Summary: New research has discovered that framework affects how we perceive other people’s tears as honest or manipulative. When shed in non-manipulative settings or by those less likely to yell, such as men or those who were perceived as less comfortable, weeping were judged more sincere.
This suggests that unanticipated tears perhaps give spectators a stronger sense of authenticity. The studies demonstrate that crying is more influenced by who shouts and when, and not just by what.
Important Information:
- In non-manipulative settings, grief were perceived as more genuine.
- People and less hospitable people gained more clout when they wept.
- Whether weeping are seen as honest or geopolitical is influenced greatly by context.
PLOS One Cause
A new study adds new evidence that suggests that various cultural factors are important in shaping how people perceive other people’s tears as honest or manipulative.
The results suggest that grief may become perceived as more sincere when shed in non-manipulative social settings and by those who are less likely to cry. On July 16, 2025, University of Lodz, Poland, Monika Wróbel and associates publish these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One.
Emotional tears are frequently viewed as genuine social signs, perhaps because it is hard to weep on demand. In contrast, the general consensus is that tears can also be shed purposefully to manipulate others, or” crocodile tears.”
However, several studies have thoroughly examined the circumstances under which tears are thought to be genuine or not. In order to gain deeper understanding, Wróbel and colleagues conducted experiments where thousands of participants shared their opinions of faces in photos, some of which had been edited to make them seem teary.
The faces were portrayed in various ways to convey warmth, and they were depicted in hypothetical situations that were manipulative or not. For instance, the person in the photo is trying to cut in line to see a doctor ( manipulative ) versus waiting to see a doctor and speaking with a receptionist ( non-manipulative ). Members also completed a questionnaire to evaluate their unique character traits.
According to research of the responses of the participants, tears did not appear to have had a significant impact on how people perceived the credibility of the people in the photos, but some other factors did.
Most importantly, tears were more likely to affect the perception of honesty in photos of women with lower warmness ratings and men, who are usually perceived as less warm.
This suggests that it might be more advantageous for those who are less likely to weep to shed tears. Additionally, grief were viewed as more trustworthy in the framework of non-manipulative circumstances.
Ultimately, the findings support the notion that environment has a significant impact on whether or not tears are perceived as being honest. Further investigation is required to separate these factors and their effects.
The authors add that “our studies demonstrated that tears are no generally accepted as a honest social signal because how much they are perceived to be genuine depends on the person crying and the circumstances in which case.”
We discovered that tears may be more socially beneficial ( i .e., perceived as more honest signals motivating others to support the crier ) when shed by people less likely to do so ( for example, by men or low-warmth people ).
” Perceivedly, when men or low-warmth people break up, which is quite surprising, observers assume that there must be a real reason for this.
” Choosing the right stimuli is the biggest problem in studying the social consequences of tears. We used images of people with online added grief in our study, similar to most studies in this field.
However, crying is a complicated, varied psychological expression that includes not only tears but even movements, vocalizations, or visual muscle movements. This calls for future better, more ethically sound alterations.
The National Science Centre, Poland ( https ://www.ncn.gov.pl/en ) provided funding for the study ( Grant Number: 2021/43/B/HS6/01882 ).
The sponsors did not participate in the development or preparation of the studies that were covered in this book.
About this information from psychology study
Author: Hanna Abdallah
Source: PLOS
Contact: Hanna Abdallah – PLOS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Start access to original analysis
Monika Wróbel et al.,” The honesty behind weeping: Situational, personal, and social affects on the notion of personal tears as honest.” PLOS One
Abstract
The sincerity of tears: Various socio-cultural, personal, and historical factors influence how people perceive emotional tears as genuine.
Emotional tears have been viewed as honest and genuine signals, most good because they are hard to drop on demand.
People also acknowledge that grief can be used tactfully to influence others, such as’crocodile tears‘.
Therefore, the question is raised regarding when tears are viewed as sincere signals and when as turtle tears.
We examine this issue in this study using three empirical studies and a wide range of groups.
In a preliminary study ( N = 7, 007 ), we find the first proof that emotional tears can increase perceptions of honesty, which may vary depending on the target’s gender or the situational context.
We examine the opinions of sincerity in five countries ( Norway, Poland, South Africa, Canada, and the UK), using a diverse pool of uniform and non-standardized photographs of tearful and non-tearful goals presented in various potentially manipulative versus non-manipulative contexts and in various degrees of heat.
Overall, the main effects are scant and indicate that views of honesty are influenced by specific traits, situational factors, and spectator traits.
We find that emotional tears affect support intentions more strongly for targets that aren’t warm ( experimentally manipulated by facial features or target gender ).
Handicapped settings had a slight decrease in the perceptions of credibility, but target characteristics managed to moderate these effects. Higher neuroticism scores were displayed by people with lower levels of honesty for goals with emotional tears.
Together, these findings provide additional proof that whether mental tears indicate honesty possible depends on several individual, situational, and social factors.
Due to the small effect sizes, coming adjustments and more ecologically sound designs are needed.
