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Emotional Tears: An Honest Signal of Trustworthiness Increasing Prosocial Behavior?
Lawrence Ian Reed1,2, Yanal Matari1, Molly Wu1
11 Department of Psychology, New York University, NY, USA.
Summary
Emotional tears increase prosocial behavior by enhancing trustworthiness, not general altruism. Seeing tears in a Trust game led to more sharing, but not in a Dictator game.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Emotional tears are a unique human expression.
- Previous research has not fully explored the impact of tears on social interactions and prosocial behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether emotional tears elicit prosocial behavior in perceivers.
- To determine if tears influence trustworthiness or general altruistic tendencies.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed video clips of a confederate displaying neutral or sad facial expressions, with or without tears.
- Behavioral decisions were recorded in two economic games: a Trust game and a Dictator game.
Main Results:
- In the Trust game, participants were more likely to share resources after viewing a confederate with tears.
- In the Dictator game, tears did not significantly increase resource sharing.
Conclusions:
- Tears appear to enhance prosocial behavior by increasing perceptions of trustworthiness.
- The effect of tears on prosociality is context-dependent, specifically influencing trust rather than general altruism.
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