Eye-Contact, Distance and Affiliation

TLDR

Eye‑contact in dyadic encounters is thought to provide feedback on reactions, signal affiliative motivation, and help maintain an equilibrium of proximity and intimacy, with disturbances prompting compensatory adjustments. The study examined how participants adjust distance and eye‑contact to reach an equilibrium in two‑person interactions. Results showed that closer proximity reduced eye‑contact and glances, especially in opposite‑sex pairs, and that participants approached a partner more closely when the partner's eyes were closed.

Abstract

Previous evidence suggests that eye-contact serves a number of different functions in two-person encounters, of which one of the most important is gathering feed-back on the other person's reactions. It is further postulated that eye-contact is linked to affiliative motivation, and that approach and avoidance forces produce an equilibrium level of physical proximity, eyecontact and other aspects of intimacy. If one of these is disturbed, compensatory changes may occur along the other dimensions. Experiments are reported which suggest that people move towards an equilibrium distance, and adopt a particular level of eye-contact. As predicted, there was less eyecontact and glances were shorter, the closer two subjects were placed together (where one member of each pair was a confederate who gazed continuously at the other). The effect was greatest for opposite-sex pairs. In another experiment it was found that subjects would stand closer to a second person when his eyes were shut, as predicted by the theory.