Emotional tears appear to be uniquely human.

Crying can help us process our emotions and leave us calmer, clearer, and more reconciled to life.

Our tears can reveal what matters to us before we consciously know it ourselves.

In many cultures, especially for men, crying is considered to be undignified and infantile behavior, except in certain specific circumstances, such as mourning the loss of a relative. After childhood, men shed tears much less frequently than women. The reasons for this are partly biological, but mainly sociocultural.

“Crying,” or “tearing up,” is not just one thing. There are in fact three types of tears, two of which are rather uninteresting: basal tears that lubricate and protect the eye, and reflex tears that flush out irritants such as smoke particles or onion vapors. The third type of tear is, of course, shed in response to emotion.

Whereas many animals have basal and reflex tears, emotional tears appear to be uniquely human. Although other animals, of course, vocalize and express distress, there is no convincing evidence that they shed tears for emotional reasons. So, presumably, if women cry more often than men, it is because they are more human? Elephants and chimpanzees are sometimes said to “weep,” but it has not been conclusively demonstrated that these are indeed emotional tears. On the other hand, we can be pretty sure that crocodiles don’t sob. The expression “to shed crocodile tears” has its roots in an ancient legend, according to which crocodiles pretend........

© Psychology Today