examples of photos of people with and without tears – tears really help you narrow down what they’re feeling! Check it out for yourself!
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/08/23/crying_example_3_custom.jpg?t=1312443142&s=2
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/08/23/crying_example_2_custom.jpg?t=1312443151&s=2🙂 Sarah
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