A. J. J. M. Vingerhoets

Who they are

The work of A. J. J. M. Vingerhoets reaches this site through the papers listed below. On this site the name is tied to Emotional Tears as a Social Signal, Kama Muta.

Key papers

Gračanin, A., Bylsma, L. M., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2018). Why only humans shed emotional tears: Evolutionary and cultural perspectives. Human Nature, 29(2), 104-133. What it reports: A review of emotional tears from an evolutionary angle, starting with infant crying. It proposes that crying began as a signal of distress that invites others to help, and that weeping rituals across cultures fit this account.

Zickfeld, J. H., Schubert, T. W., Seibt, B., et al. (2019). Kama muta: Conceptualizing and measuring the experience often labelled being moved across 19 nations and 15 languages. Emotion, 19(3), 402-424. What it reports: Surveys of 3,542 people in 19 countries and 15 languages supported kama muta as a positive emotion set off by a sudden intensification of communal sharing, often with warmth in the chest, moist eyes, chills and a lump in the throat, with some variation across cultures.

Key ideas

Emotional Tears as a Social Signal: The proposal that emotional crying evolved as a visible signal that invites others to respond with support.

Kama Muta: A positive, socially close emotion set off by a sudden intensification of communal sharing, often with warmth in the chest and tears.

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