Janis Zickfeld

Who they are

The work of Janis Zickfeld 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

Zickfeld, J. H., van de Ven, N., Pich, O., Schubert, T. W., et al. (2021). Tears evoke the intention to offer social support: A systematic investigation of the interpersonal effects of emotional crying across 41 countries. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 95, 104137. What it reports: A preregistered study with about 7,000 participants in 41 countries who rated pictures of people with or without added tears. Tears raised the wish to offer support, explained by perceived warmth, helplessness and closeness, and the size of the effect varied between countries.

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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