Does the Crying Manner Affect Social Support Intentions? The Moderating Role of Unhelpful Social Beliefs About Crying

Abstract

Several studies have shown that emotional crying elicits intentions to provide social support. However, these studies have not clarified how the crying manner affects these intentions. This study examined whether differences in the crying manner influence social support intentions through impressions of the crying individual, while also accounting for context and beliefs about crying. The study focused on two types of crying: static and dynamic. An experiment was conducted with 453 Japanese participants (250 women, 203 men; mean age 41.25 years) using an eight-condition design (2 manners of crying × 2 contexts × 2 target genders), with participants randomly assigned to one of the eight conditions. Participants assessed social support intention, crying appropriateness, impressions of the crying individual (warmth, helplessness, and social connectedness), and beliefs about crying. Crying manner significantly influenced social support intentions: static crying was associated with higher social support intentions, an effect mediated by perceived appropriateness and impressions of the crying individual. Furthermore, the effect of crying manner on warmth increased as unhelpful social beliefs decreased, yielding a stronger warmth-related indirect effect on social support intentions. Therefore, not only the presence or absence of crying, but also how one cries, is crucial to understanding the interpersonal function of crying.