The 5 reasons why we cry

Researchers have now presented the five reasons for emotional tears: loneliness, powerlessness, excessive demands, harmony and media consumption. Photo: Jens Schierenbeck/dpa

Loneliness, powerlessness, excessive demands, harmony and media consumption are the five reasons why we cry, according to researchers studying the unique way in which humans cry for emotional reasons.

Psychologists from the Universities of Ulm in Germany and Sussex in England have now broken down human tears into five categories based on the consideration that emotional crying always occurs when basic psychological needs are either not fulfilled or very intensively satisfied.