On the nature of crying and weeping

Sadoff, Robert L.

doi:10.1007/bf01562776

Cited by 33 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…As such, emotions are designed to effect particular changes in the environment. Theories of weeping, more specifically, describe the communicative or help-seeking functions of the act of adult crying (Sadoff, 1966). That is, consistent with the views of Averill (1980) and Sarbin (1989), adults weep to indicate that some important aspect of the self has been threatened or lost, and that they are no longer able to manage the situation themselves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Social reactions to the expression of emotion

Labott

Martin

Eason

et al. 1991

Cognition & Emotion

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Weeping has traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness, and laughter as a sign of health. In the current study, attitudes and reactions toward emotional expressions were evaluated in a laboratory setting. Subjects (n = 168) viewed a movie with a confederate who cried, laughed, or expressed no emotion; they then engaged in 3 minutes of videotaped interaction. Results indicated that men were liked best when they cried, and women when they did not. Criers were seen as more depressed and emotional than individuals who laughed, but not as more feminine. More personal conversations were initiated in the Control condition, and contagion occurred in the Laugh condition, where moods were most positive. These results are consistent with other research which suggests that gender role expectations of emotional expression, especially crying, may have changed in recent years; they also demonstrate that reactions to others' expressions depend upon the expression and also the expressor.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Social reactions to the expression of emotion

Labott

Martin

Eason

et al. 1991

Cognition & Emotion

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“…In fact, several complementary and related theories of cathartic crying have been put forward, including psychological, psychodynamic/psychoanalytic, social, and physiological perspectives (e.g., Kottler & Montgomery, 2001). One view of cathartic crying that has been made popular by psychodynamic theory asserts that crying acts as a way of releasing pressure or tension and allowing blocked negative emotions to be released and relieved (e.g., Breuer & Freud, 1895/1968, Sadoff, 1966, Heilbrunn, 1955. Darwin (1872Darwin ( /1965) also saw crying as serving to bring relief, though he saw this as an incidental result of crying rather than its primary function.…”

Section: Theories Of Cathartic Cryingmentioning

confidence: 99%

When is Crying Cathartic? An International Study

Bylsma¹,

Vingerhoets²,

Rottenberg³

2008

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

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The idea that crying is a cathartic experience, leading to relief from distress, has deep roots. however, empirical evidence for catharsis after crying is mixed. one explanation for the inconsistent results is that variations in the social context of the crying situation determine whether or not crying-related catharsis occurs. To evaluate the role of social context and other contextual features in crying-related catharsis, self-report data were collected on characteristics of the most recent crying episode and its effects on mood in 2,181 male and 2,915 female students in 35 countries. it was hypothesized that the experience of catharsis after crying would be associated with social support during crying, reasons for crying, and characteristics of the situation where the crying occurred. Several contextual features of crying episodes were indeed predictive of crying-related catharsis. Specifically, the receipt of social support, experiencing a resolution to the event that caused the crying episode, and achieving a new understanding of the event were positively related to catharsis. Crying episodes that featured the suppression of crying or the experiencing of shame from crying were less likely to be cathartic. The data suggest that contextual factors may play an important role in shaping crying-related catharsis.Catharsis is generally defined as the purging of emotions or relieving of emotional tensions. The idea of emotional catharsis dates

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“…Whether and how crying raises systemic parasympathetic tone is also an important theoretical question in light of psychological theories that have considered crying behavior to be functional and beneficial in reducing tension (e.g., Efran & Spangler, 1979;Sadoff, 1966; for a review, see Cornelius, 1997). To date, laboratory measurements of the acute physiological consequences of crying have been inconsistent with the view that crying performs cathartic or homeostatic functions (e.g., electrodermal activity during crying is increased; Kraemer & Hastrup, 1988).…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Vagal rebound during resolution of tearful crying among depressed and nondepressed individuals

et al. 2003

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Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is an index of the vagal control of heart rate that is associated with emotion regulatory capacity. To examine RSA in depressed and nondepressed participants in the context of an emotion-regulatory challenge, we presented a sad film to induce crying, a behavior associated with heightened parasympathetic activation. We predicted that nondepressed persons who cried would show elevations in RSA during the onset and the resolution of crying. By contrast, we predicted that depressed individuals who cried would fail to exhibit increased RSA over the course of their crying episodes. As hypothesized, nondepressed participants exhibited RSA increases that accompanied the resolution of tearful crying, consistent with a homeostatic function for crying, whereas depressed subjects who cried did not exhibit increased RSA. Results suggest that the physiological self-regulatory mechanisms invoked by crying are compromised in depression.

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On the nature of crying and weeping

Cited by 33 publications

References 25 publications

Social reactions to the expression of emotion

Social reactions to the expression of emotion

When is Crying Cathartic? An International Study

Vagal rebound during resolution of tearful crying among depressed and nondepressed individuals

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