# why do our faces crumple up when we cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153 "2013-08-25T20:57:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Claire98909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Claire98909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire98909)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/1 "2013-08-25T20:57:11Z")
It’s pretty embarrassing and if you’re really upset, is REALLY hard to fight. Why does it happen and why is it so hard to keep from happening? It’s kind of bizarre, but then if you think about it, so is having liquid come out of our eyes when we’re sad. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/2 "2013-08-25T21:00:00Z")
Are you crying because someone just smashed your face?😕 ---
**Author:** ![LMarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@LMarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LMarie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/3 "2013-08-25T21:11:28Z")
And it’s a universal reaction, which makes me all the more curious to know why. Good question! ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/4 "2013-08-26T11:46:22Z")
I’m not a medical anything, but basically because when your brain feels the emotion of great sadness it triggers both the tearing reflex (unique to humans) and the ‘scrunching’ muscles in your face. Same as happiness triggers the smiling reflex. They both must have some evolutionary purpose/cause, but that I don’t know. Research\*\* Desmond Morris\*\*’ stuff, he may have a theory (which is as much as anyone can give you)… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/5 "2013-08-26T11:56:46Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Research\*\* Desmond Morris\*\*’ stuff, he may have a theory (which is as much as anyone can give you)… Desmond Morris may be interesting, but he makes a lot of shit up, so don’t take it as gospel. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/6 "2013-08-26T12:35:34Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Desmond Morris may be interesting, but he makes a lot of shit up, so don’t take it as gospel. Well yeah, but when you’re talking about evolutionary causes for very specific things, like I said, the only thing anyone can really do is present their best hypothesis. Evolution takes too long and is effected by too many factors for us be sure of things (without a time machine). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/7 "2013-08-26T13:56:35Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Well yeah, but when you’re talking about evolutionary causes for very specific things, like I said, the only thing anyone can really do is present their best hypothesis. Evolution takes too long and is effected by too many factors for us be sure of things (without a time machine). True, true. But when I read Desmond Morris in the past, I was struck with a number of hypotheses that he threw out there without providing credible evidence to back them up. It’s been a while, so I’m afraid I can’t supply examples, but that’s the opinion I came away with. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-our-faces-crumple-up-when-we-cry/667153/8 "2013-08-27T08:09:20Z")
Crying is a way to communicate that one is in emotional or physical pain. Everything about it - the tears, the sobbing, the facial expression - triggers a sympathetic response in onlookers. Both the act of crying and the response to it are instinctive. As to why this particular set of behaviors has evolved in humans, I doubt that anyone really knows. There are all kinds of questions like this - for example, why do humans bare their teeth when they’re happy, when for many other animals the baring of teeth indicates aggression?