Eye Contact: The Core of Interpersonal Relatedness (Nov-8)

The Theory

Grumet (2008) reported that eye contact serves many purposes. The purpose of this observation was to examine how someone would react to a lack of eye contact during a conversation.

The Observation

I recently had a student visit me in the GTA office before class. During this interaction, I noted that he very rarely made any eye contact. Rather, the student typically stared at the floor during our conversation. The student initially visited me to let me know that he would not be in class later that day. He reported that he felt sick and did not feel that he would be able to sit through class. I noted that he was continually apologetic and seemed embarrassed that he was going to need to miss class. He routinely told me that he understood if he was going to be punished and that he accepted any repercussion. The conversation lasted approximately twenty minutes. During this entire conversation, the students’ eye contact never changed. Even though he changed topics from missing class to asking for advice for the upcoming speeches, his eyes stayed directed at the floor. His behavior helped me recognize something that was only briefly mentioned in this article.

The Conclusion In conclusion, this observation brought an interesting phenomenon to light. For an instructor at any level, you are asked to decipher students’ nonverbal messages to interpret how truthful the student is being. While many of us associate lack of eye contact as a cue of lying, this experience reminded me that this lack of eye contact could be linked to anxiety. This experience served as a great example of the ambiguity of nonverbal communication.