It is a signal that we send to other people. But the idea of crying as an expressive, emotional act, and in particular, I think, my thesis is that crying really is a form of interpersonal communication. Those were the talkative animals.ĭUCKWORTH: Yeah. Dolittle books.ĭUBNER: I think they talked back though, didn’t they? Those were the outliers. Dolittle had a whole thing about talking to the animals, you will recall.ĭUCKWORTH: Oh, that’s true.

To have a full-on conversation.ĭUBNER: Dr. They just don’t talk back.ĭUCKWORTH: Yes. We think other animals can experience some version of sadness, though, of course, it’s very hard to talk to them.ĭUBNER: Not so hard to talk to them. And I think the question of why we cry is such a deep one, because it’s not the case that only human beings experience sadness. And maybe men - if you get big speck of dust in your eye.ĭUCKWORTH: So, - so, why do we have emotional crying? That’s the question that Shane is asking. I don’t think that’s what Shane is especially interested in.ĭUBNER: Only babies and women cry. If you get a mote of dust in your eye - or anything else flies into your eye - you also produce tears to flush the eye. We have tears, in part, to, like, lubricate the eyeball. So, just some basic facts: tears are partly functional from purely biological reasons. So, Shane asks about the biology and the emotional dimensions of crying. Shane, what are you thinking?” But anyway, Angela, what do you think? Why do we cry?ĭUCKWORTH: Okay. Please do not ask such stupid questions.ĭUCKWORTH: What accent, specifically, are you doing right now, Stephen?ĭUBNER: Sorry. Shane, there’s no such thing as “a good cry” - especially if you are a man. There must be a reason or why else would we have the phrase ‘a good cry?’” Shane, I must disagree.

He asks simply, “Why do we cry? It seems to be both a biological and an emotional reaction.

I promise!ĭUBNER: Angela, a listener named Shane writes in with a question that is surely not stupid. Today on the show: What is the purpose of crying?ĭUBNER: I’m not crying. I’m hungry.ĭUCKWORTH + DUBNER: And you’re listening to No Stupid Questions.

Crying by William H. Frey