Why Do People Break Eye Contact?

Cam Scollard
Sofia Simek
Natalie Bull
Gabby Garrett

Research Report
Lake Orion High School
Introduction to Psychology
Mr. Gallaher
1 March 2018
 Abstract

The experiment tested why people avoid eye contact. It was questioned if they look away

because they are uncomfortable, embarrassed, insecure, etc. To conduct this experiment, twelve

students volunteered to be interviewed to answer the question why eye contact is avoided. While

they were being asked questions that ranged from easy to a little more intimate, there was the

interviewer asking the questions and another person to the side taking note of their eye contact.

The person watching their eye contact watched to look for where they looked when they weren't

looking at the interviewer, how long they looked away, and what specific questions made them

avoid eye contact. After reviewing all the information that was noted after the interviewing

process, it was found that the person being questioned would look away when answering, often

to the left or right. It was assumed that this could be because they were thinking of how to

answer the question, whether it be a truthful response, or one that the individual feels would

make them look good to the surveyors. Overall, this experiment ran very smoothly, and the

results were in proximity with what the team that conducted this experiment predicted.

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 Why do People Break Eye Contact?

The purpose of the lab was to answer the question, why do people avoid eye contact

when talking to someone? To conduct this research twelve students volunteered to be asked

questions, and while they were answering, a partner in the group watched their eye contact to pay

attention to which specific questions made them look away or if they looked away after every

question. The questions that the voluntary twelve students were being asked ranged from

basic/general questions, that then led to more controversial topics. The group that conducted the

survey believed that the students would avoid eye contact when it came to disputed and

contentious questions because they became nervous or uncomfortable. It was also assumed that

the students would be able to make easy eye contact when they were being asked general

questions that they had an immediate answer to. In this lab, the independent variables are the

questions being asked and the dependent variable is how the students eye contact changes after

being asked the questions. If someone is nervous or uncomfortable by a question they are being

asked, then they will avoid eye contact. In a recent study, researchers and psychologists

Laurence Conty, Nathalie George, and Jari K. Hietanen found through their research on eye

contact that, "direct gaze has the power to enhance the experience that the information present in

the situation is strongly related to one's own person." They believe that the self-referential

information processing brought about by feeling looked at, "acts as an associative 'glue' for

perception, memory, and decision-making." This can help to enhance memory and make people

behave more comfortingly, they explain, by heightening, "the salience of concerns about being a

target for others' social evaluation and, consequently, concerns about one's self-reputation."

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 Method

Subjects/Participants

In this experiment, twelve classmates that volunteered themselves were chosen to

participate. Six of the participants were from one side of the room, the other six from the other.

Apparatus

The materials used are as follows: two pieces of paper listing the 7 questions the

participants were asked, 12 pieces of paper with a table describing how long they made eye

contact, where they looked if they looked elsewhere, and whether-or-not the participant made

eye contact with the person asking questions, a pencil, and 12 half slips of paper with three

questions asking their gender, GPA, and age.

Design

The independent variable used was the questions the participants were asked, while the

dependent variable was how long the participants made eye contact. It is vital that the

participants being questioned are far away from one another, and that the other volunteers that

have not been questioned yet are far enough away that they cannot hear any of the questions

prior to their session.

Procedure

1. The experiment starts by going to the front of the class and telling the class that this

experiment required twelve volunteers. Six from one side of the room and six from the

other.

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2. Gather supplies needed and split the 4-person team (the ones doing the experiment) into 2

teams of 2 people. One person of the two-person team will be asking the questions, while

the other will be recording how long the participant made eye contact with the other

member, and where the participant looked if they looked elsewhere.

3. Once the volunteers are gathered, bring them to a quiet, large space and have one person

go with one team and another person go with the other team.

4. While those 2 are being interviewed, the other 10 people will quietly wait far enough

away so that they cannot hear what they will be asked when it is their turn.

5. When the team has found a well-suited space, they will face the participant side-by-side,

while the participant is by themselves facing the two team members. The team will then

hand the participant the half slip of paper and have them complete it, making sure they

put their name on it.

6. Once the half slip of paper is completed, the member asking the questions will start with

the first question making sure they never break eye contact with the participant when they

ask the question and when they receive an answer.

7. The other member will record where the participant looked if they looked away, and

where they did look when they looked elsewhere.

8. When the participant is done answering the question, the member asking the question will

proceed to the next question. This will continue until the seventh question has been

answered.

9. Once the last question has been answered, the member recording will then put the half

slip of paper inside a folder, so they know it has been used already, and get the next slip

of paper ready to hand out. While this is happening, the member that was asking the

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 questions will thank the participant for their time, send them back into the classroom, and

go retrieve the next participant.

10. Steps 5-9 will be repeated until all 12 participants have been questioned.

11. The two teams will then gather all the materials and the experiment will come to an end.

Results

In this experiment results were collected to the questions, "how tall are you?", "what is

your favorite color?", "what is your favorite sport?", "what do you plan to do after high school?",

"what is your most embarrassing moment?", "how do you feel about our president?", and "how

do you feel about gun control?". The team conducting the experiment asked a total of twelve

subjects, two males, ten females, ranging from fourteen to eighteen years old. Figure 2 shows the

number of subjects who made consistent eye contact, looked away after the question was given

to them, or made zero eye contact. A 16-year-old male kept consistent eye contact throughout the

experiment, even during the uncomfortable questions, while a 14-year-old female made no eye

contact throughout the entire experiment, even during the easy questions. While Figure 2 shows

the number of subjects who made consistent eye contact, Figure 1 shows where subjects looked

most when not making eye contact, and as shown in the graph, most participants glanced to the

right.

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Figure 1 Figure 2
Discussion

As previously mentioned, this experiment focused on how well a group of people were

able to maintain eye contact when being asked a series of questions, ranging from simple

questions, like one's height, to some considered more controversial, like one's views on gun

control. As hypothesized, the subjects fared worse with the "harder" questions, in the sense that

their eye contact would waver more so than during the "easier" questions. However, for some,

making eye contact during the "easy" questions was difficult as well. It was evident that some

individuals were more confident in themselves and their answers than others.

A common theme among subjects is that they would look at the person giving the survey

when the questions were being asked, but would then look away when answering, often to the

left or right. This could be because they were thinking of how to answer the question, whether it

be a truthful response, or one that the individual feels would make them look good to the

surveyors.

However, some subjects did not follow this trend. There was one 17-year-old female that

made consistent eye contact with the surveyor, only looking away once or twice for less than a

second. There was also a 14-year-old female that made little to no eye contact throughout the

whole of the survey, always looking at the wall behind the surveyor, or just to the side. As

previously mentioned, though, most fell in the in-between range.

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 So, getting into the technicalities of this experiment, there are some aspects that could be

made better, or even changed completely. For example, only twelve participants were surveyed,

and they were students that volunteered to be surveyed. A prospective way for this experiment to

be made better would be to have a larger group of individuals surveyed, and to have them be

randomly chosen instead of as volunteers. The simple fact that the students volunteered to be

surveyed could change the results drastically. Based on how little people originally volunteered,

one who is randomly chosen would probably have a harder time making eye contact, because

they most likely would not want to be participating.