Crying in context : tears and context valence on functions of crying

Abstract

Both facial expressions and contextual information are important sources of information in emotion recognition. This study explores the role of context valence, as one of the variables of contextual information, in the functions of crying – namely facilitation of emotion perception and prosocial behavioural intentions towards crying individuals. Specifically, this study looks at how context valence exerts differing influence on the effect of tearful facial expressions in (1) emotion perception of sadness, and (2) perceiver’s prosocial behavioural intention. The sample consisted of 58 undergraduates. In a within-subjects design, participants view visual stimuli of different combinations of tearful/non-tearful targets of both genders portrayed in positive/negative contexts and rate the perceived sadness of the targets and also their likelihood to help these targets based on the stimuli. Results indicate that the effects of tearful expressions on emotion perception of sadness and perceiver’s prosocial behavioural intention towards crying targets are moderated by context valence. In particular, tearful targets were perceived to be sadder and participants also reported greater willingness to help these targets, and the propensity increases when they were presented in the negative context. Consequently, this study provides theoretical underpinning for context valence as a measurable construct in the multitude of aspects of context.