The authors investigated how people believe they respond to crying individuals. Participants (N = 530) read 6 vignettes describing situations in which they encountered a person who either cried or did not cry. Participants reported they would give more emotional support to and express less negative affect toward a crying person than a noncrying person. However, regression analyses revealed that participants judged a crying person less positively than a noncrying person and felt more negative feelings in the presence of a crying person than a noncrying person. The valence of the situation strongly moderated these reactions. Overall, results support the theory that crying is an attachment ...

<.005 (see Figure 2). ANOVAs revealed that participants judged a crying person to have fewer negative characteristics and be more emotional than a noncrying person in both pleasant and unpleasant situations, but these differences were greater in unpleasant situations, both Fs(1, 1588)><.001, partial [[eta].sup.2]s><.05, partial [[eta].sup.2]s><.001, partial [[eta].sup.2]s><.05, partial [[eta].sup.2]s><0.51, ps><.01, partial [[eta].sup.2]s>