Ch 6: #27 (11/16/12)
Autistic patients read their environment literally. They do not, like us, seem to watch people's eyes when they are talking to pick up on all those expressive nuances that Eckman has so carefully catalogued. What do you make of individuals who avoid eye contact during conversation? How do you think this affects their ability to understand or interpret the speaker? Could this explain how lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact?
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To me when an individual avoids eye contact during conversation I usually make the assumption that the individual is either just has an awkward personality or is nervous. I think this affects their ability to understand or interpret the speaker because body language and eye contact is a key part in portraying what that person is trying to communicate. Lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact because you can sense the state of panic or uneasiness when someone tells a lie or purposely avoids a question. I know that eye contact is a key part in my life and relationships. Often if someone over a good amount of time still shows poor eye contact it makes me assume that its just not nerves or awkwardness its more of a trust issue or they may be hiding something.
ReplyDeleteI think that people can avoid eye contact for many reasons, some of which include being awkward or upset or nervous. The avoidance of eye contact indicates to me that they don't care how I react to what they are saying or they don't want to know how I react. A lot of times when someone tells you something you don't want to hear, they don't look you in the eyes because they don't want to see your pain or anger. On the other hand, I feel sometimes when people are apologizing they don't look you in the eyes, rather they look down to try to appear humble or apologetic. So in those scenarios averting eye contact doesn't mean the person is lying. However, when a person lies is does often seem that they avoid eye contact. It just seems suspicious, but I think in that case some part of your intuition, besides them avoiding eye contact, is telling you that something isn't right about the situation.
ReplyDeleteI know from personal experience that when a person I am conversing with avoids eye contact, that they are either nervous or intimidated. I have been in several situations where I am talking to a person, and they cannot not look at me directly in the eyes. They either look down, or quickly away to the right or left. However, I have also been at the other end of this situation where a person makes such strong eye contact with me that I get nervous and look away. Like Lexi said, this plays a key role in communication. When I am talking to someone, I know they are confident by the way are speaking to me. However, when someone is constantly avoiding eye contact I know that they are nervous, lacking confidence, or lastly intimidated. I believe that this situation goes hand in hand with lying, because when you lie you cannot look at a person directly in their eyes. I believe this is because you either are afraid to tell the truth, you're nervous about your lie, or you simply feel guilty about your actions therefore you cannot converse with the person you are lying to.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am in a conversation with someone and they are not making eye contact, I think it is kind of rude. The person probably does not mean to be rude, and like Lexi said they are probably just awkward and maybe nervous. I agree with Christina, it also makes me feel like they do not want to hear what I'm saying and maybe do not care. I feel that if you do not look at someone in a conversation, that you sometimes could misunderstand them because you cannot see their body language and facial expressions. For example, someone could be explaining a fight that they had with another person and if you aren't looking at them you could think that they are insincere and meant to fight with the person. When if you were looking at them their body language and facial expressions could express that they feel bad about the fight, and want to make things better.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is really interesting that autistic patients do not watch people’s eyes when they are talking. I believe that this affects their ability to understand or interpret the speaker because eye contact gives you a lot of information about a person. When a person speaks and rolls their eyes at you, you automatically know that they are annoyed to some extent. Eye contact presents nervousness or awkwardness when a person looks around or not directly at you. Autistic patients are missing the key signs to what a person is really thinking. When a person lies you can easily tell by their eye contact. In my opinion, this explains how lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact. For example, if a person cannot look you in the eye, you know there is a problem. You automatically figure out that the person does not want to tell you the real situation.
ReplyDeleteMaking eye contact can just be weird for some people and not so weird for others. I will admit I can never make eye contact with people or I can never stare at someone in the eye because I feel awkward. But from past experience I always feel that if someone is not looking at me even though I am not directly looking at them, it is somewhat rude. Also people always say that if a person looks to the left when they are talking they are lying. I actually believe this only because I study people when they talk to me and if I know they are lying and they look to the left it puts a backbone on the assumption and makes me believe it even more. But if people make direct eye contact for a long period of time, I get nervous and I no longer have any intention to talk to that person. I think eye contact in the end no matter what a person's mannerism is will always result with people just making assumptions no matter what the situation is.
ReplyDeleteI think that making eye contact during a conversation shows that you are interested in what one is saying. When I am talking to someone and they aren't making eye contact with me I would think that they don't care or they are annoyed with me and don't wanna listen. If someone is lying they usually dont make eye contact because they are nervous or they dont know what to say. When someone isnt making eye contact that doesnt always mean they are lying they could just be nervous or intimated.
ReplyDeleteWhen people are talking to me and they avoid eye contact, I usually just assume that they are awkward in social situations. However, if they have suspicious body language along with the lack of eye contact, then I start to get suspicious. Because they do not make much eye contact, it does not really allow them to pick up on others’ emotions as much as one would have if he or she did use eye contact. Most of the time, when people lie, they are nervous. Because of the lack of confidence in what they are saying, they tend to either not to look into the other person’s eyes at all, or to avert their eyes every once in a while. On the other hand, just because someone looks away from you when they are speaking, does not mean that they are lying. It is more of the eye contact and body language combination that will indicate whether or not a person is telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteWhen people do not make eye contact we use this as an implication that the person we are speaking with is not really listening to what we have to say. They are more preoccupied with what is around them. This affects how well they understand the speaker, because if they are only listening to half of what the other is saying they might get the wrong message. Some people also do not make eye contact when they are the ones speaking. Many people do this when lying, because they are incapable of lying while looking at the person. This is why people say "look into my eye and tell me the truth."
ReplyDeleteI usually get annoyed when people don't make eye contact with me when I am speaking, but I must say I am guilty of not always holding eye contact. When someone isn't making eye contact with me I feel they are not interested in what I have to say or they are preoccupied by something else. If you are not looking into the speaker's eyes you cannot see their full emotions and you can learn a lot about a person by just watching their eyes. This could be a clear indication that a person is lying because they would be nervous and not want the other person too see into their eyes and tell that they are lying. If you were too look into someone's eyes while lying it would be a lot harder to tell that lie
ReplyDeleteTo me, avoiding eye contact could mean many things; a lack of confidence, nervousness, or just plain uneasiness. People who are fully aware of their environment gain much more in keeping eye contact with a person. This makes me think of people who are moved by speeches that political figures give. Their words are powerful but sometimes it's the look in their eye that really makes a person moved. Eye contact is a way of being constantly involved in the conversation whether you are verbally speaking or simply just listening. I feel that you don't need to talk to have yourself heard just by speaking. Subtle things like making eye contact, nodding or smiling can give it away as well. As for lying, I'm perplexed on this subject. I know a lot of people who are good at lying and can look a person square in the eye and continue to lie, but I also know people who could not keep eye contact if their lives depended on it. I think other signals give lying away and eye contact could just be one of them. You definitely won't find every person doing it though .
ReplyDeleteReading the chapter on the Autistic patient really opened my eyes on how an autistic person thinks and reacts to situations in the world around them. This really gave me a greater understanding in a small way of how they deal with the world and people. When you talk about eye contact they tend to look at things very mechanically, they don’t see the reaction of people’s faces. All they see is the person, a picture, and even something as simple as a light switch. As for looking at person’s eyes and seeing if they are lying or telling the truth, I think all the professors were right that your unconscious facial expressions as small as they may be truly tell a story.
ReplyDeleteWhen I’m talking to someone and they are not making eye contact with me, I feel like the conversation is basically going nowhere because I am the only one who is wholeheartedly taking part in the conversation. Also when people avoid eye contact I feel like they are trying to hide something or are telling me lies and giving false information. This also puts them at a disadvantage in the conversation as well because even though my words are saying one thing, my face can be telling a completely different story, which they would never know about because they are looking somewhere else. Even having a conversation on the phone, I sometimes find this annoying especially when I’m not sure about how someone feels about what we are talking about. For example if I’m talking to a friend about something that happened earlier that day, that I think she might have been upset about but she is saying that she is fine, it’s really hard to tell over the phone if that is actually the truth because sometimes the only way to tell how someone is feeling is by seeing their facial expression and body language.
ReplyDeleteI feel that people who avoid eye contact during conversations may feel many different emotions which can mean different things. For example, if I'm explaining something and the person that I'm talking to isnot looking at me, i may think they're not interested. I feel that if someone is avoiding eye contact, theyre not able to fully understand the story. When im telling a story i use a lot of emotion and facial expressions. If someone isnt looking at me, it'll be harder to tell how im feeling. Often times, the avoiding of eye contact may also be the result of someone lying. Maybe the person feels uncomfortable and is not able to make up a lie on the spot and so theyre avoiding looking in to the other person's eyes.
ReplyDeleteWhen somebody who you are having a conversation with does not make eye contact with you i find it that maybe the person is very nervous or just feels awkward. I like when the person I am speaking to makes eye contact because you know they are listening and they are understanding you. People who dont look at the person they are speaking to or make eye contact might find it hard really understanding what they are saying or interpreting their body language/expression. If someone is telling you a lie you can usually tell by the way they might say it or their body language and especially if they are making eye contact with you or not.
ReplyDeleteI feel like some people who avoid eye contact during conversation don't do in on purpose. Some people I've noticed, find direct eye contact to be awkward. I think eye contact is important in conversation because it allows people to pay attention to facial expressions and reactions to get a sense of how the other person is reacting to what they say. I feel like eye contact is vitally significant in conversation, especially if you are talking to a group. I feel as if when someone is in the position and being accused of lying or not, eye contact could determine whether or not you are lying. When people lie, they don't make eye contact because they are afraid to see the other person's reaction towards their 'excuse' which the other person may believe to be a true statement. I feel as if the person who is receiving the information has to make these judgement's themselves in order to determine if someone is lying or telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteTo me when an individual avoids eye contact during conversation I usually make the assumption that the individual is either just has an awkward personality or is nervous. It’s a sign or insecurity, nervousness, awkwardness, or just scared. It could show they really aren’t listening to what you are saying and be distracted by something else of their phones. People also try not to make eye contact when they are lying, hense why people say look me in the eyes and tell me the truth. I know people who will look up at someone’s forehead or hair because they are socially awkward. People think I don’t listen or pay attention to them when they talk to me but I concentrate an focus better when I look away, but that’s just me I don’t do it out of disrespect, only because I don’t get as distracted or think of something else. I can focus on what they say.
ReplyDelete