Study on tears: Can tears lie? – Crying men are more likely to be believed

When people cry when you don't expect it, you're more likely to believe their tears. A study from the University of Łódź in Poland, published in the journal PLOS One, provides evidence of this. Respondents were asked to rate how genuine facial expressions seemed to them—or whether they considered the crying to be merely strategically rolling crocodile tears.

In two main studies, around 3,500 participants from Norway, Poland, South Africa, Canada, and the United Kingdom were shown images of faces, some of which were edited to make the subjects appear tearful. In some images, the participants saw situations in which people behaved manipulatively—for example, cutting in line. The photos also showed faces of varying degrees of warmth. The participants were then asked to rate how honest they thought the people shown were.

The result was striking in two ways: Although tears overall had only a very small influence on how respondents perceived honesty in the photos, according to a press release about the study, faces without tears were also shown for context, and the authors point out that several factors influenced the assessment of honesty.

However, tears were a factor that had a comparatively strong effect in two groups: in photos of men, who according to the study typically appear less warm-hearted, and in photos of women, who apparently appeared less warm.

For these individuals, tears may be "socially more useful," concluded Monika Wróbel of the University of Lodz, according to a paper published in the journal PLOS One. Their crying would therefore be perceived as a more honest signal by the other person, who would then be more motivated to help the crying person. "Perhaps observers assume that there must be a genuine reason why men or less warm-hearted people cry, which is quite unexpected."

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