# Why do people cry when they're sad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803 "2002-12-01T19:23:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/1 "2002-12-01T19:23:11Z")
There may have baan a column or thread on this before, but I couldn’t dig it up, if so, sorry. But why is tearing at the eyes linked to feeling upset? I was thinking about it the other night, and I can’t think of why flushing your eyes with tears would occur because of a sad movie. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/2 "2002-12-01T20:09:21Z")
I assumed crying in general, with sobs and wails and other noise, is how parents know their young is in trouble from a distance. I don’t know about the tears, though. Good question! ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/3 "2002-12-02T00:41:37Z")
Is there anything inehernent in vocal cries that would connect it to the tear ducks? And, for that matter, as I have no clue, do crying babies shed tears? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/4 "2002-12-02T00:48:26Z")
Hahahaha… okay, sorry. Not tear **ducks**. Tear **ducts**. ---
**Author:** ![ASD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@ASD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASD)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/5 "2002-12-02T02:51:35Z")
I read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that they have found that tears contain chemicals which are related to stress. I did a quick google search and found some sites which also say this, but none that I would consider reputable (ie, personal sites, not medical study results) ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/6 "2002-12-02T22:48:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ASD \* > \*\*I read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that they have found that tears contain chemicals which are related to stress. I did a quick google search and found some sites which also say this, but none that I would consider reputable (ie, personal sites, not medical study results) \*\* Thanks for that, I’ll look into that a little. Anyone one else know anything about it to ease my mind? ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/7 "2002-12-03T01:14:34Z")
Well, my middle school theatre teacher once said that people relieve strong feelings in one of two ways: laughing or crying. This is why some people laugh at very innappropriate times, and others cry when they are happy. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/8 "2002-12-03T17:11:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by monica \* > \*\*Well, my middle school theatre teacher once said that people relieve strong feelings in one of two ways: laughing or crying. This is why some people laugh at very innappropriate times, and others cry when they are happy. \*\* But why would strong feelings cause your eyes to water and tear up? what’e the relation between being sad and having teary eyes? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/9 "2002-12-03T17:48:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by New & Improved Scott \* > \*\*But why would strong feelings cause your eyes to water and tear up? what’e the relation between being sad and having teary eyes? \*\* WAG time: when you are young, crying is your standard response to pretty much any less-than-ideal situation. Tears help clear the eyes of foreign matter, and as our eyes are so vital to us maybe a child under threat automatically 1) bellows for help and 2) begins ‘preventative measures’ to ensure that their eyes are safe (although I guess they could just close their eyes instead…? Maybe they do, but I have no baby on which to check at the moment). ‘Feeling unhappy’ is also a less-than-ideal situation, and even though we can rationalise the fact that there is no physical danger, we are hardwired to respond with the same preventative measures (ie. tears) as we did when we were younger. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/10 "2002-12-03T18:12:48Z")
Perhaps the tears are to clear the eyes so that vision is clear, which would be needed in either flight or fight. Flight = to see your path as you run, and fight = to see your opponent as you try to fight it off. This seems a weak theory to me though, I think the tears obscure the vision much more than clearing it. Maybe the tears used to much less in the evolutionary past, and later increased. Of course, then we have almost the same question as the beginning, why so _much_ tearing now? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/11 "2002-12-03T18:16:02Z")
Torn ducks make the baby Jesus cry. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/12 "2002-12-03T19:13:18Z")
[This site](http://users.hubwest.com/hubert/mrscience/crying.html) has one answer from a Dr. Mike Marcell, who is (it sez) a research psychologist in Charleston, SC: > [@](#): > > Newborns cry (I think tearing develops soon, but am not sure) for reasons like hunger and pain, and later the reasons extend to social concerns (e.g., need for attention). Thus, **it seems reasonable to explain the link between crying and sadness as being an extension of the negative associations of the very earliest crying.** > > \ > > Crying works in that it elicits responses from caregivers, who then alleviate the negative cause (like hunger). Thus, **one should consider crying (and facial tearing) as communicative signals designed to enhance the likelihood of someone coming and taking care of things.** > > \ > > The most interesting part of the question I think is why tearing? I came across only one article–highly speculative–in which the fellow looked at relationships among crying episodes of adults and found that the only commonality was help–either requesting or offering it. He speculates that **tears provide an additional signal in requesting help in infants/children–a conspicuous facial signal–and that perhaps tears are selected for this task because they are already present via their reflexive association to physical pain and ocular trauma (e.g., eyes watering to get dust out).** There is no reference given for the article Dr. Marcell refers to. Whacking “why do we cry” into [google.com](http://google.com) provides a [few possible places to begin investigating](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=why+do+we+cry). ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/13 "2002-12-03T19:16:41Z")
One more 🙂 There is a good article on the [BBC science website](http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/scienceshack/articles/questions/q_ou66.shtml) which has more info, including the facts that 1) babies only begin producing tears when they cry at two months and 2) the tears produced in crying are different to the normal fluid that covers the eyes during the rest of the time. ---
**Author:** ![ASD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@ASD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASD)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-cry-when-theyre-sad/139803/14 "2002-12-03T19:21:49Z")
I had more time to look around based on what I posted earlier and found: [http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2094.html](http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2094.html)