Posted on 02/06/2024 5:14:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
Scientists in Israel have proven for the first time that the scent of women’s tears reduces aggression in men.
Previous studies showed that the tears of other mammals, particularly rodents, have that effect on one another.
For example, female mouse tears contain chemicals that impact aggression networks in the brain, thereby reducing fighting among male mice. Subordinate males of blind mole rats smear themselves in tears to reduce the dominant male’s aggressive behavior toward them.
Human tears, as well, contain chemicals that serve as social signals, according to olfactory researcher Prof. Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Back in 2011, his team reported that sniffing women’s emotional tears reduced testosterone levels in men, somewhat diminishing sexual arousal.
In the new study, researchers led by PhD student Shani Agron from Sobel’s lab wanted to determine whether tears have the same aggression-blocking effect in people as they do in rodents.
The scent of women’s tears reduces aggression in men Prof. Noam Sobel and PhD student Shani Agron. Photo courtesy of Weizmann Institute of Science In a series of experiments, men were exposed to women’s emotional tears or to saline (saltwater), without knowing what they were sniffing and without being able to distinguish between the two, since both are odorless.
Next, they played a two-person game designed to elicit aggressive behavior in one player toward the other player. Led to believe the other player was cheating, the men could get revenge by causing them to lose money, though they themselves gained nothing
After the men sniffed women’s emotional tears, their revenge-seeking aggressive behavior during the game dropped by about 44 percent.
Odorless but effective
This seemed equivalent to the effect observed in rodents, but rodents have a structure in their noses called the vomeronasal organ, which picks up the social chemical signals. Humans don’t have this organ, so how do they sense the social chemicals?
To find an answer, the researchers applied the tears to 62 human olfactory receptors in a laboratory dish and found that four of these receptors were activated by the tears, even though tears are odorless.
They repeated the experiments while examining the men’s brains in an MRI scanner. Functional imaging showed that two aggression-related brain regions – the prefrontal cortex and the anterior insula – were less active when the men were sniffing the tears.
The greater the difference in this brain activity between saline and tears, the less often the player took revenge during the game.
A chemical blanket
“We’ve shown that tears activate olfactory receptors and that they alter aggression-related brain circuits, significantly reducing aggressive behavior,” Sobel says.
“These findings suggest that tears are a chemical blanket offering protection against aggression – and that this effect is common to rodents and humans, and perhaps to other mammals as well.”
The study, published December 21 in PLOS Biology, was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Hiroaki Matsunami of Duke University School of Medicine, whose former postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Claire A. de March, led the research with Agron.
Future research will explore whether the new study’s findings apply to women, Agron says.
“We knew that sniffing tears lowers testosterone, and that lowering testosterone has a greater effect on aggression in men than in women, so we began by studying the impact of women’s tears on men because this gave us higher chances of seeing an effect. Now, however, we must extend this research to include women, to obtain a fuller picture of this impact.”
Babies, also, may be benefitting from this effect. “Infants can’t talk, so for them relying on chemical signals to protect themselves against aggression can be critical,” said Agron.
Another powerful tool that women have is the scream.
Next time you hear a woman’s scream somewhere in your neighborhood pay attention to how powerful your reaction is to take action and run to the sound, also ponder its range and the probable power on other males within hearing distance, there has to be some powerful nature behind it.
Not anymore. Too many fake tears. Women can make themselves cry on cue.
They cry when they have done wrong/bad crap and have either been discovered, or know they can’t win an argument.
That was to keep his ghost from getting even with you for pouring Rice Crispies down the A/C vents that time.
I guess Conan the Barbarian and Genghis Khan didn’t participate in the survey ...
How did they collect and standardize the tear solution? Have female volunteers cut onions? Or watch sappy movies?
Lol! No A/C vents. My Dad was cheap and put in Window Air Conditioners every year. No central A/C in his house.
It makes sense that female crying is some sort of defense mechanism. When I had women working for me, I kept a box of kleenex on my desk. When they cried, I passed them the box and told them to let me know when they were ready to continue.
A woman’s scream is a powerful defense mechanism. That and their finger nails. Dayum.
I have never seen my husband really cry. His eyes got misty and his voice was rough on only a few occasions; when we broke up while dating (we got back together in just a few days), when we got married, when I miscarried two of our children, when his mom died, and when I was diagnosed with a terminal illness and we started talking about final arrangements.
I’ve cried more frequently. I full-on cried after all the events noted above, plus in the aftermath of being in the middle of an active shooter situation, being robbed at gunpoint, and when my son was in an active shooter situation at school. While these events were happening, I was in the survival zone and fully in control. It was afterwards, after the police reports and paperwork, when the threat was completely behind me, that I cried.
I also sometimes cry after a seizure. My autonomic functions shut down and I stop breathing. I’m laying there suffocating and have to fight my way back.
I consider those the result of excess adrenaline.
I still cry talking about my parents (both deceased) and my nephew (also deceased).
That’s it.
Crying as a manipulation tactic is repulsive to me.
You’ve had some excellent reasons for calling in sick in your day.
Jus’ sayin’.
“Lol! No A/C vents. My Dad was cheap and put in Window Air Conditioners every year. No central A/C in his house.”
My dad was even cheaper than that. Window fans.
It’s been an interesting life so far, but I am blessed. Great family, house, job (for a few more months anyway).
God is good.
Not all women “have the capacity” or are able to cry when they want to or use it for emotional manipulation.
Women have a physiological response to extreme frustration or anger which makes them cry. While some can turn on the tears, who knows if those simulated tears have the same effect? Because we know that emotional tears are chemically different from those which result from allergies, for example.
I used to get so mad at myself because I would start crying like that when I didn’t want to.
Overall, I would say this was an evolutionary biology or intelligent design feature given to help couples in conflict reduce the level of intensity. The woman is forced to cry and the man to respond by calming down, and this acts as a safety valve in stressful situations.
I am sorry some of you have had such bad interactions with women that you are totally cynical :(
Typical guilt shaming and trying to make the exception negate the rule. You certainly attempt to argue like a woman.
I have a lifetime of experience of dealing with all sorts of women. Manipulative crying is a typical, normal female tactic. Regardless if a small few can’t seem to do it or do it well. Its a normal female tactic because society embeds it into females from a very early age they will get what they want if they cry. Society doesn’t do this for boys and tells them to stop crying and be a big boy, boys learn society will get angry and insultive if they cry.
Go ahead and save your guilt shaming and insults for simps.
Go ahead and save your guilt shaming and insults for simps.
Looking at Chicory's post I don't see anything that shames or insults anyone. Where are you getting that from?
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