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Crying tears of joy and laughing at bad news are common problems - and researchers have finally found out why we do it.

They say the key is our brain trying to compensate.

The phenomenon even explains how Justin Bieber can reduce teenage girls to tears.

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Researchers say people are 'restoring emotional equilibrium' with outbursts such as crying and screaming at a concert.

THE WRONG EMOTIONS

Researchers identified several examples of the 'wrong' emotions. 

A crying spouse is reunited with a soldier returning from war. 

Teen girls scream at a Justin Bieber concert and so do soccer players as they score a winning goal.

The baseball player who hits a winning home run is pounded at home plate by teammates. 

And when introduced to babies 'too cute for words,' some can't resist pinching their cheeks.

'People may be restoring emotional equilibrium with these expressions,' said Yale psychologist Oriana Aragon, lead author of work to be published in the journal Psychological Science.

'They seem to take place when people are overwhelmed with strong positive emotions, and people who do this seem to recover better from those strong emotions.' 

Researchers identified several examples of the 'wrong' emotions, including the moment a crying spouse is reunited with a soldier returning from war, teen girls screaming at a Justin Bieber concert and soccer players crying as they score a winning goal. 

And when introduced to babies 'too cute for words,' some can't resist pinching their cheeks.

'I was surprised no one ever asked why that is,' said Aragon.

The team at Yale ran subjects through some of these scenarios and measured their responses to cute babies or happy reunions. 

They found that individuals who express negative reactions to positive news were able to moderate intense emotions more quickly. 

They also found people who are most likely to cry at their child's graduation are most likely to want to pinch a cute baby's cheeks.

There is also some evidence that strong negative feelings may provoke positive expressions; for example nervous laughter appears when people are confronted with a difficult or frightening situations, and smiles have been found by other psychologists to occur during extreme sadness.

Paris Saint-Germain's David Beckham reacts as he leaves the pitch at the end of his team's French Ligue 1 soccer match against Brest at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris: Researchers say their results also help explain why soccer players and fans alike often cry at matches

These new discoveries begin to explain common things that many people do but don't even understand themselves, Aragon said.

'These insights advance our understanding of how people express and control their emotions, which is importantly related to mental and physical health, the quality of relationships with others, and even how well people work together,' she said.