Eye contact is not just two people looking into each other's eyes. It is a very fundamental gesture that acts as a building block of effective communication.
Eye Contact : An Overview
- Eye contact becomes complete only when the one your eyes are targeting is fully aware of it.
- It is a very powerful tool that has high influence on one's behavior.
- It is a mode of non-verbal communication.
- Eye contact has to be stable. It is advisable to lend your eyes to the coffee you sip in between the conversation but you should never sit looking to the floor or to your shoes. It shows your disinterest in the conversation.
How Powerful Is Eye Contact?
Pieces of literature or other film dialogues commonly use the tactic of eye contact to spin cues to the following events. It is asserted that eye contact can exchange hearts. Locking eyes makes one easily fall for the other meaning that it creates an agreement with one another to heed to ones words or actions.
- In other words, it creates an aura of positivity in every chitchats or formal meetings.
‘Eyes are the window's to one’s soul.’ This is something we all are tired of hearing. Eyes speak a lot, eyes reveal the truth and so on are what everybody knows of the eyes. Haven’t you noticed babies? When we switch the focus, they also change the direction of their focus and lead their eyes towards what we are focusing at. Such is the power of our eyes.
- Eye contact can influence people to a large extent. In a conversation, if we quickly shift our focus, it disrupts the communication of the speaker and he may have the urge to look into that direction.
Through the movement of the eyes, psychologically speaking it is possible to detect the genuineness of one's speech.
- It displays the confidence of the speaker and the willingness of the listener to make the communication process valid.
‘Are you sleeping with your eyes open?’ This question is not Greek to us.
- Inactive and drooping eyes kill the liveliness of the conversation even if the person manages to keep eye contact.
Why Eye Contact?
Attention is what one demands in a conversation. Because if one does not give attention to what the other is speaking, then the conversation is fruitless. It is a mere wastage of time.
In a conversation, the significant reason the listener feels absorbed into the words of the speaker is the cogency of the eye contact. Because eyes can, of course, persuade the listener to hold on to the conversation. Not only the speaker but the listener also uses the tactic of clasping the attention of the speaker through eye contact.
- Eye contact ensures the speaker that the listener is very much interested in him and thereby motivates him to carry on with the speech.
- Eye contact also provides the impetus for the listener to listen vigilantly. This helps to bring about a constructive response from the part of the listener.
No or less eye contact
- If the person refuses to maintain eye contact, it means that the person is less interested in the conversation.
- Limited eye contact also means that the person is averse to socializing.
- It also connotes the idea that the person is extremely shy to express himself/ herself. This has reached us through romantic films at novels when the girl refuses to keep eye contact or cannot contain the thought that she is being listened to.
Not only in the romantic environment is eye contact significant. All modes of communication, be it formal or informal demands eye contact. No eye contact breaks the communication process. It also puts the listener in an embarrassing position.
- The best example of the speaker being irritated with no eye contact is when the pupils put their heads down in response to the teacher's question. It becomes very easy for the teacher to pinpoint the one who doesn’t know the answer when he doesn’t make eye contact.
Conclusion
It is said that those who appear dead on the outside is dead on the inside too. So it is a challenge for those who lack eye contact to cultivate it and prove your vitality. Those with a twinkle in their eyes are always the ones who break the ice and lend fragrance to the conversation.
Written by - Maryam Salim
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