您现在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Special Speed News  
   
 





 
Researchers look behind the tears to study crying
[ 2009-02-13 10:18 ]

Download

A majority of adults say they find the experience helpful, but about 10 percent feel worse after they cry.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report. Politics is an emotional business. Still, many people found themselves unusually moved by the historic presidential inauguration last week in Washington. Watching the huge crowds, we saw laughter, cheers, hugs -- but also many tears.

Researchers look behind the tears to study crying

It made us wonder, why do people cry? Surely tears must be good for us -- a way to calm the mind and cleanse the body. Yet studies show that crying sometimes makes people feel worse.

Three researchers in Florida and the Netherlands recently looked more deeply into the subject. They examined detailed descriptions of crying experiences. Psychologist Jonathan Rottenberg at the University of South Florida says they wanted to study crying as it happens in everyday life, not in a laboratory.

The team analyzed information from the International Study on Adult Crying. As part of that study, 3,000 people in different countries, mostly college students, wrote about recent crying experiences. They noted causes, surroundings and any people involved in the event. They also reported how they felt after they cried.

Professor Rottenberg says the research showed that all crying experiences are not created equal. Crying does not always make a person feel better, he says. About 10 percent of people reported feeling worse after they cried.

But a third felt better after crying. And a majority reported the experience as helpful.

The research showed that people who cry alone may not do as well as those with others around. People who reached out for emotional support at the time -- and received it -- reported better results from the crying experience.

But Professor Rottenberg says those who felt shame or embarrassment while crying were less likely to report that crying had been helpful.

Research has shown that women cry more often and more intensely than men. But it may not be to better effect, says the psychologist. The new findings, he says, did not show that a person's sex was a predictor of beneficial crying. In other words, just because women cry more does not mean they are more likely to have a "good" cry.

The paper entitled "Is Crying Beneficial?" appeared in December in Current Directions in Psychological Science. And there is more to learn. Jonathan Rottenberg says the science of crying is still in its infancy.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For transcripts and MP3s and to contact us, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

 

(Source;VOA 英语点津编辑)

 
英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
相关文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本频道最新推荐
 
Walking in the US first lady's shoes
“准确无误”如何表达
英国新晋超女苏珊大妈改头换面
猪流感 swine flu
你有lottery mentality吗
翻吧推荐
 
论坛热贴
 
别乱扔垃圾。怎么译这个乱字呀?
橘子,橙子用英文怎么区分?
看Gossip Girl学英语
端午节怎么翻译?
母亲,您在天堂还好吗?