This is a science question. Is crying a vonluntary or Involuntary action?

Question

because sometimes I can't help but cry/can't stop crying. Sometimes when I wanna cry, I'm able to hold it back. and I can make myself cry. So I was thinking it may be both? or is that not possible?

Answer 1

it is involuntary. You can't force tears. It happens to deep emotions. Some actors can evoke tears just like that but they practise for that. We can't suppress emotions. The more emotional we are the more likely it is we will shed tears. Some people can't cry. They are in shock and some people cry very easily and can't stop it either. Everybody is different. One can will oneself to not cry. Men feel like crying or guys feel like crying and don't do it often because they were told ''a guy doesn't cry'' so they bottle their feelings up and feel bad but they won't cry.. it's possible to hold it back with a lot of self discipline but it's not a good idea because tears are good to cry.. they relief stress and tension. That is good for the soul. So one should never tell another person to stop crying and some cry for joy... that is also an emotion... and people can cry for that reason. x*x

Answer 2

Crying is a response to emotional imbalance, which isn't always bad, or a response to irritation of the eyes.

Answer 3

It can be both. In fact, almost all reflexes can be mediated by concious control, even the very basic reflex arcs like moving you hand away from something very hot (if you are expecting it) so marginally more complicated behavour like crying has a correspondingly greater degree of concious control. That is not 100%, mind. So it can be both.