Adults make eye contact between 30% and 60% of the time in an average conversation, says the communications-analytics company Quantified Impressions. But the Austin, Texas, company says people should be making eye contact 60% to 70% of the time to create a sense of emotional connection, according to its analysis of 3,000 people speaking to individuals and groups.
…Culture can be a factor. In many Eastern and some Caribbean cultures, meeting another’s eyes can be rude. Asians are more likely than Westerners to regard a person who makes eye contact as angry or unapproachable, says a 2013 study in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Ah, that’s it! I’ll start describing myself as trans-Navajo. It’s a deep-rooted cultural tradition of mine to not look people in the eye when talking, you imperialists!
June 3, 2013 @ 2:48 pm
30-60%? Yikes! More than a second of eye contact and their pupils become windows into the bottomless well of emptiness just beneath the surface – reminding me over and over, "You are all alone! You are all alone!"
It's very distracting.