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People may weep for help
 Q: The recent death of our much-beloved cat, Hepzibuh, raises the questions: Why do people
weep? Do people in all cultures weep? Do other primates weep? Do other animals weep--Harvey
J., Maine
A: This is the first of a two-part answer. This part discusses why people weep. Next week we'll
consider whether other primates and animals weep also.
Right: [Corel] Gorilla emotes
Weeping is the shedding of tears to express emotion. We don't know why we weep. However, we
speculate and here are some guesses:
Newborns cry because they're hungry or feel pain, says Mike Marcell, psychologist in Charleston, South Carolina.
Babies don't shed tears when they cry until about two months of age. Screaming alone gets results at first. Tears get even more
attention and come later.
We make three kinds of tears: Basal tears for simple eyeball lubrication, reflex tears to wash away irritants (onion fumes, debris specks,
or hits to the eye), and emotional tears. Weeping tears contain various hormones that the other tears don't and 20 to 25 percent more
protein. We don't know why emotional tears differ but it's interesting that they do. These tears may wash the body clean of wastes.
Crying manipulates the mother to alleviate the problem. Crying "tells" his mother something's wrong and she helps him. The baby
communicates through crying.
Maybe we weep in grief or cry in anger as the communication of last resort. Words fail us, as they did when we were babies and had no
words, so we cry for help. People of all cultures weep: Chinese, Jewish, Muslim, Indian, Hopi aborigines, Canadians, Bara people of
Madagascar...
"...crying is a distress signal," says James Gross, psychology professor at Stanford University. Seeing someone cry often triggers crying.
We don't like to cry; it makes us feel bad. Thus, my tears motivate you to stop me from crying so you won't cry also. "This means that
crying may be nature's way of forcefully signally that we need help, and motivating helpful behavior designed to end tears of sadness."
Charles Darwin included emotions in his studies of evolution. Certain emotional expressions are innate and universal. He believed this
as evidence of the "unity of the several races." Thus, the expressions, or the language of the emotions, provide a means of
communication among all human beings, regardless of culture or ethnic origin.
Crying gets results and, hence, gives an evolutionary advantage to the crier, says Paul Verrell, zoology professor at Washington State
University. A baby must get food to eventually pass on his genes.
(Answered by April Holladay, science correspondent, November 28, 2001)
Further Surfing:
Science News Online: Emotions
Book: Crying, A Natural and Cultural History of Tears By Thomas Lutz W. W. Norton, $25.95
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