Who Cries Most at the Olympics?

One of the most basic expressions of emotion we have, as humans, is crying. Not only does crying express emotions, but it also regulates them as well. Studies have found that people feel better after crying. This could be either because tears release endorphins and oxytocin, hormones that relieve pain and improve mood, or because tears can help people connect to other people and receive empathy and attachment.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin hypothesized that crying is a cultural phenomenon. However, it is difficult to test this hypothesis for two reasons. First, crying is not an emotion people like to admit to. Second, it’s difficult to find people able to cry honestly in a laboratory setting.

Study: Crying at the Olympics

In a recent study, Andrew Musau and I, from Molde University College, elided these obstacles by using a unique, cross-country dataset of highly professional individuals who experienced strong and real positive emotions, often including crying. It turns out, we only had to turn on our TVs. The 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, particularly the medal ceremonies, provided data on crying from 450 individual gold medalists.

Results

In line with many previous studies, we found that women cry more than men, and that older people of both genders cry more. We also found a positive relationship between winning a medal when competing in one’s home country and the likelihood of that person crying. This could be explained by the fact that athletes who compete in their home countries are subject to increased pressure. Thus, winning after extra pressure may be even more emotional.

More intriguingly, we found that men from more gender-empowered societies, proxied by the share of women participating in the labor force, are more likely to cry than men from societies with less gender empowerment. A possible explanation for this relationship is that athletes from these countries, where men and women mix each day at work, may shape their idea of the expectations that others have for their degree of emotional openness based on such gender mixing.

Another intriguing relationship that appeared in the data is that between the probability of an individual crying and religious fractionalization of the athlete’s home country. This fractionalization is measured by the number and size of distinct religious groups in an athlete’s home country. Given that religious fractionalization correlate with civil wars, the effects of which often include long-term physical and psychological damage, one way our results could be explained is by a reduced ability to recognize and express different emotions on the part of athletes from these countries.

Overall, our results suggest that emotional tears are not only a biological feature that relate to gender or age, but also a cultural phenomenon. This finding may be of interest among researchers on psychology, consumer behavior, anthropology, and many others. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the Olympic Games and not forget to cry from happiness.