Eye Contact is an important way in which we communicate our feelings towards other people. Indeed, there is a popular belief that you can detect the truth in people’s eyes. Although people may hide the truth with words, their true feelings will be revealed in their eyes.

Just as we are warned when young about touching, so we are told that it is rude to stare. Much of our behaviour in terms of eye contact with other people betrays our animal origins. We need to make initial eye contact to assess a stranger. Prolonged staring in the animal world, however, is usually identified as a threatening form of behaviour. Averting the eyes and avoiding eye contact can also be seen as a means of avoiding conflict.

In human terms, eye contact is obviously not as simple as this, but you may recognize elements of animal behaviour in the way people look at one another. If , for example, you find yourself inadvertently staring at someone, you will notice that their behaviour will change, often becoming either defensive or at the other extreme aggressive towards you. Similarly, we tend to be deeply suspicious of people who cannot look us in the eye. They are seen as shifty or people with something to hide.

Gazing is also to some degree gendered. Men gaze at women, sometimes in an intimidating way. To gaze at another person, or to hold that person in your gaze, may well reflect the power relations between two people. Perhaps men in a patriarchal society feel freer to gaze than women.Eye contact can be an index of the closeness of a relationship that people share. Lovers, at least according to popular music, gaze into each other’s eyes.