Eye Contact Experiments

The first conversation involved having direct eye contact with the other person for over two minutes without looking away. My partner for this is a male friend that I speak to on a regular basis and I used this experience to have the direct eye contact with them during a conversation that we would have normally with just the change of keeping the eye contact the entire time. During the conversation my partner returned the eye contact through most of the conversation while we were talking about how they were doing and what was occurring in their everyday activities. Often my partner searched my face and observed other of my facial expressions while we spoke even though I did not return this searching. Even though our conversation was about very normal topics my partner continued to search my expressions as they were trying to figure out why I was holding direct eye contact instead of returning some of the normal facial expressions I would have. I found the conversation to be very normal to the type of conversation that we would normal have but odd because I was not searching for the other facial expressions that I would see on his face just his eyes through the conversation. I believe my partner found the conversation a little different since I would normally look at him but also look at other expression on his face. The direct eye contact made the conversation seem much more personal than what the topic was truly about. I felt mostly comfortable with the conversation but there were a few moments where I would normally look at other facial expressions but I was staring at his eyes instead. Eye contact during a conversation is very important on non-verbal communication especially since most people use several other ways to communicate than just words. Body language, eye contact, facial expressions and so forth are all very important to understand other parts of the conversation. Direct eye contact in this experiment defiantly seemed to make the conversation that more personal.

The second conversation involved having no direct eye contact with another subject, different than the person I used during the original conversation. My partner for this conversation was also another male friend and we were having a normal conversation about what they have been up to for the past week or so and how they have been doing. During our conversation, I refused to make direct eye contact at all and looked around them and often at the floor. The conversation moved away from our normal conversation topics almost immediately into the other person asking about how I was doing and if anything was wrong. I continued to explain everything was fine and kept continuing the conversation. My partner during this conversation was very uncomfortable as we continued to speak since they believed that something was wrong and that I was not sharing the information with them. I felt that I was also hiding or trying to escape the conversation with my use of avoiding their eyes. My partner was made extremely uncomfortable with this whole conversation and has continued to have concern that I was not well during the conversation. Also it was very difficult to read my partners other facial expressions during the conversation since I was avoiding looking at them. I could tell through his body language that he was worried about my own reaction to the conversation. I definitely did not feel comfortable avoiding all eye contact with my friend and neither did he. The eye contact not being there made the conversation strained and uncomfortable.

Through both experiments I felt much more at ease with the direct eye contact before having no eye contact. I enjoyed being able to at least see the face of my partner so I could see their facial expressions as well as the feeling of the conversation being more personal. When there was no eye contact I felt that I was uncomfortable with the conversation as well as my partner. I could tell that my partner without eye contact was much more concerned about my well being since I would not look them in the eye at all. A few days after the conversation, my partner without the eye contact made a point to come to visit me and make sure that I was doing better and we, as friends were also doing well. He was very concerned that something had happened that he was unaware of and wanted to see if he could help. After I explained that I was working on non-verbal communication, he was much more relaxed because I made him worry that something was wrong with me. After this experiment, I can definitely see more of the importance of non-verbal communication. Eye behavior is very important in our society especially in communication since people are watching our reactions and eye movement to help them understand more about what I am feeling and expressing. Without the direct eye contact, it seems that there is a break down in the communication making it appear that there is something either wrong with the person, they are hiding something or that they are upset with the other person they are avoiding in the eye contact.