Autistic patients read their environment literally. They do not, like us, seem to watch people's eyes when they are talking to pick up on all those expressive nuances that Eckman has so carefully catalogued. What do you make of individuals who avoid eye contact during conversation? How do you think this affects their ability to understand or interpret the speaker? Could this explain how lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact?
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I think that individuals who avoid eye contact during conversation often want to avoid seeing the reaction or judgment on the other person’s face like for instance if they know they did something wrong. When individuals avoid eye contact it affects their ability to mind read and therefore they are not able to interpret nonverbal cues like facial expressions. As a result, those individuals will not interpret the signals about what is going on inside our minds that our facial expressions are showing. Because our facial expressions tell someone what is going on inside our mind, eye- contact could definitely be used to tell if a person is lying. By using the Facial Action Coding System, experts can determine what a person is feeling or thinking if they roll their eyes, if they narrow the eyelids, or make any other expression. Also, since we have an involuntary expressive system, lying can be detected because the person lying may intentionally conceal an emotion, but they also make involuntary expressions that they did not know they were making which show their real thoughts about if they lied or not.
ReplyDeleteEye contact and facial expressions reveal a great deal about an individual in a particular moment. The Facial Action Coding System describes how emotion can be identified through lips, cheeks, etc.. including eyes! Emotion can even begin on the face, rather than being "secondary" to what runs across one's mind. I pay particular attention to one's eye contact when I am having a serious conversation with them. If they look away, I assume they are feeling uncomfortable. I believe that this does affect their ability to understand the speaker. Although the level and inflection of the speaker's voice may transmit the over all feeling of the conversation, it is necessary to see the true emotion on the face. Since looking away can be seemed as uncomfortable, it is not surprising that people identify it with lying. A liar will feel uncomfortable in the situation, so it is natural for their eyes to avert from the other person.
ReplyDeleteI think that people who avoid eye contact during conversations might just feel awkward or uncomfortable. I believe that people listening to the speaker who cant make eye contact with you, might feel as if they arent as serious about the topic. If someone is talking to me while looking at me directly in the eyes, it makes me think they are really sure of what their talking about. I do agree that lying is often signaled by averted eye contact. Although some people just really dislike making strong eye contact, its not a smart idea to lie and look uncertain about what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteI think people who avoid eye contact during conversation are nervous and/or hiding something. My dad is an FBI agent and he is trained to recognize when people are lying. One of the key signals of deceit and mistrust is loss or lack of eye contact. I not only think a lack of eye contact is suspicious, but I also think it is disrespectful. It shows the person that you don't really care what they have to say when they are making an effort to reach out to you.
ReplyDeleteI think that people can avoid eye contact for a lot of reasons, like being upset or nervous, intimated or even hiding something. When people cannot give me eye contact it shows me that they don't care how I react to what they are saying or they don't want to know how I react and they don’t really care about our conversation. A lot of the times when someone tells you something you bad news or something they know you don’t want to hear, they won’t look you in the eyes because they don't want to see your pain.
ReplyDeleteI think that when you talk to someone and they don't look directly at you it doesn't necessarily mean that the person is lying. I think it means that they are just afraid to see your reaction. Let's say Girl A and Girl B are best friends. Girl A tells Girl B that she kissed Girl B's boyfriend. While telling Girl B this information Girl A looks anywhere but towards her best friend. Girl B's immediate response is "You're lying." But Girl A isn't lying, she is telling her the truth and is worried how she'll react.
ReplyDeleteWhen I encounter individuals who do not make eye contact with me, my initial thoughts are: they are shy, not confident, lying or hiding something from me. This affects their ability to understand or interpret the speaker because avoiding eye-contact prevents the listener from using the Facial Action Coding System which helps one read key facial expressions that indicate certain emotions or intentions. And yes, avoiding eye contact can sometimes mean that someone is lying to you. I often find that liars avoid eye-contact because the truth lies within their eyes.
ReplyDeleteI personally have a friend that avoids eye contact when she is speaking. Although, she does look you in the eye when you are talking. I do not think that she does this with purpose, but as more of a habit. Avoiding eye contact can lead to a misinterpretation of what the speaker is trying to say. Good communication is more based on body language than verbal language. It explains whether or not a person is lying. In most cases, averting eye contact means to avoid involving yourself in the conversation. When someone lies, they are not completely involved in the conversation because they are waiting for the conversation to end. The liar wants to finish the convo to give them relief that they were not caught. Eye contact is very important in a conversation and can be used to interpret the intention of the speaker.
ReplyDeleteWhen individuals avoid eye contact during conversation, it makes me feel very uncomfortable. I wonder if the person heard what I said or if they do not know what I'm talking about. Some people avoid eye contact because they are busy doing something else or their mind is in a different place. In other cases, they may be shy, lying, nervous, or upset. If a sore subject comes up I usually avoid contact in fear that I will cry or become more upset. That may be one reason for avoiding eye contact. Also, social issues may be a problem. It may feel awkward for someone to keep eye contact with a person for a long time. I think that having eye contact helps a person understand and interpret the speaker in many different ways. Eye- contact shows emotion such as fear, anxiousness, or confidence. It is important to see how the speaker is connecting physically and emotionally. This may explain as to why lying is often signaled by averted eye- contact because it could show nervousness or not being confidant in your conversation.
ReplyDeleteI feel that individuals who avoid eye contact during a conversation lacks certain social skills and may be a little insecure. Depending on the situation I feel sometimes it can be used as a rude gesture, but most times its not. I feel that when people who do not make eye contact during a conversation can also come off as unprofessional. I feel this affects the persons ability to understand or interpret the speaker because usually when you speak to someone they use facial expressions to show what they are saying and to sometimes show a different side. I feel that if I was not looking at someone while they were talking, I would not be able to tell if they were using sarcasm or not. I feel it really all depends on the situation. Yes I feel this could explain how lying is often signaled because by not using eye-contact it is easier to say something without being truthful and it is harder to see if you are nervous or not. Some people when lying crack a smile or smirk on their face and some stay completely serious or totally themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that avoiding eye contact in a conversation comes mostly from your confidence and self assurance. Generally when I am speaking to someone that does not make eye contact with me, I almost feel as if they are not investing themselves into the conversation as much. Eye contact and facial expressions play a huge part in social interaction. If a person does not make eye contact it makes it harder for them to understand the message that the other person may be trying to say. I think eye contact plays a huge part in lying because usually when a person is lying they are obviously not sure of themselves. Also if a person is feeling vulnerable they may realize that other people can pick up on that and by not keeping eye contact they can try to hide the uncertainty that they may be feeling.
ReplyDeleteI believe people who avoid eye contact during a conversation do so because they either, do not care about your emotions, don't want to react to your emotions, or do not want the other person to see their real emotions. For example, people who talk to someone they do not know too well about an experience in their life that had great meaning to themselves may not make eye contact with the person they are conversing with because they do not want that person to know the way they feel about that event. On the other hand, the person listening to the story may not care about the other person and try to avoid eye contact with them because they feel awkward about knowing so much about this person. In the same way, a person who is talking to someone who is crying may revert their eyes because they do not want to react to the other person's feelings by also crying. Therefore, I believe people who do not make eye-contact with each other during conversations are not able to understand the speaker on a deep level. They are only able to understand the gist of the conversation. This all could explain why lying is often signaled by lack of eye-contact because people are not going to want to show their emotions to the person they are lying to and do not want to see the face of the person they are hurting.
ReplyDeleteIndividuals who avoid making eye contact during a conversation either are very insecure about how they present themselves or feel very uncomfortable talking about a certain topic. For an example, when someone is breaking up with their boyfriend or girlfriend, they may have a hard time looking their ex in the eye. They feel very uncomfortable breaking this emotional news to their boyfriend or girlfriend. On the other hand, the one getting broken up with may also have a hard time looking their ex in the eyes. Their self esteem is really low and feel very insecure about themselves due to this news. In my opinion, people who avoid eye contact also don't truly care about what you are speaking about. Therefore, those individuals lack the ability to truly understand and incorporate their own ideas in a conversation. In most cases that involve lying, a person who is lying to another will have a hard time looking at this individual in the eye. Avoiding eye contact is a obvious sign that you are being lied to. When someone is lying, they feel that they have an easier time not looking into another individuals eye's because then they don't have to face that they are either getting someone's hopes up for no reason or hurting someone for the sake of another or themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think people who avoid eye contact during a conversation aren't very interested in the conversation or are nervous. This effects their ability to understand the speaker because if their not interested in the conversation then they wont pay attention and could miss something important that the speaker was saying. My mom always knows when I'm lying because i avoid eye contact because I think she will notice that I'm lying. People say to always look someone in the eye when your having a conversation because its rude.
ReplyDeleteCould this explain how lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact?
I think people who avoid eye contact during a conversation aren't very interested in the conversation or are nervous. This effects their ability to understand the speaker because if their not interested in the conversation then they wont pay attention and could miss something important that the speaker was saying. My mom always knows when I'm lying because i avoid eye contact because I think she will notice that I'm lying. People say to always look someone in the eye when your having a conversation because its rude.
ReplyDeleteCould this explain how lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact?
When I am talking to someone and they avoid eye contact, I think that they are not paying much attention to what I am saying. In a way, it makes me a little uncomfortable, and I think it's a bit rude. I believe that without making eye contact, it is hard to understand what the other person is saying, and by being distracted by their surroundings they could miss something important in the conversation. Looking someone in the eyes when you speak to them is sincere and lets the person know that you are engaged in what they are saying. I think that this perfectly explains how lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact- if the person is not sincere, it is harder to look them in the eye.
ReplyDeleteI work with autistic children so I understand that not everybody socializes the same. So when somebody does not look me in the eyes, I don't think anything is wrong. I just think that maybe that person has an issue. Now a couple years ago, when I was less educated with people who have mental disabilities, I would probably think the person is a little sketchy or that they have something to hide. I also think that they aren't paying attention or don't want to be talking to me. I don't think that lying should be determined by eye contact because, like I said, people are socially different.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes individuals avoid eye contact with a person during conversation is sometimes because they are uncomfortable or shy. Also, sometimes a person doesn’t know where the appropriate place to look at a person is when they are talking face to face. This must really affect their ability to understand or interpret the speaker during a conversation. Face expressions and body gestures are what you use to interpret the speaker’s emotions. If one is all over the place with their eyes they’re not able to focus on or absorb themselves in the conversation, they may seem distant or in their own world. I definitely believe that lying is often signaled by averted eye-contact because in the moment the person feels uncomfortable. When a person has to lie to someone’s face they want to get it over as quick as possible so they try not to make a big deal out of the conversation.
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