Humans use different ways to convey feelings. From conversations to facial expressions to body gestures, these are ways we socially interact and communicate through. We also use various body fluids to pass across social chemical signals. Body fluids like tears, milk, and even feces.
Tears have been proven to be more than just an expression of emotions or lubricant for the eye. Research has shown that the tears of women have some chemical components that cause males to be less hostile or aggressive.
Woman Crying
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Tears lower aggression
Earlier findings reveal that the tears of mammals, female mice, in particular, emit a kind of social chemical that interacts with the aggression center of male mice. Even more so, submissive blind male mole rats bathe themselves in tears to prevent physical oppression from superior males.
Just recently, Dr. Shani Agron and her colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel tested the theory on humans. They recruited 31 healthy men who were not on any medications. They also looked for women who could release tears easily for tear donation. Approximately 1.6 ml of tears were donated by each woman.
The men were taken to a specialized room for experiments that had to do with smell. They were asked to sniff from a glass containing tears, and then a patch infused with sweat was placed under their nostrils for continuous sniffing. They also exposed them to normal saline and recorded no difference in odor.
Thereafter, the participants played a kind of game called the point subtraction aggression paradigm (PSAP). This game put them up against opponents whom they were made to believe were cheating, with the purpose of eliciting aggression.
Afterward, they gave each of them questionnaires that sought to rate their desire to seek revenge. According to the researchers at the institute, they noticed a significant decrease in aggressive tendencies after the participants were all exposed to tears. They recorded a 43.7% reduction in hostility and concluded that human tears have a chemical that interacts with the brain structure of men to cause aggression.
Using MRI, they monitored brain interactions and noticed that tears lowered aggression-related activities and improved nerve cell activity between the brain and nose. They also discovered that odorless tears activate certain receptors in the nose that create the pathway for social chemical signaling.
Clinical significance
These findings project tears not only as an emotional tool but also as protection against aggression. Dr. Shani Agron refers to it as a “chemical blanket” of protection. The effect female tears on men has been known for centuries, but now science tells u the how.
Conclusion
Now that research has confirmed that tears emit chemicals that lower male aggression, it begs the following questions—what other effects do female tears have on males? Do male tears have any effects on females? Why do some men abuse women even when they are crying? Do other body secretions have similar effects? This study (like any other study worth its salt) answers one question and raises three more.
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References
Agron, S., De March, C. A., Weissgross, R., Mishor, E., Gorodisky, L., Weiss, T., Furman-Haran, E., Matsunami, H., & Sobel, N. (2023, December 21). A chemical signal in human female tears lowers aggression in males. PLOS Biology. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002442
