What if tears could reduce aggression?

What if tears could reduce aggression?

March 16, 2025

news

By Editor THE Reading 5 min. Subscribers

In addition to their biological function of lubricating the human eye, tears are thought to have other powers. Women's tears, for example, are thought to reduce men's aggression! Researchers have shown that they contain chemicals that calm violent behavior.

Emotional tears

Among the different types of tears, only the “emotional” ones induce a drop in testosterone levels.

CHEPKO / GETTY IMAGES

This article is taken from the monthly Sciences et Avenir n°937, dated March 2025.

What if tears could reduce aggression? This is the question neurobiologists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, asked in late 2023. In humans, there are three types of tears: reflex (which serve to eliminate harmful substances like smoke), basal (which lubricate the eye, as Charles Darwin mentioned), and emotional (those linked to sadness or joy). It was the latter, characterized by a high content of proteins, hormones, and toxins, that the Israeli researchers were interested in.

Tears

“
»
en_USEnglish
fr_FRFrench en_USEnglish