2007-03-23 17:28:43 · 7 answers · asked by arista j 1 in Social Science ➔ Gender Studies
(m)
Humans are a social species, and as such, it is very important for an individual to express his or her feelings and emotions to fellow individuals. Laughing and crying are expressions of very basic emotions--happiness/joy/contentment and pain/sadness/confusion/anger. Sharing the first strengthens social bonds between individuals; whereas by sharing the last, an individual can achieve help and comfort. Incidentally, solitary, non-social animals probably hide their feelings because there is no reason to do otherwise.
Humans are very strongly oriented towards vision and sound, and most of our communication is based on vision and hearing--using facial expressions and other body movements together with speech and other sounds. Laughing and crying are both types of communication which use these forms of expression. One can only wonder what laughing and crying would be like, if we were like many insects and other species that communicate largely via smells, pheromones and tactile stimuli.
No one invented laughing and crying, no more than someone invented walking or sleeping. Babies laugh and cry all by themselves, without being taught how to do so. These actions simply evolved as the most adequate means for our species to express these basic emotions. Early humans most certainly laughed and cried, as did our ancestors and so do chimpanzees. Laughing and crying are part of our human heritage.
2007-03-23 17:51:17 · answer #1 · answered by mallimalar_2000 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
are you asking about the emotion of upset(ness) or the tears that follow? emotions, such as crying, are the release that the body/mind supplies in a stressful situation. much like a pressure cooker, our mind/body operates on such a level and without a release of pent-up feelings (sad or happy), the mind would burn out and/or not function. this is why we laugh, cry, get angry, etc. now the tears. tears are lubricants so our eyes won't become dry and crack. you tear when something gets into the eye socket or very sad feelings overwhelm us. also, laugh hard & long, you would also tear up in the eyes as the eye socket area is very sensitive. without such watering device, we would loose our eye sight, like real quick.
2007-03-23 17:46:28 · answer #2 · answered by blackjack432001 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From a biological standpoint, I don't think anyone really knows. Laughing and crying separate people from other species. I think tears may carry away stress causing hormones.
2007-03-24 00:53:24 · answer #3 · answered by Millie M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
this is one of my favorite questions to answer...lol.
everybody here is correct - it is one of those things we do to show our most personal of feelings.
interesting thing - crying can be a manifestation of all sorts of emotions, joy, sorrow, fear, anger etc.
when we're in moments of high emotion, be it any of the ones named above, chemicals inside our body called Endorphines ramp up. crying is our way of getting rid of these chemicals, or more scientifically - toxins. which probably explains why we can cry to express different emotions - because the same chemicals are ramped up.
crying is one of the interesting God-given things we have, so let it go all you want.
2007-03-25 07:58:11 · answer #4 · answered by luke_r1996 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm no expert - but off hand I would say that one reason would be because of emotion, the same reason why we laugh. Another reason that comes to mind would be because since we do have tear ducts - it's a way of lubricating and washing our eyes from debris.
2007-03-23 17:45:28 · answer #5 · answered by Elke 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cring is one of the best show of personial feelings . cring is not fake, lied about and can bring happiness to anyone and any place.
2007-03-24 11:03:51 · answer #6 · answered by melvinbarnes30 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because it is the best way to split out our sorrows and continue our life
2007-03-23 17:53:00 · answer #7 · answered by akshay 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋