How Does Eye Contact Work?

There is a Spanish saying that ensures that “the look is the mirror of the soul.” And it is that with eye contact we can teach others how we feel, both physically and emotionally. What’s more, through our gaze we can also create a closer bond with the person we are talking to, making them feel more comfortable, or on the other hand, feel threatened.

Ultimately, our eyes are a part of non-verbal communication, which is also done with the smile or hands or shoulders. After knowing this. Would you like to know how eye contact works in people’s relationships? Well read on below, we are going to explain some interesting questions.

Eye contact: depends on the situation

The gaze works differently depending on the situation in which the person is. For example, this is usually more intense and long in a conversation between just two people. On the contrary, in a group the members who exchange glances usually do not do so for more than 3 or 5 seconds.

Likewise, within a conversation, it is possible to count how long a person is looked at and when it is not being done. This is usually 30% of eye contact, and 60% of not doing it while listening. If you look less than that, it can indicate that you are not interested in the conversation, but if you do it too much it is that obviously you are very interested in that one! And you know what that means right? The answer is explained in the next point.

Lovers keep a longer stare

It’s hard to tell if a person hates or loves you when they make really long eye contact with you. Like everything in this life depends on the situation and the relationship of the people.

However, it is clear that those lovers who are spending a romantic evening tend to dedicate more intense and much longer looks. In fact, it is proven that those people who like you tend to look you in the eyes more  than those who are not really interested in you.

Intense stares can be annoying depending on which culture

Eye contact does not work and denotes the same in all corners of the world. For example, the Japanese interpret that not making eye contact is a sign of respect for others. However, for most Westerners, failure to do so can mean distrust or contempt.

But not only do we see eye contact as normal, but also, in many Arab countries they tend to make much more intense glances at each other.

Liars make more eye contact

It has always been believed that when someone lies they usually avoid eye contact. Nothing could be further from the truth. And is that  every time a liar lies, he fixes a lot on the other’s face. The reason? Check if you really believe him or not. On the other hand, the liar knows that in this way he also gains confidence and credibility.

So you have to pay close attention to how people act, because eye contact can be a way in which the other person is attentive to know if they are manipulating us better or worse. In the same way, someone who does not make eye contact does not imply that they are not sincere, it may be that they are shy or insecure.

As you have seen, through our eyes we can show the whole world what we feel at all times. And you? Don’t you usually look others in the eye? Well, from here we recommend that you practice it since surely those around you will “see” you in a better way.

Duchenne’s smile

What will the smile have to do with the look? If we want to know if someone is smiling at us sincerely, we will find the key in their eyes. When we smile we tend to stretch the corner of our lips to the sides and show our teeth. The muscles involved in the smile of the mouth are the zygomaticus major and minor. However, and here is the key, when the smile is authentic, the orbicularis muscles also contract, that is, we tend to wrinkle the outside of the eyes.

Guillaume Duchenne  dedicated himself in the 19th century to electrically stimulating the facial muscles of a large number of people. And he concluded that the purely genuine smile was the one involving the zygomatic muscles and the mouth and orbicularis. Duchenne claimed that the contraction of the orbicular muscles only occurred spontaneously, so a forced smile could not involve these muscles. So, if we want to know if someone is sincere when they laugh with us, we only have to observe their gaze.