Crying is the main way that babies communicate negative emotions and, in most cases, the only way they express them.
Crying is the main way that babies communicate negative emotions and, in most cases, the only way they express them.
Babies cry in anger or fear when they have their eyes open and pain when kept closed, as have shown researchers from the University of Murcia and the National University of Distance Education (UNED), after studying the crying of babies aged 20 3 and 18 months old.
Analyzing the differences in the pattern of crying caused by three emotions characteristics (fear, anger and pain), researchers found that the main differences are presented in eye activity and the dynamics of tears.
According to the results, published in the journal Spanish Journal of Psychology, when they're angry most of the babies kept his eyes half closed, a look seemingly without direction or, on the contrary, fixed. In the case of fear, the eyes remain open almost all the time, sometimes creatures have a searching gaze and move your head back, and crying appears explosively.Finally, the pain occurs with eyes closed most of the time, and in the few moments when they are open, the opening is low and distant look. Also, when something hurts them a high degree of tension in the eye area and brow is furrowed.
With respect to the dynamics of tears, both gestures and intensity will gradually increase if it is due to anger, as they appear at full intensity from the outset in the case of pain and fear.
In addition, the study reveals that adults do not adequately identify what emotion is what induces tears, especially when it comes to anger and fear. However, when observers note that babies cry because it hurts present a more intense emotional reaction when they cry for being angry or afraid. For experts, the fact that the pain is easier to recognize emotion may have an adaptive explanation, because crying is a warning of a potentially serious health or survival threat and requires a more urgent response by caregivers .