Why crying does and sometimes does not seem to alleviate mood: a quasi-experimental study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Emotional Regulation

Background:

• Retrospective studies suggest crying benefits mood.
• Laboratory studies indicate crying negatively impacts mood.
• A paradox exists between retrospective and laboratory findings on crying and mood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the temporal effects of crying on mood in a laboratory setting.
• To reconcile conflicting findings on crying and mood enhancement.
• To evaluate a parsimonious explanation for the crying-mood paradox.

Main Methods:

• Compared mood ratings of criers and non-criers before and after an emotional movie.
• Assessed mood immediately, 20 minutes, and 90 minutes post-movie.
• Measured mood changes in 28 criers and 32 non-criers.

Main Results:

• Criers experienced increased negative mood immediately after the movie.
• Mood deterioration in criers was followed by recovery to baseline levels.
• Criers reported mood enhancement 90 minutes after the movie compared to pre-film levels.
• Crying frequency did not predict mood changes beyond the act of crying itself.

Conclusions:

• Crying initially lowers mood but leads to subsequent mood recovery and enhancement.
• The temporal pattern of mood change after crying explains the discrepancy between study types.
• Laboratory crying effects are transient, with long-term benefits observed over time.