The Definitive Book of Body Language

The Definitive Book of Body Language

As with most body language and gestures, the length of time

that one person gazes at another can be culturally determined

Always be sure to consider cultural circumstances before

jumping to conclusions. The safest rule when travelling to

places such as Japan is to mirror the gaze time of your hosts.

When two people meet and make eye contact for the first

time, it's usually the person who is subordinate who looks

away first. This means that not looking away becomes a subtle

way to deliver a challenge or show disagreement when

someone gives their opinion or point of view. Where the status

of the other person is higher, however, for example, the person

is your boss, you can send a clear message of disagreement by

holding his gaze for only several seconds longer than would be

usually acceptable. But it's not a good idea to do this regularly

with your boss if you want to keep your job.

How to Keep Eye Contact in a Nudist Colony

We sent a group of non-nudists to a nudist colony and filmed
where they were looking when they were introduced to new
people. All the non-nudist men reported that they had trouble
resisting the urge to look down and the video replay showed
how obvious it was when they did look down. The women said
they did not experience these problems and rarely was a
woman filmed intentionally gazing towards the nether regions.
This is because men are equipped with a form of tunnel vision
that makes them far better than women at seeing directly in
front of them and over long distances for spotting targets.
Most men's close range and peripheral vision is far poorer
than women's, however, which is why men have difficulty
seeing things in refrigerators, cupboards and drawers.
Women's peripheral vision extends to at least 45 degrees to
each side, above and below, which means she can appear to be
looking at someone's face while, at the same time, she is
inspecting their goods and chattels.