Demystifying the Power and Meaning of Eye Contact
One of the most potent social signals is silent. Here's what we know about it.
KEY POINTS
- Humans are prewired to look into each other's eyes.
- Properly employing patterns of gaze is essential for effective social interactions.
- Eye contact turns up the volume on whatever feelings are inherent in an interaction.
"Few things make us more uncomfortable than being stared at by a stranger, and we have many ways of describing how eyes can signal threats. For instance, when provoked, we may give someone the hairy eyeball or the evil eye, and we may even flash them a look that could kill.
On the flip side, eye contact is just as strongly linked with romance and passion. We can easily get lost in someone’s eyes, especially if they were "making eyes at us" through flirtatious glances just before we locked eyeballs with them across a crowded room.
We are Programmed to Respond to Eyes
The important social role played by eyes is not just a human thing; a gaze is an important signal of intention in almost all social species, transmitting unspoken messages of threat, dominance, submissiveness, courtship, and more, by the maintenance or aversion of gaze or by changes in eye color. Evolution has even equipped many species of moths, butterflies, and fish with eyelike stimuli called “eyespots” to mislead and intimidate predators.
Like many other animals, humans seem prewired to respond to eyes. Human infants are fascinated by eyes, preferring to attend to them over almost anything else, and eye contact is a vital part of the bonding process between mothers and infants. The strategic use of eye makeup by humans is a way of drawing attention to the eyes and enhancing their effectiveness.
Our gaze patterns are integral to regulating the level of intimacy we share with others and managing the niceties of turn-taking in conversations. Typically, we look a lot more at our interaction partners when we are listening than when we are speaking. We also use our looking behavior to signal when we wish to speak and when we wish to hand the conversation off to our partner. Being good with eye contact has been linked with positive outcomes, like speed dating success and making a good impression in job interviews, but we usually become uncomfortable if the amount of direct eye contact is too frequent or prolonged."
Read the full available article on Psychology Today
Reflection: Do you find it easy or hard to look people in the eyes?
*Personally I have struggled with looking people in the eyes since I was a little girl and I still find it hard in certain situations*
#Eyes #SocialInteraction #Contact
@professionalVision2624 This is such a great post. Eye contact and body laguage in general can be so powerful and we shouldn't underestimate that.
A reason why long distance relationships are struggling is beacause they are missing this non-verbal communication factor that can be crucial to realize someone's feelings and trust them.
On the other hand this makes meeting someone in person even more magical! We should never give up on our loved ones.
Thank you for the interesting article!
@calmDew1576
Yes! A really good persepctive and it's certiantly why long-distance relationships struggle more than "regular ones" because of the lack of intimacy and being able to touch and see the other person. And as you say, the reunion between two people that has been in a long-distance relationship is amazing and can be an expereince out of this world (Speaking from experience of 2 years in a LDR-relationship)
@professionalVision2624
I didn’t know that we were prewired to look into each other’s eyes.
That’s so interesting.
I actually love eye contact 😊
Thanks for the article :D💛✨
@innateJoy9602
I'm happy to hear that! Eye contact can be a wonderful thing and can be used in many different scenarios! Thank you for your comment!
@professionalVision2624
I struggle with finding that perfect amount of time to maintain eye contact. For situations where you talk with someone, sure I'll maintain eye contact for the conversation but when you're looking at someone from afar and you make eye contact, if you look away it'll look awkward but if you stare it's also awkward haha. Maybe it's just me?