#NCNGeneration– Monika Wróbel: Psychology examines what people “theoretically know”

In the 12th episode of the series, we talk to Dr hab Monika Wróbel, psychologist and professor at VISJA University, member of the Scientific Council of the Psychology Section, Polish Academy of Sciences, who studies emotions as social messages. Smile, tears, and crying may seem familiar and intuitive to us, but in different contexts, they can mean something entirely different. Monika Wróbel talks to Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz about how we interpret emotional expressions, what shapes our perception of them, and why even our strongest beliefs don’t always stand up to scientific scrutiny.

A smile doesn’t always mean the same thing

Emotions can be treated as social messages. We usually associate a smile with warmth and kindness but its meaning depends on who is smiling at whom, and in what situation. A smile can be interpreted quite differently when it occurs in an inappropriate context.

“When a message fits the context, when it is appropriate to the situation, we know that people respond to the expression in line with the meaning we normally associate with it,” says the scientist.

A smile of a person we dislike or distrust is a good example. An expression that would otherwise be affiliative may be interpreted as a sign of domination or even contempt. Interpretation is also influenced by the recipient’s characteristics, the situation, and cultural context.

Tears in relationships 

Tears in romantic relationships are one of Prof. Wróbel’s latest areas of interest, which she is exploring with her doctoral student. The two researchers examine whether people cry in front of their partners and, if so, in what situations. Their research reveals that tears may actually serve far more functions than previously anticipated. Some may may reflect one’s wellbeing and emotional closeness, while others might reveal negative emotions or be manipulative. It turned out, however, that in some situations, our partners use tears to regulate emotions triggered by somebody else. After a hard day at work, we are more prone to cry at home, where we feel safe and can express our emotions openly.

There are also situations when we are concerned about other people or animals, or about what is happening around the world. Our partner is, then, a safe haven where we can express the emotions triggered by someone else’s suffering.

From images to genuine crying 

The methods used to study emotional expressions have changed with the development of psychology. In the past, researchers used static images of people smiling or crying. Over time, dynamic expressions became increasingly important. 

Prof. Wróbel’s team recorded almost 500 videos showing people crying in different ways, both with and without tears. Prof. Wróbel emphasises that those images had limitations because they depicted people pretending to cry. Therefore, the next step is to incorporate spontaneous behaviour into research.

In one of the studies, participants were asked to show what they would look like when crying because they were thinking of something sad and what they would look like when crying to manipulate someone. It turned out that in acted out manipulative crying, they used more behaviours that are easy to imitate, such as wiping their eyes or touching their faces. 

Psychology closer to life 

A much greater emphasis on context is one of the major changes in research on emotional expressions. 

“In the past, participants were merely shown faces against a plain white background, without other people present or information about the individuals’ situation. We now know that this isn’t the way to study emotions,” says Prof. Wróbel.

She highlights the tension between experimental control and real-world relevance. Laboratory settings allow researchers to isolate specific effects more easily, while studies that more closely reflect everyday life introduce greater variability and make results harder to interpret. At the same time, we gain a more complete picture of human behaviour. 

Not everything we know is true 

Psychology often verifies our firm believes. People hold intuitive believes about emotions, relationships, and other people’s behaviour, yet these beliefs can sometimes be contradictory. 

“I sometimes say that psychologists tell us things we think we already know. But people often hold contradictory beliefs, and psychology helps us work out which of them actually hold up. Take the question of whether opposites attract or whether we tend to be drawn to people who are similar to us,” says Prof. Wróbel. She had to verify her own believe that crying at work makes us appear incompetent, while research suggests otherwise. The way emotions are expressed matters. A single, subtle tear can convey genuine emotion while suggesting emotional restraint, without necessarily making a person appear less competent. 

Don’t just cry in private

The widespread belief that we should only cry in private may cause us to miss out on one of the most important social functions of tears. As Professor Wróbel explains, tears are more than a physiological response: they are also a signal we send to others.

The researcher draws on the concept of tears as “social glue”. Crying can communicate our need for help, comfort and support. Research also suggests that the sense of relief we commonly associate with catharsis after a good cry depends on receiving support from others. Crying alone, however, may not bring the same sense of relief.

Selected quotes

How science has changed the way we study emotions

What we now know about expressions, but didn’t know before, is precisely the role of context. In the past, participants were merely shown faces against a plain white background, without other people present or information about the individuals’ situation. We now know that this isn’t the way to study emotions, and we’re increasingly careful to make sure that stimuli we use are as contextually rich as possible.

Laboratory research versus real life

I know that laboratory experiments allow us to achieve high accuracy, we can control the influence of different variables, and isolate the effect we can study. But we can now see that when we start using, for example, videos of people genuinely crying, there’s much more noise in the data. The effects are harder to interpret and are often less stable. However, the picture of what we know is becoming more complete.

Tears as social glue

If one is convinced they mustn't cry in front of others, they miss out on the most valuable things tears and crying can do. Our approach, which is also consistent with the work of Ad Vingerhoets, a well-known researcher in the field of crying, is that tears act as a kind of social glue. Tears send a message that we're in a state where we need someone’s help, a hug or someone to stay close to us, or offer a kind word.

It’s OK to cry at work

Another example is something that surprised me personally. I used to believe it myself, and it took psychological research to make me reconsider: the idea that crying, especially at work, makes us appear incompetent. Our research suggests otherwise, as does research conducted by others. But it depends on how you cry at work. A single, subtle tear, even in a setting such as the workplace, doesn't necessarily make us seem less competent. It can reveal our human side.

NCN has strengthened my confidence in myself

I belong to a generation of researchers who used to publish in Polish and assumed that this was how it worked. When I drafted my first NCN grant proposal, I suddenly found myself needing to publish in English. (…) I would not have completed my research without NCN funding. I wouldn't have published the papers that helped me establish the collaborations I have today and contributed to my receiving another grant. So perhaps this sounds a little grandiose or dramatic, but in my case, NCN funding has significantly strengthened my confidence in myself as a scientist.