Why We Cry
To communicate … and perhaps to manipulate, says John Tierney of the New York Times, reporting on recent research:
“Emotional tears are a breakthrough in the evolution of humans as a social species,” says Dr. [Robert] Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County … in Evolutionary Psychology (pdf).
Ambiance 
realpc said,
April 27, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Oh I don’t know. We probably cry more when no one is watching, so how can it be for communication?
chickenlittle said,
April 27, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Exactly realpc.
I too find little substance here explaining why we cry, but I expect such a conclusion would be supported by experiments inducing someone to actually cry. I’m not saying it’s a crappy study, but just one perhaps better titled: “Tears Change How We Are Perceived.” :)
samnangp said,
August 10, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Emotional tears… of course, leaving out the prcatice cleansing the eye of irritants, crying’s only purpose would be to convey extremes of emotions such as sorrow/pain or joy.
How did we “evolve” such a thing and then somehow transfer that ability into our offspring?