Abstract
Eye gaze plays an important role during social interaction. Specifically, different eye gaze directions may send different functional messages to the observers, who have the capacity to automatically interpret these signals. In the present study, we used the implicit association test (IAT) to investigate whether direct eye gaze sends a functional, automatically perceived signal about non-target interpersonal closeness. Results suggest that the direct gaze strongly signals close relationship, and this association cannot be accounted for by positive valence. The findings suggest that the direct gaze may function to uniquely communicate a generalized closeness without orientation. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for social functions of direct gaze during interpersonal interaction and the automatic nature of such associations.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Personality and Social Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
One-sample t-test revealed that participants showed a strong implicit association between direct gaze and closeness, d = 0.83, t(31) = 9.51, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.68
One-sample t-test revealed that participants showed a strong implicit association between direct gaze and closeness, d = 0.39, t(31) = 3.63, p = 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.64
Summary
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Personality and Social Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology. There is evidence that people interpret eye gaze cues available from others’ faces to denote social closeness between themselves and the target persons. It is not clear whether or not they can acquire a non-target (non-oriented) feeling of closeness from direct gaze. Eye gaze conveys rich important information about another’s focus of attention, and implies his or her future intentions and actions (Baron-Cohen, 1995) Knowing whether another person directly gazes at you is crucial because it leads people to generate a corresponding response (e.g., smile, run away, or search for further communication). By the age of 9 to 18 months, infants can infer the target direction from adults’ eye gaze (Phillips et al, 1992)
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