HUL 190 Presentation By:PRIYANSHU RAJ

Role of eyes in communication.

It has been said that eyes are the windows to the soul. In nonverbal behaviour, the eyes play a significant role in communication. They usually convey internal feelings and accentuate other body movements. Out of all the other facial structures, the eyes have the ability to do the most. For example, one can glance, stare, peek, blink, peer, gaze, roll, wink, raise and lower (eyebrows). Most importantly, eyes have the ability to convey ones true characteristics, attitudes, and feelings about people than verbal behaviour. Ironically, while gazing may show strong emotions, it rarely lasts over three seconds before the person feels uncomfortable and breaks away.

Role of eyes in communication(contd.) There are many people who use facial expression and especially eye movements to infer information about a persons thinking, honesty, and reaction. The interrogation method of the police, for example, depends heavily on where a persons eyes shift during a question. See The Negotiator clip. Even an FBI agent, Joe Navarro, states, 'What gives police officers a way in a roomful of people is their habit of look too intently and too carefully at others.

Importance of efficient and wise use of eyes in communication

In today's society, the eyes are usually the first thing others notice. Therefore, making good eye contact with the person you are speaking to is extremely important. We can express different types of feelings/expressions in different situations just by various movements of eyes. For example, we can show respect, anger, happiness, sadness and a lot more just by eyes. So lets explore the beautiful world of eyes.

LOOK AWAY

When the listener looks away, they are most likely to be confused or in disagreement with the speaker. If the listener is in agreement, they will look at the speaker and occasionally nod their head.
A study performed in 1965 showed that when an interview asked normal, non-embarrassing questions, students looked directly back at them. However, when more personal questions were asked, they usually away when answering.

LOOK INTO

There is no substitute for looking a witness in the eye." --Kenneth Starr

Culturally, eye contact is view as a indicator of self confidence. In the business world, for example, a firm handshake and solid eye contact will give the other person a good impression. This is not necessarily so in other countries such as Japan and Korea. To them, direct eye contact means weakness or sexual overtones (Olson). They try to focus on the speakers neck in order to avoid the eyes.

Directly looking into eyes of your loved ones shows your love and care for them.

GAZE DOWN A common gesture of the eyes is the gaze-down. It involves the head bowing forward and the eyes rotating downward. Our society usually considers this reflecting a defeated, guilty, or submissive attitude.
According to David Givens research on former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, "Clinton swallowed, protruded his tongue and gazed down during his statement" (Givens). When he left the podium, "he gazed down, clenched his lips and swallowed again". After these events in January 1998, Clinton apologized to the American public in September of that year. During the televised apology, Clinton shrugged his shoulders and gazed down yet again as he said, "I've done my best to be your friend" (Washington Post, September 10, 1998).

CLEM

Another common movement of the eye is the clem. This particular action involves the eyes moving involuntarily left and right. It may be a response to a person thinking, reflecting doubt, or processing information.
Clems apply not only to The Negotiator clip, but also to a study of Harnad (1972). He conducted an experiment of mathematicians during mental thought. When their eyes moved right it was associated with "symbolic thinking, while left movement was associated with visual thinking." Harnad discovered that when the eyes moved toward the left, it reflected more creative thinking.

Wink Wink is close and open of one eye (sometimes both) quickly, typically showing affection or greeting or to convey a message. --Oxford dictionary While winking both eyes can show confirmation or agreement, winking of one eye is mostly used in some funny moments like while joking or flirting.

Role of eyebrows
One can raise the eyebrows to display uncertainty, disbelief, or surprise. It can also function to accentuate a facial expression. For example, people raise their eyebrows while staring, smiling, or giving demands. On the other hand, the eyebrow raise can intensify a frown, scowl, displeasure, concentration or anger.

Blink rate matters..

Another way of telling someone's disposition is by how they blink their eyes. The blink rate of an individual is directly related to their psychological arousal (what the polygraph tests). A normal person blinks for maximum of 20 times per minute, each lasting a fourth of second. Someone under stress or nervous, on the other hand, will blink significantly higher. Many lawyers use eye movement and eye blinks in order to trap a person on the stand or get a lead for which questions to ask.
Other interesting statistics include: Someone on TV 31-50 blinks (2x faster) During the 1996 presidential elections: Bob Dole - 147 blinks in two minutes. Bill Clinton - 99 blinks in two minutes.

IMPORTANCE OF EYE CONTACT IN COMMUNICATION

IN BUSINESS
A well-liked business leader is the one who will walk into the board room and scan the room, making eye contact with each member of the board. They are the boss who will make eye contact and talk with you, not just talk to you while multitasking or (worse yet) staring out the window.

Eye contact lets you know that youre the focus of their attention, that youre important to them and they want you to know you are noticed.

IMPORTANCE OF EYE CONTACT IN COMMUNICATION(contd..) IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

Engaging public speakers use eye contact the same way. Theyre talking to their audience of thousands as if its a small gathering of friends. Theyre scanning the audience, making eye contact with the people they are trying to reach with their message. Can you imagine a stand-up comedian who didnt make eye contact with the audience? A pop singer who didnt reach down from the stage and touch the hands of screaming fans? If youre not engaging your audience, you wont be liked.

IMPORTANCE OF EYE CONTACT IN COMMUNICATION(contd..)

Flirting eye contact

The same is true for flirting if youre not engaging the person you like by making steady eye contact, then youre just another person.

Lock eyes and instantly they will know they matter to you in a big way. Flirting is one place where eye contact will make or break your game.
Eye contact packs a punch that cant be ignored. If youre trying to get someones attention, one glance an hour isnt going to cut it. Youll be pegged as creepy, and not interested. Making steady eye contact with someone while a bit scary if youre not used to doing it is the only way to register on their flirt-ometer.

IMPORTANCE OF EYE CONTACT IN COMMUNICATION(contd..)

Flirting eye contact (contd)

For starters, eye contact increases heartbeat. Is it a nervous thing? Perhaps at first. Oh my gosh, shes looking right at me. Do I look away? Do I keep looking? What does she want? Shes not looking away... You dont even need a great pickup line to make him/her melt. Just hold eye contact. No words necessary. Your eyes can say it all, so let them do the talking. You hold the eye contact and shell fill in the details. Draw her in by letting her know in no uncertain terms that she is important to you. She is your focus. Nobody else in the room matters.

The three different looks on a narrow path

Not only do we convey what our true feelings and modes of thinking are, Leonard Zunin, a writer suggests that we communicate mostly with our eyes with strangers. In Zunins book, The First Four Minutes, he describes the three most common behaviours when two strangers pass by: The "which side of the path" look, The "I acknowledge you" look and The "Look-away priority" look . When two people walk toward each other on a narrow path, they usually will make brief eye contact and then look at the path where they want to walk. Subconsciously, the other person will move to the opposite side of the path. The second look involves more acquainted people when they make eye contact and acknowledge each others presence. Finally, the last is when one looks at another to look away after eye contact has been made. Generally, anything longer than the look-away can be considered as a gesture of attraction or dominance (Zunin).

Listen to the eyes speak

Happy eyes

Listen to the eyes speak Sad eyes

Listen to the eyes speak

INNOCENT EYES

Listen to the eyes speak SHYNESS IN EYES

Listen to the eyes speak

ANGRY EYES

Listen to the eyes speak

ASTONISHED EYES

Some famous quotes on eyes

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye. ----Helen Keller Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards. ----Benjamin Franklin There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect. ----Anonymous My eyes are an ocean in which my dreams are reflected.... ---- Anna M. Uhlich. Look into my eyes and hear what I'm not saying, for my eyes speak louder than my voice ever will.... ----Anonymous.

CASE STUDY

A few years back this photograph won the First prize in Worlds Photography Contest. This photograph was taken by an American photographer during Americas attack on Afghanistan. This girl lost her parents and her home during the war. She was in some refugee camp when this photograph was taken. Her eyes shows a mixture of anger, hate, sadness and uncertainty for future.

At the end

Although maintaining eye contact is regarded essential during communication but over gazing someone is regarded as rude and disrespectable. So we should maintain a optimum eye contact while communicating with others. The role of eyes in communication is very important. Your eyes secretly convey your feelings while communicating. So be attentive to what your eyes speak. Unfortunately there are many people in this world for whom this entire presentation is useless. Yes, I am talking about blind people around us. They cant look into others eyes, but still their eyes can communicate to others about them.

References:Ruskin Bonds Eyes have it. Allen Pease's Body Language. Eye quotes :- www.thinkexist.com Wikipedia :- Search words- studies on eyes. Pictures Google images Some of the search words for images- angry eyes, sad
eyes , happy eyes, flirtatious eyes, wide eyes, green eyes, innocent eyes, look into eyes, etc.

Animations :- www.fullfreestuff.com , www.freeanimations.co.uk

Note :- Although the ideas presented in these slide apply generally to most of the situations, there may be some disagreement in some cases for certain person.