Rejection isn't just a feeling; it's a neurophysical 'fight or flight' response where your body perceives a threat. Understanding this science helps salespeople detach from the emotional pain and manage it as a biological process, not a personal failing.

A six-year-old explained she cries when angry because crying makes her sister comfort her, while anger makes everyone run away. This reveals a fundamental social dynamic: we learn to express sadness to draw people in, while suppressing anger to avoid pushing them away, which can create a disconnect from our true feelings.

Unlike a spoken apology ("cheap talk"), a blush is an uncontrollable physiological response. It credibly signals to others that you acknowledge breaking a social norm, establishing common knowledge of your remorse and your acceptance of the norm itself. This makes the "apology" authentic.

Emotions are not superfluous but are a critical, hardcoded value function shaped by evolution. The example of a patient losing emotional capacity and becoming unable to make decisions highlights this. This suggests our 'gut feelings' are a robust system for guiding actions, a mechanism current AI lacks.

When his son was crying after being momentarily left behind, psychologist Greg Walton simply said, "You were scared you'd be left behind." Acknowledging and naming the specific fear validated the emotion, allowing the child's body to visibly relax.

A key tell for distinguishing authentic from manipulative crying is the crier's behavior. A manipulator needs their tears to be seen to have an effect and will display them openly. Someone genuinely overwhelmed by emotion often tries to hide their tears, viewing them as a sign of vulnerability.

When women get angry and cry simultaneously, it reflects an internal conflict. The anger is a desire to impose costs on another person, but the tears signal that they are in a 'lower-leveraged' position and lack the perceived power to do so effectively. It's a blend of aggression and vulnerability.

Masculine communication focuses on conveying semantic information, where understanding is confirmed by summarizing facts. Feminine communication aims to provoke a shared emotional experience. This disconnect causes conflict when men respond to the literal words women say, while women are trying to make their partner feel what they are feeling.

People's conscious, stated reasons for their actions (proximate explanations) often obscure deeper, unconscious evolutionary drivers (ultimate explanations), such as the drive to reduce mating competition while appearing compassionate.