crying
Enable an AI agent to recognise and describe a crying episode, assess what is known about its course and meaning, and identify appropriate responses without assuming its cause or the person's wishes.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 28 questions
Crying identification Establishes what supports calling an event crying and where that identification remains uncertain.
Expression evidence
Captures the expressions actually observed or reported.
Crying expression profile
Record tears, vocalisations, facial expressions, and bodily expressions separately, including which channels could not be observed.
- Which expressions were observed or reported as part of this crying episode? measurement
- Who supplied the identification of crying, and through what observation or account? provenance
Lookalikes and representation
Separates crying from uncertain lookalikes and from representations of crying.
Crying boundary assessment
Record unresolved alternatives such as eye watering or laughter, and distinguish a live episode from a recording, recollection, or deliberate enactment.
- What supports identifying crying rather than eye watering, laughter, coughing, or another expression? boundary
- Is the agent encountering an episode directly, an account or depiction of one, or crying deliberately enacted in a performance? definition
Episode course Describes how crying unfolds, pauses, and ends within the available observation.
Onset and continuity
Locates the episode in time while preserving uncertain boundaries.
Crying episode boundaries
Record known onset, observation intervals, pauses, and resumptions without inventing continuity across gaps.
- When was crying first noticed, and is that time known to be its onset? measurement
- What supports treating resumed crying as part of this episode rather than a separate episode? boundary
Expression change and cessation
Tracks changes in expression separately from changes in personal experience.
Crying course and recovery
Describe changes in observable crying and record any account of settling, continuing distress, or another experience independently.
- How have tears, vocalisations, and sobbing changed during the observed interval? measurement
- If crying expressions have ceased, what does the person report about how they now feel? provenance
Experience and meaning Holds the person's account and attributed circumstances without assigning an emotion from appearance.
Personal account
Preserves the person's own description, including uncertainty or a wish not to explain.
Self-described crying experience
Record how the person describes the experience and whether crying feels spontaneous, deliberate, mixed, or difficult to characterise.
- How, if at all, does the person describe what this crying means or feels like? definition
- What has the person said about whether they intended to cry or can influence the crying? provenance
Precipitants and attributions
Connects crying to relevant circumstances while keeping causal interpretations explicit.
Attributed reason for crying
Separate preceding events from proposed reasons for crying and retain who offered each explanation.
- What event, thought, sensation, or interaction preceded the crying, if known? provenance
- Who attributes the crying to that circumstance, and what remains uncertain about the attribution? provenance
Crying in interaction Describes how crying relates to the immediate activity, audience, and ability to communicate.
Participation during crying
Records the person's current ability and wish to continue the surrounding activity.
Crying and communication
Record whether the person can and wants to speak, listen, respond another way, or pause the interaction.
- Can the person communicate comfortably while crying, and what communication method do they prefer? measurement
- Do they want the current conversation or activity to continue, slow down, or pause? action
Audience and exposure
Captures who is present and the person's wishes about being seen, heard, or recorded while crying.
Crying privacy preferences
Record preferences about company, audience, recording, and disclosure without treating visible crying as permission to share it.
- Who can see or hear the crying, and has the person expressed a preference about their presence? provenance
- What permission exists to record or share this crying episode or its explanation? action
Response and reassessment Connects available help to expressed wishes and records what follows.
Requested support
Identifies the response the person wants and any separately evidenced need for other assistance.
Crying response choice
Record requests or accepted offers such as company, privacy, practical help, or a pause, and distinguish these from assumptions made by observers.
- What response has the person requested or accepted, including a request for no intervention? action
- Is any additional assistance indicated by an explicit request or evidence beyond crying itself? action
Response feedback
Evaluates assistance using the person's account alongside the episode's observable course.
Effect of response to crying
Record what was done, whether it was welcome, and subsequent changes without assuming the response caused those changes.
- What response occurred, and what feedback did the person give about it? provenance
- Should that response continue, change, or stop in light of the person's current wishes? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of crying this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Activities and processes
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- ACT
- Domain
- ACT.ACT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- excessive crying of infant, weak cry, breath holding spell, Buka' al-Khashya, encephalitic cry, infant crying
What it is Filled
Crying is the shedding of tears in humans in response to an emotional state, which may be accompanied by facial expressions, vocalization or disrupted breathing and may communicate a need for care; tearing caused solely by ocular irritation is outside this sense.
In scope
- Actual, reported, or suspected crying episodes, with the evidence supporting each designation
- Tears, crying vocalisations, sobbing, and associated facial or bodily expressions
- Onset, pauses, recurrence, cessation, and the person's reported recovery
- The person's account of the crying and its immediate circumstances
- Whether crying is spontaneous, deliberately enacted, mixed, or of unknown intentionality
- Requests, consent, and observed responses to comfort, privacy, or other assistance
Out of scope
- Eye physiology, tear production mechanisms, and ocular conditions
- Diagnosis or treatment of medical and mental health conditions
- Emotions such as sadness, joy, frustration, or grief considered independently of crying
- Bereavement processes and enduring psychological histories
- Relationships, conflicts, and social norms beyond their relevance to the episode
- Recordings, performances, and media assets as independently managed things
Why it exists Filled
Enable an AI agent to recognise and describe a crying episode, assess what is known about its course and meaning, and identify appropriate responses without assuming its cause or the person's wishes.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Visible tears alone do not establish a crying episode: distinguish evidence of crying from eye watering whose relation to crying is absent or uncertain.
- Reported sadness or distress without reported or observed crying expressions does not by itself establish crying.
- Vocal or bodily expressions may support an identification of crying when tears are not visible; record the evidence rather than requiring visible tears.
- When sounds could be laughing, coughing, shouting, or crying, preserve ambiguity and seek accompanying expression or the person's account.
- Distinguish a current crying episode from a depiction or recollection of one; mark deliberate enactment separately rather than presuming deception.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Record, share or mock images or sounds of a person crying without consent.
- Infer a specific person's mental state or diagnosis from crying alone.
- Use a person's distress to manipulate them or sell to them.
- Advise leaving an infant to cry in ways that put its safety at risk.
Only with a human decision
- Calling for help when a crying person may be in danger or at risk of self-harm.
May
- Explain crying as a human behaviour, including in infants, from reliable sources.
- Respond to a crying person with calm, respectful support and offer human help where needed.
Moral aspects Filled
- Crying is a moment of vulnerability that deserves dignity and privacy.
- Persistent infant crying strains carers and can put babies at risk of shaking injuries.
Who is affected
- People who cry
- Infants and their carers
- Children
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns the behaviour; each person owns their own feelings.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q327968 - registry parent class
- Q331769 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.crying
- Wikidata: Q152247 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q152247)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Episode identification: reported crying | observed expressions consistent with crying | ambiguous | ruled out
- Expression channels: Multiple values: visible tears | crying vocalisation | sobbing | facial expression | bodily movement | other described expression | not observable
- Visible tear presentation: not visible | eyes visibly wet | tears on cheeks | other described presentation | obscured | unknown
- Temporal phase: onset | ongoing | paused | resumed | expressions ceased | unknown
- Observed duration: Seconds or minutes, with observation interval and known or unknown onset and end
- Reported emotional meaning: Person's own terms; multiple, uncertain, undisclosed, or unavailable meanings permitted
- Attributed precipitant: Link to an event, sensation, thought, or interaction, with attribution source and certainty; none identified permitted
- Intentionality: reported spontaneous | reported deliberate | reported mixed | unknown
- Response preference: company requested | privacy requested | specific help requested | no help requested | undecided | cannot currently communicate | unknown
Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Tears may accumulate along the eyelids or run down the cheeks during an emotionally significant episode.
- Facial changes may include tightened eyelids, drawn brows and trembling lips, although these cues are not present in every episode.
- Visible sobbing movements may accompany tears, but appearance alone cannot distinguish emotional crying from tearing caused by irritation.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Record a crying episode while separating observations, personal reports, and interpretations.
- Track changes in tears, vocal expression, pauses, and reported experience across an observation interval.
- Ask what the person wants when communication is possible, without demanding an explanation for crying.
- Offer or arrange requested company, privacy, a pause in an activity, or practical assistance.
- Reassess a response using the person's feedback and changes in the episode.
- Pass separately established urgent concerns to an appropriate assistance process without treating crying alone as a diagnosis.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Assuming that crying proves a particular emotion or intention can lead to inappropriate or coercive responses.
- Dismissing crying can leave distress or unmet support needs unaddressed.
- Recording or sharing a crying episode without appropriate consent can expose a person to humiliation or loss of privacy.
Standards and interfaces not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Emotional crying itself has no directly applicable product standard, law or formal classification identified for this general sense.
Context of use required Filled
- Emotional crying occurs in private, social and care settings during experiences such as grief, frustration, relief or joy.
- It can communicate distress or a need for support, but its meaning depends on the person's account and surrounding circumstances.
Sources Filled
- The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals - John Murray - Classic comparative account of weeping, infant crying, and the facial and respiratory pattern as an expressive behaviour, which still frames the distinction between tears and the full cry.
- Why Only Humans Weep: The Science of Crying - Oxford University Press - Current scientific synthesis of emotional crying as a human secretomotor-social behaviour, kinds of tearing, functions, and why adult weeping is not the same as infant cry.
- The neurobiology of human crying - Clinical Autonomic Research (Springer) - Neural and autonomic control of emotional tearing and sobbing, and the clinical neighbour relationship to pathological crying.
- The normal crying curve: what do we really know? - Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology - The age-related peak of infant crying/fussing around 5-8 weeks and the baseline against which "excessive" crying is judged.
- ICD-10-CM: R68.11 Excessive crying of infant; R45.83 Excessive crying of child, adolescent, or adult - CDC/NCHS - How clinical coding schemes name crying as a symptom rather than as a disease entity.
- Preventing Abusive Head Trauma Among Infants and Young Children - American Academy of Pediatrics - Infant crying as the leading reported trigger for shaken-baby / abusive-head-trauma injury and the regulatory-educational response.
- Wikidata item Q152247: crying - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Crying - general description of the item
Open questions
- What operational definition best distinguishes crying from isolated tears, vocal distress, and mixed laughing and crying across ages and communication contexts?
- What evidence supports reliable descriptions of crying intensity without equating visible or audible expression with subjective distress?
- How should pauses and resumptions define episode boundaries, and should those boundaries depend on the person's account?
- Which recognition and response assumptions require adaptation across cultures, developmental stages, disabilities, and individual expression patterns?
- How should this model handle response preferences when the person cannot communicate, while keeping caregiving authority and urgent assessment in neighbouring models?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q152247/spec.json