Title of Meeting: Emotional Crying in Social Context

Date: April 24-26, 2024

Location: Lodz, Poland (Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz)

Organizers: Wróbel, Monika (University of Lodz), Zickfeld, Janis H. (Aarhus University), Bobowik, Magdalena (University of the Basque Country), Gračanin, Asmir, (University of Rijeka), Koszałkowska, Karolina (University of Lodz)

The EASP Meeting titled “Emotional Crying in Social Contexts” was hosted by the University of Lodz, Poland, from April 24 to 26, 2024. The meeting brought together 20 in-person and 7 online participants representing 11 countries (Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States) and all career stages.

The meeting started with a keynote lecture, “Toward a new understanding of the functions of emotional crying: From catharsis to social connection,” given by one of the most renowned experts on emotional crying, Ad Vingerhoets from Tilburg University. The talk offered a great overview of the current state of knowledge about emotional crying and was followed by 21 oral presentations that provided further perspectives on the topic.

The presentations were grouped into five regular (25-minute) talk sessions and one flash talk (5-minute) session. The talks focused on theoretical, empirical, and methodological issues that are of particular importance to social psychologists. These included the intra- and interpersonal functions of emotional crying, operationalization of crying behaviors, and biological, individual, and developmental correlates of emotional crying in a social context.

Presentations were complimented by a workshop titled “How to Study Crying: Methods, Challenges, and Directions” and devoted to methodological problems encountered in research on emotional crying. The workshop was divided into two parts: (1) Flash Talk Session focusing on the recent developments in research on emotional crying (using virtual humans in emotion research, automatic weeping detection, and using a Telegram chatbot for ambulatory assessment studies), and (2) Small Group Discussions that revolved around four main research questions: (a) How to elicit crying; (b) How to measure crying? (c) How to study crying perceptions?, and (d) How to study crying in the field? The workshop was closed with a plenary discussion on the goals for future research on emotional crying (ranked from most to least pressing) and setting up a research network dedicated to the study of emotional
crying.

Last but not least, the meeting provided a great setting for informal discussions and further networking during coffee breaks, lunches (at the meeting venue), and conference dinners (in atmospheric restaurants with traditional and modern Polish cuisine). Moreover, participants were invited to a guided tour that allowed them to get to know the post-industrial and eclectic city of Lodz and feel its unique atmosphere.

The full program of the meeting can be viewed here: https://emotionalcrying.weebly.com/program.html.

The organizers would like to thank the European Association of Social Psychology for generously funding the meeting, the University of Lodz for hosting the event at no charge, and all attendees for sharing their knowledge and making the meeting a productive, unforgettable experience.