Why have humans evolved to cry?

Why have we evolved to shed emotional tears when other animals haven't?

Animals do produce tears but for different reasons than humans. They tend to shed tears for practical purposes like eye lubrication and protection, or for other biological and defence reasons. For example, "crocodile tears".  This describes an insincere display of emotion such as crying fake tears of sadness.  The phrase comes from an ancient belief that crocodiles cried while eating their prey and the expression exists in many modern languages, introduced via Latin.  While crocodiles do have tear ducts, they actually weep to lubricate their eyes when they dry up out of the water.

Humans, like other animas, shred tears to protect and clean our eyes too, but we also cry when we have intense feelings such as grief, joy, frustration and pain.  Animals don't have the same response to these emotions, instead they rely on alternative methods of communication such as distress calls, posture displays, scent and other biological responses.

Could it be that animals actually feel similar emotions to humans, but are less likely to display risky vulnerability with tears?  It is likely that, in nature, it is often to an animal's advantage to mask rather than flag potential emotions and weaknesses.  This would be a sensible evolutional adaption in line with Darwin's Principle of the Survival of the Fittest, where the fittest do no experience pain, fear or frustration because they are strong and tough and have wonderful DNA.

So it seems we are the only animal that sheds tears for emotional reasons.  If the production of emotional tears is a uniquely human behaviour why have we evolved to display this response to emotional stress.  Is that not a silly idea? Where is the evolutional advantage?

What is the point of crying when we are sad or upset?

Unless an individual has some sort of issue with their tear ducts, producing emotional tears is a universal human behaviour.  The evolutionary approach suggests we are social animals and our ability to form complex social bonds, communicate and empathise with others is crucial for the survival of our species.  The main hypothesis seems to be that crying evolved as an expression to signal distress and promote social responses in the audience witnessing the tears (the crying of tears, in this case, is referred to as signaling).  It is also thought that the actual process of crying may influence the mood of the crier, and their outlook on life, due to the impact of their tears on people around them.  When we cry, it communicates our emotional state to others, and influences their emotional state.  Signaling our vulnerability and need for help results in  empathy and support, which is nice!

Neuroscientist Robert Provine suggests that emotional tears were a major breakthrough in human evolution as a social species.  Emotional tears are intertwined with our social evolution and out brain circuitry.

(Another possibility I read about is that, as humans have evolved to walk upright, our noses are a long way from the ground. This means that using scent to identify emotional cues is not very practical for humans.)

Of course we also cry in other circumstances and I haven't even looked at those!  We humans are unique because we can be moved to tears by aesthetics and ideas.  Music can bring us to tears,  So can beauty and joy, a good book, religion and films.  We cry when no one is watching.  An example of this is Aunty Lily who quite often has a "good cry" when she is on her own.  Who is she signaling her emotions to?  Lily says God sees her, and that is excellent.

Jeanie March 24