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Human Gaze Direction / Detection & Eye Contact

Right, hold my beer... In steps a Mentalist (who specialises in reading faces) to ramble on for a bit.

We read so much from the entire face that looking into the eyes, which we think is important, is only one of the information sources we use when we are communicating. So, for example, asking someone to look into your eyes when you're pleading the truth will never convince them that you are speaking the truth. It's not your eyes that do the convincing. We use so many different microsignals, nuances of expression and vocal tones that the eye gazing alone doesn't really tell us much. Observing from about 4-6 feet away will give you a much better and more more accurate picture of a person's intention and message than if you are nose to nose.

We think of eye contact as being honest, attentive and engaged. Averted eyes are perceived as uninterested, shifty or with-holding. However, as with body language, all of this can be taken with a pinch of salt until you "know" the person with whom you are speaking. Then you can apply what you know to that individual. As @Frideswide mentioned, there are people who cannot handle eye contact. Likewise, there are those who want it all the time (i.e. weirdos). There are hard of hearing people who stare at your lips, people like Kirtsen Dunst who constantly shift focus from one eye to the other and people who feel confronted by eye contact.

I, for example, like to look at people's faces when they speak but I will tend to gaze over their shoulder or at the floor when I speak. This may be perceived as feeling awkward or that I'm even lying/making things up. But I'm not awkward in the slightest. I am formulating my words carefully or I am actually thinking about what I am saying and not allowing myself to be distracted or influenced by their reactions/expressions. I will then look back at their face to "read" their expression in order to check the effect of my message.

When I am performing, I often get my volunteers to stare at a specific point (my nose, my cheek or even a picture on a wall). Then I ask them, quiet off handedly, some baseline questions to see how they react (posture, stance, hand movement, shoulder tension, neck muscles, eyebrows, hairline, mouth muscles) when they tell the truth. After that, I don't need their eyes to tell me anything.

I sometimes ask, quite dramatically, that they "Look at me!". They will, 100% of the time, look into my eyes.
 
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I think we also developed an important survival technique that when we’re talking face to face, we’re also looking at them for any indicators that something unpleasant or dangerous is behind us.
 
If you watch any videos involving Scientologists, or indeed have any real life dealings with them, they pathologically look the other person in the eye. It must be part of their indoctrination teachings.

Some people go all wobbly if you have a conversation and have eye-contact with them through a mirror (or series of mirrors, I like those situations). Try it, if you haven't already got a partner you'd like to irritate further.
 
The problem I find is that the less I look someone in the eye while talking, the more they seem to try to make eye contact, so the harder it is to for me to make eye contact and so on, I have always had trouble with this, but have got better at 'faking it' as I've got older. It was easier when I smoked as I would always make a roll up while talking if possible. A good example of brilliant eye acting is anything by Eli Wallach ( see left ), particularly GBU.
 
GNC said:
The eyes are the windows to the soul.
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Or so they say. But really, it's the movement in the muscles around the eyes, cheeks and forehead (or lack thereof) which give you your insight. What we call "Dead eyes" are eyes that lack expression; they have no movement of the muscles above or beow them. If you think about it, all eyes are actually dead eyes. It's what's around them and how those muscle movements relate to what's going on in the world which we rely on.
 
Ringo said:
Or so they say. But really, it's the movement in the muscles around the eyes, cheeks and forehead (or lack thereof) which give you your insight. What we call "Dead eyes" are eyes that lack expression; they have no movement of the muscles above or beow them. If you think about it, all eyes are actually dead eyes. It's what's around them and how those muscle movements relate to what's going on in the world which we rely on.
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Basic police interview technique: relax the muscles around one’s mouth and eyes when talking to the suspect. We're so accustomed to the other party in a conversation smiling, nodding, pursing lips, widening eyes etc., in response to what we say, that when our interlocutor goes deadpan it’s disconcerting, even unnerving.

maximus otter
 
One-to-one eye contact is a specific case of gaze direction (how an individual aims his / her eyes) in which two participants direct their gazes at each other's eyes. Such direct and reciprocal eye contact, as only one particular form of gaze direction, does not and can not be taken as representative of the more general category of behaviors.

The degree to which direct eye contact is important and / or informative isn't a universal / objective factor. It varies with individual tendencies, the nature of the conversation / interaction being conducted, and the contextual / social / etc. factors pertaining to the particular conversational / interactional process that's happening. This same contextual / situational variability applies more generally to gaze direction.

There have been a number of detailed models or schemes that allege to specify how gaze direction and / or eye contact can be interpreted with respect to (e.g.) attention or truthfulness. Examples include neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), certain Soviet era physiological psychology research, proxemics, interviewing / interrogation techniques, and any number of self-development / business communication protocols.

Each of these alleged models is derived from, and relies upon, a certain set of observable eye-related behaviors and verifiable tendencies. In other words, most of them contain at least a few grains of "truth." The problem lies in the fact that none of them provides a "one size fits all" model for interpreting any individual's gaze direction / eye contact behavior in any or all possible situations.
 
I have few illusions about my appearance and mannerisms and try hard not to 'push' social interactions. I avoided looking people in the eye because I didn't usually like the response I saw. Finally got the courage to seek out a Human Givens Counsellor (a wonderful house-wife in Watford) and found it easier to talk about everyday stuff and very personal stuff to a complete stranger. Early on she asked me why I kept my eye line level with her shoulder and not her face when I was talking to her - 'you made me wonder if my bra strap was showing ?' Bit cruel maybe, but effective.
 
This Scientific American article addresses the deeply critical role plays in human communication and research results indicating we automatically treat gaze as a sort of "force" in play during interactions with others.
When Our Gaze Is a Physical Force

Recent studies demonstrate that humans attribute gaze with physical properties. We create tacit mental schemes in which the visual attention of others is computed as a forceful beam emitted from the viewer’s eye and directed at the object of interest. These mental schemes allow us to take cognitive shortcuts to process peoples’ visual attention quickly and efficiently.

Gaze is an elemental form of communication that can coordinate activities and convey social dynamics without a gesture or spoken word. It requires a rapid interpretation of the meaning behind another’s gaze, but the trade-off for the speed of that interpretation is the mistaken understanding of gaze as something that can move things in our environment. These studies show that this interpretation is subconscious and automatic, and that it occurs even in those who would consciously deny that vision exerts any force.

You might expect that such an erroneous interpretation would be detrimental. In fact, while there seem to be few if any adverse consequences these findings may underlie rich and diverse cultural references to the outward force and power of the gaze. The results of the experiment demonstrate an ancient human idea linking gaze with physical properties. This notion, as old as the Greeks, is known as the “extramission” theory of vision. Extramission literally means “sending out,” and the extramission theory is the belief that vision is a force emitted from the eye. It is an intuitive understanding of vision common among children that persists among many adults. In contrast, the modern visual theory is called “intromission,” and is based on the notion that vision results from light entering the eyes.

Using a series of ingeniously simple experiments in one study, researchers found that subjects associate gaze with a physical force. ...

Participants in this study were screened for belief in extramission beforehand and those who expressed such a belief were excluded. So, it is remarkable that all remaining participants intuited a force based upon gaze, even while they disavowed any belief in such a force emanating from the eye. What has emerged in this study is an implicit, unrecognized cognitive shortcut employed by humans to rapidly process gaze, but which leads us to comprehend it as something that affects objects in the world.

To test this theory, researchers employed brain imaging methods to demonstrate that gaze perception activates brain regions associated with motion. ...

Belief in the power of gaze appears in stories and myths throughout the centuries. Medusa turned people to stone with her gaze. The catoblepas and, more famously, the basilisk, both described by Pliny the Elder, could kill with the single glance. In Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, Venus complains of the pain caused by Adonis’ glance: “Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me.” While in John Donne’s The Ecstasy, the glances of the lovers intertwine and bind them as if they were their clasped hands. And, of course, no list of cultural references to gaze would be complete without mention of the Jedi master or Superman.

Gaze is a powerful element of social interaction. It reveals where a person is focusing their attention, and, when directed at us, it can have a strong emotional effect. Gaze can play a role in social organization, with a direct gaze demonstrating social dominance and gaze aversion indicating passivity. Eye contact can elicit alertness and bodily awareness, while indifference or aversion to eye contact can signal emotional or neurological disorders. When we direct our gaze at something or someone, others who notice subconsciously direct their gaze in the same manner. We can take advantage of this tendency to deliberately influence the gaze of others. Magicians take advantage of the ability to redirect gaze and attention to enhance their sleight of hand. Visual artists can manipulate attributes of a work of art such as luminosity in order to direct visual gaze to specific features of a painting. In dance, gaze can be used to convey the power dynamics between the characters on stage, while musicians rely upon gaze as an essential means of communication, using it to help in cuing and synchronization during the performances of orchestras and choirs.

Gaze is a means of communication that impacts us in many ways, subconsciously and quickly ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-our-gaze-is-a-physical-force/
 
I can't remember which book I read it in (possibly 'Sapiens'?) but there was an interesting point made that, with the advent of video camera technology, this is the first point in history where you able to (from your own perspective) make eye contact with another living human being who cannot, in return, see you.

I think this is one thing that some people get out of ASMR videos, it's like an opportunity to "practise" making eye contact.
 
Ermintruder said:
Paleopeople with unreadable eyes did not breed. Or perhaps were shunned/ killed.
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What about the great apes?
The vast majority have dark sclera, which tend to mask exactly where they are looking.
A small percentage of chimps and gorillas though have unsettlingly human-looking eyes with white sclera.
Wonder how such a trait is perceived in ape society?

sclera1.png
sclera2.png
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
A small percentage of chimps and gorillas though have unsettlingly human-looking eyes with white sclera.
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Fascinating, I had no idea. This inconvenient additional fact is not mentioned by coffee-table populist sociopalaeontologists and evolutionary behavioralists.

There is no doubt whatsoever that other apes must recognise the significance of eye movement/target viewpoint instinctively, or it wouldn't have been preserved as a characteristic.
 
Myself and MrsF were talking yesterday to an older lady we know and whenever she replied to me, she would look at MrsF, not me.
I have come across this before. Very odd.
 
I was at Melbourne zoo, where the orang utans have an enclosure with a glass wall. One came right up to the wall and just sat, watching me. We made eye contact, and I just stood while she stared into my eyes. It was quite unsettling, as most animals won't make eye contact for any length of time, especially if they don't know you.

It felt almost as though she was communicating with me, and was very sweet.
 
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