New Theory for Why We Cry

New Theory for Why We Cry | LiveScience: "We shed tears when in pain, but what purpose does crying have?

A scientist now proposes a new theory for why crying evolved — tears can act as handicaps to show you have lowered your defenses.

'Crying is a highly evolved behavior,' said researcher Oren Hasson, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel. 'My analysis suggests that by blurring vision, tears lower defenses and reliably function as signals of submission, a cry for help, and even in a mutual display of attachment and as a group display of cohesion.'"