The question what specific functions the production of emotional tears fulfills has received only limited attention of behavioral scientists. We report the results of two studies on the social impact of emotional tears. In Study 1 (96 Dutch females), perceived helplessness and felt connectedness predicted the willingness to help a person depicted as crying tearfully, while perceived friendlines...

A Review of Michael Trimble, Why humans like to cry: Tragedy, evolution, and the brain. Crying is an important human behavior, and we are all aware of the impact that our tears can have on others, and theirs on us. From an ethological perspective, the survival value of crying is clear, particularly in the case of infants and small children. However, much less is known about the evolutionary mea...

Objective: To compare the efficacy of different non-pharmacological interventions (kangaroo care, cuddling, playing white noise, ambient sound) applied to newborns during heel stick procedure on newborns’ pain level, duration crying, and voice decibel. Methods: This is a prospective, randomized controlled trial including pre- post-tests four groups. The setting neonatal intensive care unit in T...