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The Science of Crying
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Emotional crying
Charles Darwin once declared emotional tears "purposeless."
Humans are the only creatures whose tears are not only a result of pain or irritation but can be triggered by their feelings. Emotional crying remains one of the human body's mysteries.
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A range of feelings
Crying is more than a symptom of sadness. It can also be triggered by empathy, surprise, anger, or grief.
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Competing theories
- Some ludicrous theories are that humans evolved from aquatic apes and tears helped humans to live in saltwater.
- Others persist that crying removes toxic substances from the blood that builds up during times of stress.
- More plausible theories are that tears trigger social bonding and human connection.
- Crying signals that there's some important problem that is at least temporarily beyond your ability to cope.
- Tears show others that we're vulnerable, which is critical to human connection.
- Crying is also used in manipulating others.
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People who don’t cry
Researchers found that non-crying people had a tendency to withdraw and described their relationships as less connected. They also experienced more negative and aggressive feelings like rage, anger, and disgust.
There is no evidence that crying comes with any positive effects on health. There is also no evidence that holding back tears would have a negative effect on the mind and body.
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Flying Changes our Mind and Body
Taking a flight creates physical and emotional changes in us, something that is now being more extensively researched. Air travel can change our mood, make us emotionally weak (more cryi...
Flight Effects on Passengers
While we are on a flight, there are plenty of changes that we can experience:
- Change in brain chemistry and memory due to the deficiency in oxygen.
- Cognitive deficits in people who are already ill.
- Increased tiredness and more yawning during the flight.
- Deterioration in vision, dryness of skin, change in taste of food due to a reduction in the sensitivity of our taste buds and a decrease in the sense of smell.
- Change in air-pressure makes passengers generally uncomfortable with the sitting.
The Anxious Flight Passenger
Mood swings, along with general anxiety or nervousness are common among flight passengers.
- Less oxygen can increase the effects of alcohol and the overall anxiety. These factors contribute to emotional changes, which can make people less friendly, more stressed out and lethargic.
- People are also prone to severe mood swings, like having extreme emotional reactions to movie scenes which would otherwise appear normal to them.
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Sarcasm is like a truth-lie
You say something you don't literally mean, and the hearer only understands if they get that you're insincere. The ability to recognize sarcasm is an essential skill to function in ...
Understanding sarcasm requires brain power
Studies revealed that exposure to sarcasm enhances problem-solving. It appears to stimulate complex thinking.
Sarcasm also requires the brain to work harder, making it sharper. To perceive sarcasm, a person has to see beyond the literal meaning of the words and understand that the speaker may be thinking of something entirely different.
The dual nature of sarcasm
Sarcasm has a two-faced quality: it's funny and mean.
Some language experts suggest sarcasm is a gentler way to criticize with indirectness. "How do you keep this room so neat?" Other researchers have found the mocking nature of sarcasm as more hurtful than plain-spoken criticism.
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Living in the age o doubt
We live in a time when all scientific knowledge (the safety of fluoride, vaccines, climate change, moon landing, etc.) faces coordinated and vehement resistance.
The acces...
We now face risks we can’t easily analyze
Our existence is invaded by science and technology as never before. For many of us, this brings comfort and rewards, but this existence is also more complicated and sometimes agitated.
Our lives are full of real and imaginary risks, and distinguishing between them isn’t easy. We have to be able to decide what to believe and how to act on that.
Marcia McNutt - Geophysicist
“Science is not a body of facts. Science is a method for deciding whether what we choose to believe has a basis in the laws of nature or not.”