Citation: Vingerhoets A.J.J.M, Boelhouwer, A.J.W, Van Tilburg, M. A. L, & Van Heck, G. L (2001). The situational and emotional context of adult crying, In A. J. J. M Vingerhoets, & R. R. Cornelius (EDS.), Adult crying. A Biopsychosocial approach (pp. 71 – 90). Hove (UK): Brunner-Routledge.
“Crying is also common in situations where sadness is not the predominant emotion” In effect, some people cry not because they are sad, but because of other emotions too.
“Particular situations or events will induce a specific emotional state if they have been appraised in a certain way.” If a child is punished for doing an action, then performing that action is likely to expect punishment, and hence more prone to an emotional response.
Overflow Theory (Breuer and Freud, 1845/1995) – “A kind of hydraulic/overflow process, that is, as a safety valve.” To summarise, sometimes crying is exhibited as a build up of a “high intensity of emotions” which causes the body to overflow.
Frijda (1986) “Crying occurs in situations in which people feel overwhelmed and experience a loss of control.” Someone with poor emotional control is more likely to have a lower threshold for emotional capacity, and cry more often.
The episode is unimportant to the crying itself.
Wood & Wood (1984) “Happy events might induce crying because of memories of unhappy experiences or unfulfilled wishes.” In essence, even in situations where people cry from happiness, it is because they draw upon memories or experiences which were bad, or were unable to fulfil. E.g. someone else may fulfil their dream which causes them to cry because their dream is being fulfilled even though they were unable to.
“It is important to find out why sadness is often associated with crying, while in a substantial number of other cases this emotional state does not evoke tears.” As sadness does not always evoke crying, crying is not always because of sadness.
Borgquist (1906) “Identified three types of crying situations: 1. Grief or sadness. 2. Anger. 3. Joy. ” Primary reasons why people cry.
Frey (1983) “40% interpersonal. 32% media matters. 7% sad thoughts. ” why people cry. Simply put, crying is largely caused by our experiences.
Williams & Morris (1996) “Women cried more often in conflict situations and in situations inducing anger.” “Men, cry in tender situations more easily.” To say that why men and women cry are different.
Vingerhoets (1997) – a sample of 250 women. “Adults cry in response to discrete emotional events, but also without any clear external trigger when reflecting on their lives or situations. Stimuli that are essentially weak and neutral may evoke strong memories also resulting in crying. Second, the inducing situations are often conflicts, feelings of personal inadequacy, and/or loss events.” He summarises that Women mostly draw upon past experiences to evoke feelings that stimulate crying, rather than the event itself being a trigger. Situations usually involve in inability to do something or as a result of a conflict or the loss of something/someone important.
Williams & Morris (1996) “Men appeared to let their tears flow more easily when experiencing positive events compared to women.” Women are more likely to cry because of something bad, and men because of something good.
In summary, this gives me an idea of why people cry, and I will test this in my project by seeing what experiences actresses draw upon to make themselves fake cry, or even if they are unable to, why that may be the case.
