Podcast
10% Happier with Dan Harris
He outlined the two major theories on why we cry: social signaling and excretory function. Dr. William Frey's research on tears focused on the excretory function, suggesting that emotional tears have a different chemical composition than irritant tears.
This dates back to Dr. William Frey, who published a book in the 80s called Crying the Mystery of Tears, which was a pretty landmark book at the time. It was a big cultural moment.
— Episode: The Science Of Crying: Evolutionary Root...
Episode: The Science Of Crying: Evolutionary Roots, Benefit...
He outlined the two major theories on why we cry: social signaling and excretory function. Dr. William Frey's research on tears focused on the excretory function, suggesting that emotional tears have a different chemical composition than irritant tears.
This dates back to Dr. William Frey, who published a book in the 80s called Crying the Mystery of Tears, which was a pretty landmark book at the time. It was a big cultural moment.
In it, his big finding was that the chemical composition of emotional tears was different than the chemical composition of irritant tears.
So the tears that you cry cutting an onion or there's smoke in the air, that those are chemically distinct from tears that you cry out of deep feeling.