Have you been moved to tears?
The art of crying, how the experience of art gives an opportunity to connect our feelings with the people around us.
My friend Victoria Powell initially got me thinking about being moved to tears earlier this year, she’s brought together a group of people who are interested in art, to talk about art in a down to earth way, and she’d asked us if we’d ever been ‘moved to tears’ by art. As you’d expect, there were mixed responses, personally I have 'been moved’ by performances and films, even grand spaces (peak district hills) and I’m regularly moved by all sorts of music, but I’ve not been moved to tears by art (yet).
My interest was piqued, we encounter art all of the time, online, in nature, in buildings and public art, we don’t need to go and stand in a grand gallery to be moved, but are we? and what does it actually mean to be moved anyway?.
Being moved is a distinct emotion that can result in social bonding and often includes crying which is a biological outcome, we produce three types of tears, those that lubricate our eyes, tears that are produced when our eyes are irritated, and psyche tears, produced when we experience (mostly negative) emotion. These psyche tears have a social function, and the theory goes that they are a genuine cry for help, a way for us to let people know we need empathy, and research shows that the more empathic you are, the more you cry in response to others tears.
As well as a biological outcome, crying is a behaviour, we are more likely to be moved to tears when we experience feelings of hopelessness or helplessness, and when we feel powerless, yet we report being moved to tears during happy events too, psychologists think that we simultaneously experience negative emotions when this happens. Interestingly, there may even be a bias towards us thinking that we cry more in response to happy events as we appear to recall these moments easily when asked. In the studies I reviewed, women cried more frequently than men, what element of this is social conditioning or built into our genetic makeup is hard to say, but psychologists have been looking at another measure –proneness to crying, and how this might be linked to personality factors such as neuroticism and empathy.
A recent literature review highlights a range of physiological reactions to being moved across different cultural contexts, including tears, goosebumps and warmth in the centre of the chest, the authors of the review argue that all three physical reactions should be present to qualify as ‘being moved’ despite their being no consensus on what causes us to be moved, nevertheless, it seems reasonable to me that crying could be the strongest outward signalling response of being moved, especially if it does elicit empathy and action from others which appears to be the point of ‘being moved’ based on their review. Disappointingly there is little evidence from the art world in the review, so let’s shift attention to contemporary models of art experience, and an introduction to a core psychological theory.
Psychological Appraisal theory is the idea that our emotions are extracted from our evaluation of events, and this causes individual emotional reactions, some psychologists use core relational themes (anger, sadness etc) to make sense of the reactions through primary and secondary appraisals. A first appraisal of art considers how relevant the piece is to our personal goals, and it’s at this point if a connection is made that a positive or negative emotion is generated. A second appraisal determines how we cope with the emotion through accountability, coping potential and future expectations.
It is no surprise then, that contemporary models of art experience all consider three outputs through emotion, appraisal and psychological reaction, and as an observation most of the research around art appreciation leans heavily towards ‘seen’ art, yet art is produced and enjoyed in many different ways.
I think what I find so interesting here is that many of the models of art experience are a sequence that begin with the viewing of art, then the appraisal process kicks in. The emotional state, culture and experiences of the individual are drawn out as part of this ‘seeing’, however, Pelowski and Akiba (2011) view the process differently, and they argue that we approach art with expectation around some core questions ‘‘Who am I?’ ‘What is art?’ ‘How does art relate to me?”
In this sense, what moves us when we see art could be the result of quiet dialogue between the viewer who asks, ‘how do you relate to me’ and the art that provides a springboard for a meaning making response that could be positive, negative, or transcendent.
I also want to consider our perception of what we see as part of the basic input model, If you and I looked at the same piece of art, according to the theories of art experience we would experience different emotions based on appraisal, our self-identity, and the questions we are asking (consciously and unconsciously) about the art, but what if we are actually seeing different things?
There is some fascinating brain imaging research that has found a mechanism that smoothed visual input over time. It turns out that everything we see is a collage or fusion of the last 15 Seconds of visual information to create a stable environment. (here’s a short video to illustrate the smoothing effect )
Does art move you/us?
How you experience being moved might depend on your exposure to life events, the context in which the art is displayed, your coping response in that moment, your proneness to crying and how much you notice other physical responses. These elements all contribute to one incredibly unique experience in space and time. Whilst the purpose of being moved in general is thought to be a social function, when it is experienced alongside art it also adds meaning to the art experience for the viewer, art uniquely creates space for meaning making and remembering.
Perhaps vulnerability and psychological safety also sit at the centre of art experiences that move us to tears, when a coping response is emotional rather than functional, and if we feel safe enough to cry and reach out to others, we can express ‘being moved’ to signal for an empathic response. I’d also argue that an emotional coping response requires an element of vulnerability when viewing art too, a process that might begin before we enter the art space and engage with the piece, in this sense, art provides us opportunity to be moved.
This morning, Victoria has revisisted the theme of crying and what it means to engage in art when we have experienced loss. You can see a preview or subscribe to the Gallery Companion here
I’m Leila, an accredited psychologist who thinks and wonders about a lot of things.
I am inordinately lucky to live in Rome, a city that is inordinately beautiful. The Pantheon almost always makes me emotional and I often cry. Thank you for explaining why.
"How you experience being moved might depend on your exposure to life events, the context in which the art is displayed, your coping response in that moment, your proneness to crying and how much you notice other physical responses. These elements all contribute to one incredibly unique experience in space and time." This is so interesting, particularly the fact that all of these different aspects uniquely come together in one moment. I've wondered why an artwork would move me to tears once but not again - and that must be because of my coping response at the time. Also, I recognised myself in some of what you were saying here. I find it hard not to cry when other people I know / like / love are crying. I can't bear to see them in pain. It would help if I could be a bit stronger in those moments!