Why Some People Engage In More Eye Contact Than Others

Eye contact is one of the primal ways of communicating. It serves a crucial role in mother-child bonding. In fact, research conducted in the 1940s showed that the image of two eyes is the minimal visual stimulus infants need to elicit a smile.

We also know that eye contact increases adults' brain activity and heart rates.

However, before we go any further, let's distinguish between gazing and making eye contact. Gazing refers to looking at different points on the person's face besides the eyes; we might be distracted by a mole on the right cheek or caught by the peculiar way he/she turns up their mouth. Eye contact denotes looking into the other person's eyes.

Patricia Webbink, a psychologist who has studied the eyes and their place in human communication for more than two decades, defines eye contact as, "The mutual interaction that occurs when two pairs of eyes meet." It plays a powerful role in interpersonal bonding, she explains. "In a world characterized by mechanization, threats of violence, and social alienation, the need for increased interaction between people is apparent.

The power of eye contact is very real: the mutual gaze is a major form of communication that promotes intimacy." In fact, many people who are deaf insist on eye contact in interactions; they depend heavily on the emotions expressed in the eyes to supplement the vocal intonations they miss in the conversation.

Although we may crave eye contact with others, it is a rule of nonverbal communication that no one maintains it exclusively or continuously. We sustain eye contact approximately 60 percent of the time during interactions. That means most normal everyday interactions are a combination of gazing and eye contact.

In the course of a thirty-second interaction, research tracking the eyes has shown that people will gaze at fifteen different spots on or near the face, including the unusual design on the frame of a friend's glasses, tan ear popping out of her hair, her nonverbal affect, the peculiar way she moves her lips along with her eyes. We can predict you will engage in more eye contact if:

1. You are discussing easy, impersonal topics.
2. There is nothing else to look at.
3. You like or love your partner.
4. You are interested in your partner's reactions; you're interpersonally involved.
5. You are trying to dominate or influence your partner.
6. You are from a culture that emphasizes visual contact in interaction.
7. You are an extrovert.
8. You have high affiliation needs or inclusion needs.
9. You are listening rather than talking.
10. You are a male and are more physically distant from your partner.