Eye contact occurs when "two people look at each other's eyes at the same time."
In human beings, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and is thought to have a large influence on social behavior. Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term has come in the West to often define the act as a meaningful and important sign of confidence and social communication. The customs and significance of eye contact vary widely between cultures, with religious and social differences often altering its meaning greatly.
The study of eye contact is sometimes known as oculesics.
Read more about Eye Contact: Social Meanings of Eye Contact, The Effectiveness of Eye Contact, Cultural Differences, Eye Aversion and Mental Processing, Difficulty With Eye Contact, Between Species
Famous quotes containing the words eye and/or contact:
“The bottom line on bonding with multiples seems to be that if you see bonding as a static event—a moment in time at which you must have eye contact and skin contact simultaneously with two or more infants—you may indeed be in trouble.”
—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
“Yet for all that, there is nothing in me of a founder of a religion—religions are affairs of the rabble; I find it necessary to wash my hands after I have come into contact with religious people.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)