NationStates Jolt Archive

What is the purpose of shedding salty water from your eyes when you are upset, injured, or extreamly happy. What advantages are there in having wet cheeks with respect to rectifying said problems?



Answer me.

It releases chemicals that make you feel better.

Oh, mighty species that devours mine human and sour flesh, I know not for why we cry! Please spare me from a more hideous doom than you have planned!

It's a sign of respect for the onion that just gave it's life.

It's only natural when you have emotion.

What is the purpose of shedding salty water from your eyes when you are upset, injured, or extreamly happy. What advantages are there in having wet cheeks with respect to rectifying said problems?



Answer me.

Oh go back to Omega Platform 4 you damn dirty alien!

Oh go back to Omega Platform 4 you damn dirty alien!
Racist! Racist!

gets a crowd together
http://www.elca.org/co/mosaic/rome%20photos/Crowd%20at%20St.jpg

Why do you humans cry?

Cuz he just got kicked in the nads.

There are many theories. One is that it's to alert other humans that you require help, are in pain, and/or are emotionally hurt. This sign is universal; it negates the language barrier (hence babies cry to show their status). Also, the biological reasoning is that the production of tears moisturises the mucus membranes, which would otherwise dry out as you sobbed/breathed heavily in grief/pain. As stated above, crying may also be the process in which stress/toxins are released. After crying, we often feel "better", as if an emotional weight has been lifted.

ask human this question you must yes. know not me what is with these mancreatures.

What is the purpose of shedding salty water from your eyes when you are upset, injured, or extreamly happy. What advantages are there in having wet cheeks with respect to rectifying said problems?

Answer me.
Bite me. :D

It's a more fun way of urinating.

it helps me get my own way

Cuz he just got kicked in the nads.
Pwned!

Please step into my lab. Don't mind the poor sod on the slab, I'll remove it so you can be more comfortable. Are you ok now? Good, now I'll proceed to show you why humans cry...

* lab door slams shut *

because chelsea are about to win the league

Humans cry when they realise that I am the most supreme and omnipotent living entity in the entire universe and beyond! :D

When you cry, tears come to your eyes, your nose runs, in fact your mucus in general runs. Instinctively speaking, the main reason you might cry is if you've been hurt, and if you've been hurt, there's an increased risk of infection. I'm totally pulling this out of my arse, but I think it's likely that at least one of the functions of crying is to protect our sensitive areas (e.g. membranes in the eyes and nose) from infection.

Does any other species cry like we do? Maybe it has to do with our social nature. Crying is a very good way of letting everyone else around you know instantly that you're not feeling well. It certainly works for babies, who cry the most and also just so happen to need the most help.

to show others you hurt so they an make you feel better!

we cry because we are weak and fragile beings, or because we need to flush something out of our eyes

Crying is a socially learnt response, it is not natural in humans, people learn it. The agro that goes with crying however can lead to the release of endorphins, or at least that's how I understand the subject.

to show others you hurt so they can make you feel better!

Call me a bleeding heart, but I think humans are undeniably more altruistic than most other species out there. It makes sense to me that a scorpion wouldn't cry, because the next closest scorpion would just kill it.

We probably aren't much different from other social creatures that communicate their pain. When a wolf in the hunt gets injured it howls, and its friends know they've had a casualty in the pack.

By contrast a tiger shark doesn't howl when it's hurt. It either becomes part of the feeding frenzy or takes off with half the other tiger sharks on its tail.

I don't know, but scientists have narrowed it down to the following:

a) They are feeling some strong emotion. This is thought of as probable, as one scientist observed that a human lifted him up and hugged him. The scientist (who is sympathetic to humans) later said that he believed that the human needed comforting at the time, which is usually required for the inferior species.

b) It is a method of excrement. Few of our species has ever observed a human urinating; one or two have observed them on certain specially formed chairs believed to be for doing so. However, many more release unneeded water through the eyes. Thus it is technically a method of excrement. However, since they do not hide the excess water in dirt like all civilized creatures, it is believed that it is not such a method.

c) It is how they wash themselves. Although various members of our kind have heard the sounds of running water in closed rooms in human houses, no one has ever seen humans wash themselves, yet they are frequently very clean despite the noise, dirt, and smog of their cohabitations. Therefore (since they do not lick themselves like civilzed species), the phenomenon known as "crying" is a method of washing.

Any more theories from the superior species out there?

It makes sense to me that a scorpion wouldn't cry, because the next closest scorpion would just kill it.
Actually, the "comfort the crying one" reaction is instinctive to a lot of "higher" animals. Crocodiles, for example. Crocodiles lay their eggs in mounds of earth, and then abandon them, but if any adult crocodile hears the cry of a baby crocodile in distress, they'll instinctively come to its aid.