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Social reactions to adult crying: the help-soliciting function of tears

Michelle C P Hendriks1, Marcel A Croon, Ad J J M Vingerhoets

  • 1Tilburg University The Netherlands.

The Journal of Social Psychology
|May 15, 2008
PubMed

The authors investigated how people believe they respond to crying individuals. Participants (N = 530) read 6 vignettes describing situations in which they encountered a person who either cried or did not cry. Participants reported they would give more emotional support to and express less negative affect toward a crying person than a noncrying person. However, regression analyses revealed that participants judged a crying person less positively than a noncrying person and felt more negative feelings in the presence of a crying person than a noncrying person. The valence of the situation strongly moderated these reactions. Overall, results support the theory that crying is an attachment behavior designed to elicit help from others.

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