Eye Contact with Japanese Businessmen

All behavior was observed in such a manner that the individuals did not know they were being watched. All observation was also done in public so as not to violate the individuals' privacy. The specific variables that were used as a measure of implied interest/attention in conversation, were frequencies of smiling, and eye contact throughout the course of the conversation. All variables were measured by estimation, in terms of relatively frequent, moderate, or low.

For example, some cultures speak loudly and/or often while other cultures speak softly and/or only when necessary. Eye contact also varies by culture. Some cultures see direct eye contact as respectful while others see looking away or looking down as a sign of respect. It is important to understand how other cultures communicate so that there are fewer misconceptions when caring for people of another culture (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002).

The social norm that I decided to break was involved with human interaction. I chose to break the norm of eye contact when speaking to others. The purpose of this norm is to show engagement to another individual when communicating to them. The focus of maintaining eye contact is to show that you are paying attention to them and actually listening to them, it demonstrates to the speaker or listener that you are taking them seriously and are engaged with them. It can also be taken as a show of respect, a notable example of this is the classic line of “Look at me when I am talking to you.”. By not maintaining eye contact when someone is speaking to you it shows them that you do not care for what they have to say and they interpret that as disrespect.

Eye contact is important in America and Europe, but it can be rude in most of Asian countries and in Africa. Closing your

This process requires both the sender and receiver to be actively sending and receiving verbal and nonverbal information from one another and having a mutual understanding at the same time. Firstly, the interaction with Mrs Lai demonstrated effective nonverbal communication through the use of eye contact during the course of the conversation. By maintaining adequate eye contact, the receiver was able to recognise my attention was being directed at them even though there was a significant distance separating us. Studies from Hodge (1971) states that awareness is made apparent through eye contact and allows the receiver to constantly monitor feedback from the sender, and according to Argyle and Dean (1965) eye contact functions as a compensator for distance. In addition, gestures such as slight head nodding and smiling were used moderately throughout the interaction to indicate interest towards the speaker and helped to encourage further disclosure of information. Academic work from Garside and Kleiner (1991) suggests that nodding and smiling can be used as a cue to signify attention and interest, however, this form of nonverbal communication should not be used too excessively for it may indicate lack of sincerity. The use of active listening skill is also evident within the discussion (M4). By

Social contact was a main distribution of what residents wanted within two people to be sure they were in the same social class and for safety reasons. However, the behavior of looking into one another’s eyes was a sign of being aware of each other’s presence (Anderson, 220). Eye contact is perceived as whites tending not to hold eye contact with a black individual (Anderson, 220). Although, it was very uncommon for a white man to hold eye contact with a black man, rarely it would happen where the black man would be very surprised (Anderson, 220). Today, eye contact in different situations mean different things: awkwardness, politeness, and rudeness. In my life experience, I tend to avoid eye contact when passing males at nighttime because of safety

When communicating with others, it is important to consider the context in which we are working. For example, more formal language and behaviour would be used in a meeting and the school will have a range of types of planned communication with other adults – when dealing with other professionals, there will be meetings and discussions as well as more informal communication at different times. However, there are also the non-spoken forms of communication such as how quickly we respond to an email or phone message, how attentive we are when speaking to someone, how we dress. Different cultures will have their own norms of behaviour which will extend to gestures, body language and eye contact. In some cultures, for example, it is not polite

While conducting the experiment, there were still a few challenging factors. It was reported that making eye contact with passerbys was relatively difficult. Most people were either occupied by their phones or directly avoided eye contact. This makes the willing passersby a selective group of individuals who were comfortable in exposing themselves at a level of

The authors begins the chapter by emphasizing that “ Looking is a social practice” ( Sturken, Cartwright P.9) It begins when we engage ourselves in a practice by several factors. Looking is powerful and the evidence is that when we make an eye contact with someone, we catch their attention more than without having eye contact. Even the act of choosing to look or not to look is an act of power. We practice looking every day and by looking we base our decisions and develop an idea of a specific matter.

Collectively as a group we maintained each other's personal space, avoided invading others privacy; the people sitting and standing avoided touching each other. We engage in activities to avoid eye contact; people who were not using a device either closed their eyes, looked out the window, or kept their eyes on the floor. Why do we go to such lengths just to avoid eye contact with strangers? We are told at a young age that strangers are dangerous, so it is normal to be wary. Making eye contact with strangers is awkward, and being caught staring at someone is embarrassing and uncomfortable for

We are comfortable near friends and relatives, but maintain some distance when interacting with strangers. However, we are brought up to consider strangers as friends until the evidence indicates otherwise (Cramer, & Cramer, 2010). This explains our custom of immediate and beyond-the-surface communication with strangers and our willingness to bond with them. We also favor direct eye contact over indirect. We use direct eye contact during conversations as a sign of trust, respect and interest towards the speaker. However, we avoid eye contact with people in authority to show respect and attentiveness. Our personal relationships with people of the same age group are very informal, but we are very respectful to foreigners. A strong emphasis is placed on family, which is the source of identity, emotional and physical support and protection against life challenges. This is the intense sense of family belonging that is limited to family and close friends. Therefore, people that don’t belong to our family or circle of close friends are slow to be

I am a Chinese. Most Chinese they are shy in the beginning. I think because the culture. When someone talk I will listen and look at their eyes. Because I want to respect and make them know that I am listening. But I am afraid eye contact other time for example we are not talking and silent. I feel wired and awkward.

American Indian female’s eye contact may be minimal to preserve discretion and to demonstrate respect for the therapists, for example, displaying small looks (Chee et al, 2006).

On my way in the barista greeted me with full eye contact until I finished responding, but quickly moved on. What bothered me the most when it was my turn is not how he was asking too many questions, not keeping eye contact and smiling way too much for the situation, was showing me that he didn’t really care about the answers. The people in line for coffee were almost two or away feet away from each other, and the line was way too long because of it. As Joseph (2008) suggested, this is a type of body gesture is called regulating or any behavior used to monitor, control, coordinate, or maintain the conversation (DeVito, Pg. 130-131). His constant smiling and lack of eye contact had shown that he was not interested in the conversation. Even though his verbal feedback was giving the signal of interest his non-verbal messages like lack of eye contact were contradicting the verbal (DeVito, Pg. 127, and Pg.

Since Europeans and Americans often associate eye contact with honesty and respect, it is easy to misjudge others for whom steady eye contact would be a sign of disrespect. There have been cases where attempts by Puerto Ricans and Native Americans to show respect to persons in authority by not looking at them have been interpreted as dishonesty or disrespect by those accustomed to greater eye contact. Traditionally, Hopi and Navajo people generally avoid steady eye contact, as it is considered offensive, disrespectful, and rude. Racially, blacks tend to make less eye contact than whites (Adler, Elmhorst, & Lucas,