No matter who you are, eye contact is going to play an important role in every social interaction. If you want to make a good impression on your boss, your friends, or a potential partner, you should understand that by making and maintaining eye contact, it will make or break your social encounters and here’s why.
1. Build trust with eye contact.
According to a study conducted by Northwestern University which was
published in the Journal of Participatory Medicine, when they looked at 110-first time interactions between a doctor and a new patient, they found that doctors who made more eye contact with their new patients were more trustworthy than those who did not. This means if you avoid someone’s eyes, you are going to be deemed untrustworthy, even though that may not be the case at all.
2. Eyes are the windows to the soul for a reason.
It is important that when you offer a genuine smile, you aren’t just smiling with your eyes, but you are smiling with your whole face—namely your eyes.
When researchers at MIT conducted a study regarding eye contact, they discovered that babies follow the eyes of the adult to see what is important, not the actual head movement. What this means is if someone is important to you (like a woman who is interested in a guy), she will make a lot of eye contact with you, rather than letting her eyes roam.
3. Eye contact indicates intelligence.
It is common knowledge that if you really want to get ahead in life,
you cannot hold back on the eye contact with your interviewer. This is because it is strongly believed that when you maintain eye contact, you are communicating competence and intelligence through your eye contact.
4. Eye contact is incredibly sexy.
Have you ever noticed how alluring a happy face is? You’re smiling,
your demeanor is light-hearted, and your eyes sparkle. When that happy face is making direct eye contact, that happiness becomes infectious and it is hard not to feel happy as a result. Plus, when you
are making eye contact and maintaining it, you are conveying confidence that speaks volumes to the people you are interacting with.
5. Eye contact lessens hostility.
People can be pretty rotten online, that much we are all pretty familiar
with. This is because they can hide behind a screen and of course, avoid making eye contact. Did you know that if you make eye contact with an aggressive person, you are able to foster empathy and a stronger sense of emotional understanding—qualities that are difficult to achieve online.
6. Eye contact equates to status.
When you’re hanging out somewhere and you are trying to talk to
someone, you want to give them plenty of eye contact. By doing this, you are letting them know that you are interested in them and that you are validating their value and importance, even if it is only for
the length of time that you are talking to them. Hey, it’s better than nothing, right?