Abstract
In most primates, eye contact is an implicit signal of threat, and often connotes social status and imminent physical aggression. However, in humans and some of the gregarious nonhuman primates, eye contact is tolerated more and may be used to communicate other emotional and mental states. What accounts for the variation in this critical social cue across primate species? We crowd-sourced primatologists and found a strong linear relationship between eye contact tolerance and primate social structure such that eye contact tolerance increased as social structures become more egalitarian. In addition to constituting the first generalizable demonstration of this relationship, our findings serve to inform the related question of why eye contact is deferentially avoided in some human cultures, while eye contact is both frequent and even encouraged in others.
Highlights
We conducted an investigation into the relationship between tolerance of eye contact and the nature of the social structure in which different primates live
There was a strong positive correlation between the rating of eye contact tolerance and the typical group social structure exhibited by the 19 primate taxa sampled, r = 0.528, t(52) = 4.49, p < 0.001
To further assess the relationship between eye contact tolerance and social structure, we estimated a linear mixed effect model in which eye contact tolerance was regressed on social structure as well as social structure
Summary
We conducted an investigation into the relationship between tolerance of eye contact and the nature of the social structure in which different primates live. While eye contact and gaze following are undoubtedly related as components of a larger communicative repertoire, they serve different and distinct purposes among primates Theories such as the cooperative eye hypothesis[22] make the claim that gaze following (absent of head movement) has evolved as a distinctly human behavior with the purpose of supporting complex cooperative social tasks. As infants develop, caregivers socialize certain eye gaze patterns to encourage patterns of eye contact that are more congruent with culture-specific norms and expectations[24,26,27,28] The result of this shaping of looking behavior is that the meaning, use, and tolerance of eye contact in adults differs across cultures. There appear to be both universal and specific aspects to the meaning of direct gaze and eye contact which may correspond to how eye contact is used among nonhuman primates in more hierarchical versus egalitarian social systems
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
