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Is crying a self-soothing behavior?

Asmir Gračanin1, Lauren M Bylsma2, Ad J J M Vingerhoets3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka Rijeka, Croatia.

Frontiers in Psychology
|June 7, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Crying offers direct self-soothing benefits by regulating mood and reducing stress. This review explores physiological, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms supporting crying as a self-soothing behavior.

Keywords:
cryingemotion regulationmood managementself-soothingsocial-soothing

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Behavior

Background:

  • Crying is a complex human behavior with various proposed functions.
  • Self-soothing involves homeostatic regulation of mood and stress.
  • Distinguishing self-soothing from social-soothing effects of crying is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the scientific literature on the self-soothing effects of crying.
  • To explore mechanisms underlying crying's role in mood regulation and stress reduction.
  • To evaluate the hypothesis that crying is an inherently self-soothing behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Comprehensive literature review of crying and self-soothing.
  • Analysis of physiological, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms.
  • Evaluation of theoretical and empirical evidence.

Main Results:

  • Converging evidence supports crying as a self-soothing behavior.
  • Mechanisms include physiological, cognitive, and behavioral pathways.
  • Crying may share properties with rhythmical, stereotypic self-soothing behaviors.

Conclusions:

  • Crying has direct self-soothing effects beyond social signaling.
  • Homeostatic regulation is achieved through biological and cognitive processes during crying.
  • Further research can elucidate the interplay of social and self-soothing aspects of crying.