Eye contact occurs when two people or non-human animals look at each other's eyes at the same time. In people , eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and can have a large influence on social behavior . Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term came from the West to often define the act as a meaningful and important sign of confidence and respect. The customs, meaning, and significance of eye contact can vary greatly between societies , neurotypes , and religions .
23-905: [REDACTED] Look up glance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Glance may refer to: Eye contact , a behavioral event related to vision USS Glance (1863) , a Union Navy steamship during the American Civil War Glance, glances , a group of minerals widely known until the mid-20th century, including: Antimony glance (Stibnite) Bismuth glance (Bismutite) Cobalt glance (Cobaltite) Copper glance (Chalcocite) Iron glance (Hematite) Lead glance (Galena) Molybdenum glance (Molybdenite) Silver glance (Argentite) Glance (album) , an album by Rose Kemp Glance, OpenStack 's image service Glance (company) , Indian software and content company People with
46-469: A brief glance and progresses into a repeated volleying of eye contact. In the process of civil inattention , strangers in close proximity, such as a crowd, avoid eye contact in order to help maintain their privacy . A 1985 study suggested that "3-month-old infants are comparatively insensitive to being the object of another's visual regard". A 1996 Canadian study with 3- to 6-month-old infants found that smiling in infants decreased when adult eye contact
69-608: A person whose eyes are not aligned usually makes full eye contact with one eye only, while the orientation of the other eye deviates slightly or more. In one study conducted by British psychologists from the University of Stirling , among 20 British children at the age of five, researchers concluded that among the children in the study, the children who avoid eye contact while considering their responses to questions are more likely to answer correctly than children who maintain eye contact. While humans obtain useful information from looking at
92-475: A threat. Many programs to prevent dog bites recommend avoiding direct eye contact with an unknown dog. According to a report in The New Zealand Medical Journal , maintaining eye contact is one reason young children may be more likely to fall victim to dog attacks. On the other hand, extended eye contact between a dog and its owner modulates the secretion of oxytocin , a neuromodulator that
115-471: Is a way of shielding others from personal claims in public – an essential feature of the abstract, impersonal relationships demanded by the open society . Civil inattention can lead to feelings of loneliness or invisibility , and it reduces the tendency to feel responsibility for the well-being of others. Newcomers to urban areas are often struck by the impersonality of such routines, which they may see as callous and uncaring, rather than as necessary for
138-497: Is because it provides details on emotions and intentions. In a group, if eye contact is not inclusive of a certain individual, it can make that individual feel left out of the group; while on the other hand, prolonged eye contact can tell someone you are interested in what they have to say. Eye contact is also an important element in flirting , where it may serve to establish and gauge the other's interest in some situations. Mutual eye contact that signals attraction initially begins as
161-519: Is known for its role in maternal-infant bonding. Hikers are commonly advised to avoid direct eye contact if they have surprised a bear, since the bear may interpret the eye contact as a threat, although some sources suggest maintaining eye contact. Among primates, eye contact is seen as especially aggressive, and staring at them in a zoo can induce agitated behavior. Chimpanzees use eye contact to signal aggression in hostile encounters. Eye tracking research shows that chimps are more likely to look at
184-564: Is often generally advised to lower one's gaze when looking at other people in order to avoid sinful sensuous appetites and desires. Excessive eye contact or "staring" is also sometimes described as impolite, inappropriate, or even disrespectful, especially between youths and elders or children and their parents, and so lowering one's gaze when talking with older people is seen as a sign of respect and reverence. Nonetheless, actual cultural and societal practices in this regard vary greatly. Japanese children are taught in school to direct their gaze at
207-405: Is sometimes known as oculesics . Eye contact and facial expressions provide important social and emotional information. People, perhaps without consciously doing so, search other's eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. In some contexts, the meeting of eyes arouses strong emotions. Eye contact provides some of the strongest emotions during a social conversation. This primarily
230-501: Is the process whereby strangers who are in close proximity demonstrate that they are aware of one another, without imposing on each other – a recognition of the claims of others to a public space, and of their own personal boundaries . Civil inattention is the term introduced by Erving Goffman to describe the care taken to maintain public order among strangers and thus to make anonymised life in cities possible. Rather than either ignoring or staring at others, civil inattention involves
253-544: The 2000s, studies suggest that eye contact has a positive impact on the retention and recall of information and may promote more efficient learning. In a 2001 study conducted in Germany examining German infants during their first 12 weeks of life, researchers studied the relationship between eye contact, maternal sensitivity, and infant crying to attempt to determine if eye contact and maternal sensitivity were stable over time. In this correlational study, they began by categorizing
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#1732876547682276-451: The doctor may note whether the patient initiates, responds to, sustains, or evades eye contact. The clinician may also note whether eye contact is unusually intense or blank, or whether the patient glares, looks down, or looks aside frequently. Eye contact can also be a significant factor in interactions between non-human animals, and between humans and non-human animals. Animals of many species, including dogs, often perceive eye contact as
299-675: The dominant person in the eye, but in Western culture this can be interpreted as being "shifty-eyed", and the person judged badly because "they wouldn't look me in the eye"; references such as "shifty-eyed" can refer to suspicions regarding an individual's unrevealed intentions or thoughts. Nevertheless, the seeking of constant unbroken eye contact by the other participant in a conversation can often be considered overbearing or distracting by many even in Western cultures, possibly on an instinctive or subconscious level . In traditional Islamic theology , it
322-468: The face when listening to someone, the process of looking at faces is mentally demanding and takes processing. Therefore, it may be unhelpful to look at faces when trying to concentrate and process something else that is mentally demanding. According to Doherty-Sneddon, a blank stare likely indicates a lack of understanding. In many cultures, such as in East Asia and Nigeria, it is respectful not to look
345-408: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glance&oldid=1195588028 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Eye contact The study of eye contact
368-412: The mother's sensitivity placing them into one of four behavioral categories: inhibited/intense behavior, distortion of infant signals, over and understimulational, and aggressive behavioral. Next, the observer video-taped the mother and infant's free-play interactions on a weekly basis for 12 weeks. When watching the videos, they measured the mutual eye contact between the mother and the infant by looking at
391-497: The mouth, while bonobos are more likely to look at the eyes; eye contact is lower among socially deprived primates. A 2007 incident at Rotterdam Zoo is believed to be connected to eye contact: Bokito the gorilla escaped from his exhibit and injured a woman who had visited him several times and apparently often held prolonged eye contact. Visitors were later given special glasses that averted their apparent gaze when looking at Bokito. Civil inattention Civil inattention
414-401: The overlap in time when the mothers looked at their infant's face and when the infants looked at their mother's face. The mothers were also asked to record their infant's crying in a diary. The study found that the amount of eye contact between the study's German mothers and infants increased continuously over the first 12 weeks. The mother who held eye contact with her child early on (week 1–4)
437-461: The region of their teacher's Adam's apple or tie knot . As adults, Japanese lower their eyes when speaking to a superior as a gesture of respect. Some bodies of parliamentary procedure ban eye contact between members when speaking. For clinical evaluation purposes in the practice of psychiatry and clinical psychology, as part of a mental status exam , the clinician may describe the initiation, frequency, and quality of eye contact. For example,
460-407: The surname [ edit ] Harvey Glance (1957–2023), American track athlete Stephanie Glance , American basketball coach See also [ edit ] Glancy Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Glance . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
483-464: The unobtrusive and peaceful scanning of others so as to allow for neutral interaction. Through brief eye contact with an approaching stranger, a person both acknowledges their presence and forecloses the possibility of more personal contact or of conversation . Civil inattention is thus a means of making privacy possible within a crowd through culturally accepted forms of self-distancing. Seemingly (though not in reality) effortless, such civility
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#1732876547682506-805: Was described as sensitive to her infant whereas if she did not hold eye contact, her behavior was described as insensitive. They also found a negative relationship between eye contact and the duration of crying of the infants; as eye contact increases, crying decreases. Maternal sensitivity was also shown to be stable over time. According to the study, these findings may potentially be based on the assumption that sensitive mothers are more likely to notice their child's behavioral problems than non-sensitive mothers. Some people find eye contact difficult with others. For example, those with autism spectrum disorders or social anxiety disorders may find eye contact to be particularly unsettling. Strabismus , especially esophoria or exophoria , interferes with normal eye contact:
529-668: Was removed. A recent British study in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience found that face recognition by infants was facilitated by direct gaze. Other recent research has confirmed that the direct gaze of adults influences the direct gaze of infants. Within their first year, infants learn rapidly that the looking behaviors of others conveys significant information. Infants prefer to look at faces that engage them in mutual gaze and that, from an early age, healthy babies show enhanced neural processing of direct gaze. A person's direction of gaze may indicate to others where their attention lies. In
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