Summary: New research reveals that our perception of others’ tears as sincere or manipulative depends heavily on context. Tears were judged more honest when shed in non-manipulative situations and by those less expected to cry, such as men or individuals perceived as less warm.
This suggests unexpected tears may signal stronger authenticity to observers. The findings highlight that crying is not universally seen as sincere, but rather shaped by who cries and under what circumstances.
Key Facts:
- Tears were perceived as more honest in non-manipulative situations.
- Men and less warm individuals gained more credibility when crying.
- Context strongly influences whether tears are seen as sincere or strategic.
Source: PLOS
A new study adds to evidence suggesting that people’s perceptions of others’ tears as sincere or manipulative likely depends on a variety of contextual factors.
The findings suggest tears may be perceived as more honest when shed in non-manipulative social situations and by people who are less expected to cry. Monika Wróbel of the University of Lodz, Poland, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on July 16, 2025.
Emotional tears are often perceived as sincere social signals, perhaps because it is difficult to cry on demand. In contrast, widespread belief holds that tears can also be shed strategically to manipulate others; i.e., “crocodile tears.”
However, few studies have systematically explored the circumstances in which tears are perceived to be sincere or not. To gain deeper insight, Wróbel and colleagues conducted experiments in which thousands of participants shared their perceptions of faces in photographs, some of which had been edited to appear tearful.
The faces varied in their conveyed warmth and were presented 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). Participants also completed a questionnaire assessing their own personality traits.
Analysis of participants’ responses showed that, while tears had a very small overall effect on how participants perceived the honesty of people in the photos, certain contextual factors did appear to influence the strength of this effect.
Most notably, tears tended to increase participants’ perceptions of honesty more strongly for female photo subjects with lower warmth ratings and for men, who are typically perceived as less warm.
This suggests the possibility that shedding tears might be more beneficial for people who are less expected to cry. Tears were also perceived as more honest in the context of non-manipulative situations.
Overall, the findings support the idea that context is key for the perception of tears as honest or not, with multiple factors affecting the context. Additional research is needed to disentangle these factors and their effects.
The authors add: “Our studies showed that tears are not universally seen as a sincere social signal, because their perceived genuineness depends on who is crying and in what situation.
“Most importantly, we found that tears might be more socially beneficial (that is, perceived as more honest signals motivating others to support the crier) when shed by people less expected to do so (for instance, by men or low-warmth people).
“Possibly, when men or low-warmth people tear up, which is quite unexpected, observers assume that there must be a genuine reason to do so.”
“The biggest challenge in studying the social effects of tears is choosing the right stimuli. In our research, similar to most studies in this field, we used pictures of individuals with digitally added tears.
“However, crying is a complex, multifaceted emotional expression that consists of not only tears but also gestures, vocalizations, or facial muscle movements. This calls for improved, more ecologically valid manipulations in the future.”
Funding: The research was funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (https://www.ncn.gov.pl/en) by a grant awarded to Monika Wróbel (Grant Number: 2021/43/B/HS6/01882).
The funders did not play any role in the conceptualization or preparation of the studies reported in this manuscript.
About this psychology research news
Author: Hanna Abdallah
Source: PLOS
Contact: Hanna Abdallah – PLOS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The honesty behind tears: Situational, individual, and cultural influences on the perception of emotional tears as sincere” by Monika Wróbel et al. PLOS One
Abstract
The honesty behind tears: Situational, individual, and cultural influences on the perception of emotional tears as sincere
Emotional tears have been considered honest and sincere signals, most likely because they are difficult to shed on demand.
At the same time, people acknowledge that tears can be strategically used to manipulate others – so-called crocodile tears.
Hence, the question arises under what circumstances tears are perceived as honest signals and when as crocodile tears.
Here, we investigate this question across three experimental studies and diverse populations.
In a preliminary study (N = 7,007), we obtain the first evidence that emotional tears can increase perceptions of honesty, which might vary according to the situational context or the gender of the target.
In two main studies (N = 3,488) using a varied pool of standardized and non-standardized portraits of tearful and non-tearful targets presented in different potentially manipulative vs. non-manipulative contexts and varied in their warmth, we test perceptions of honesty across five countries (Norway, Poland, South Africa, Canada, and the UK).
Overall, the main effects are weak and suggest that perceptions of honesty depend on target characteristics, situational factors, and observer characteristics.
We observe some evidence that emotional tears increase perceptions of honesty more strongly for targets low in warmth (experimentally manipulated via facial features or via target gender), which also affects support intentions.
Manipulative contexts slightly reduced perceptions of honesty, but these effects were moderated by target characteristics. Individuals scoring high on psychopathy showed lower ratings of honesty for targets with emotional tears.
Together, these findings provide further evidence that whether emotional tears signal honesty likely depends on various individual, situational, and cultural factors.
The small effect sizes call for improved manipulations and more ecologically valid designs in the future.
