AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF VISUAL BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL INTERACTION

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to examine the eye contact aspect of the affiliative conflict theory. Interaction distance and the affiliation need were considered to be two important factors in influencing the subjects' eye contact behaviors.Twelve male and 12 female subjects were divided into high and low affiliation-need groups and assigned to one of three interaction distance conditions (2 feet, 6 feet, 10 feet). Each subject had a discussion with a confederate of the same sex about a TAT figure for 3 minutes. For each subject, the total eye contact time and the duration for each eye contact during the 3-minute session were recorded and analysed against the subject's interaction distance and the need for affiliation.The main results were as follows;(1) The total eye contact time and the duration for each eye contact increased with interaction distance. This supports the previous findings reported by Argyle and Dean (1965).(2) The above relationship held in both high and low affiliation-need groups. This result in low affiliation-need group did not confirm the hypothesis of the experiment.(3) The difference in the total eye contact time and the duration for each eye contact between high and low affiliation-need groups was insignificant.(4) Female subjects showed more total eye contact time than male subjects.(5) Subjects showed more total eye contact time and longer duration for each eye contact when they were listening than when they were speaking.Comparing these results with that from the previous reports, it was pointed out that cultural factor might play a very important role in influencing our visual behavior.