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How we perceive tears
Scientists asked 80 students to determine the strength of the sadness of people in photographs. Half of the pictures were people with tears flowing. The other half was the same, but the tears were removed from the pictures in Photoshop. They also added photographs of people with completely different facial expressions.
Without regard to age or gender, the students rated the tears more sad than the other pictures. In the photographs without tears, the participants even saw manifestations of other feelings: interest, boredom, or anger.
The fact that newborns take several months to learn how to cry is another confirmation of the evolutionary origin of tears.
According to one of the theories, a person’s tears, blurring and blurring his eyes, symbolize the signal: “I am not able to defend myself and run away, you can believe me”.
What are tears and why do we cry
Tears are the liquid produced by the lacrimal glands to wet and cleanse the surface of the eye in amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. This liquid is clear, salty in taste. Forms a tear film on the surface of the cornea and performs a protective function.
There is a perception that tears can release stress. And some scientists believe that a person learned to cry for this very reason. Tears here are not just a way of communication, but a way to relieve tension. This could explain why people cry not only in public, but also when no one sees.
One small Japanese study tested 60 people with latex allergies. Scientists measured their skin’s response to latex before and after watching two films. One was about the weather, the other was about sentimental and love affairs.
When viewing the first, apparently no one cried, but during the second, most patients shed at least a couple of tears. Those people had less subsequent reaction to latex.
85% of women and 73% of men say they feel better after crying, which supports the stress relief hypothesis. In the end, it’s worth noting that women are about 5 times more likely to cry than men. Why – we do not yet know, we can only reason in an ordinary way.
However, here too the hypothesis with a defensive reaction finds its response. Men could not cry, because they had to defend themselves, and tears would interfere with this process. Primitive women and children in this way showed that they were in danger.
Unfortunately, the tears of women are not a call for protection from a partner, but a signal that he has crossed the boundaries of what is permissible – be it emotional or physical abuse. Other work has shown that women’s tears are likely to contain pheromones perceived by men.
In men, testosterone levels decrease and the areas of the brain responsible for arousal and aggression begin to work weaker.
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