Why Do We Cry?

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nicholas1M7

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Crying or weeping (physic tears): The third category, generally referred to as crying or weeping, is increased lacrimation due to strong emotional stress, depression or physical pain. This practice is not restricted to negative emotions; many people have been known to cry when extremely happy or when they are laughing. In humans, emotional tears can be accompanied by reddening of the face and sobbing — cough-like, convulsive breathing, sometimes involving spasms of the whole upper body. Tears brought about by emotions have a different chemical make up than those for lubrication.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears

We can see from this that crying is not exclusive to being sad. It can also be brought on by being very happy. When one is overwhelmed with confusion I suspect that tears of submission and mercy can be considered separate from sad tears. Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if they know any other feelings or causes for crying? And are there brain activities that can permanently inhibit crying?
 
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i have cried after my martial arts training and during certain different types of training,

not through pain from the physical side of it, but through the mental side of training, and after i realise new things and truths about the universe, also sometimes after listening to music,

lots of reasons.

this post will be interesting.

peace.
 
we cry because the rivers run dry.
because the life is oblique as it is
and we need more solidarity in our belief
 
This is a very good post. Personally, I have been through so much trauma that I no longer cry when I become sad, although there are exceptions when at the extreme! But! Because I AM extremely emotional, I cry when I become overwhelmed with emotional complexity, or, more accurately referred to as "existentional anxiety." In other words, this is where you reach a point of psychologocal limitation where you can no longer rationalize what is presented before you and you face uncertainties to try and resolve the paradox(es).

Aside from this, we cry when we cut onions.
 
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a fascinating area of study. I've seen lots of theories, but none have really stuck to me as having any sort of solid foundation.

I think we can all agree on a few things, though:
1) eyes watering as a physical protection against dust, sand, desication, or onion gasses is different from the emotionally trigger "crying".
2) The physical act of watery eyes (the hows and the triggers) are fairly well understood, and Crying seems to use the same physical systems.
3) Why emotional response of any kind would trigger your tear ducts to start working is much harder to explain.

Is it a communication mechanism to other humans? Is it a side-effect of the chemicals involved in emotional reactions simply triggering the tear-ducts by accident? Is it maybe a mixture of causes; a situation where the tears, once produced, provided a symbol latched onto by a social species, and then strengthened over generations due to that second use?

What animals "cry" (tear during an emotional reaction). I don'nt know if other primates do, and I can't think of any other mammel that does.
 
Good point! No other animal cries except for humans. Why is that? What evolutuonary mechanism led up to it?
 
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