Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 277-287 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Visual cognition |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | Published - 29 Mar 2021 |
Abstract
Eye gaze is a fundamental element of social interaction. We investigated the role of gaze direction during video conversations between friends, colleagues or strangers. Participants watched short video cuts of a target person engaging in direct gaze, averted gaze or a mixture of both (gaze direction) while listening to another, invisible, person recounting a neutral or negative autobiographical episode (emotional context). Subsequently, participants rated the target person on empathy, perspective taking and trustworthiness and indicated how close they perceived the relationship between conversation partners. We found that participants rated the target person and the interaction less favourable when the target’s gaze was averted. Critically, these effects of gaze direction were modulated by emotional context: When narrations were negative, (partly) averted gaze had a less negative impact on participants evaluations. Hence, gaze direction is not perceived and interpreted in isolation, but in context.
Keywords
- communication, direct gaze, empathy, gaze behaviour, Social interaction, video conversations
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Neuroscience(all)
- Cognitive Neuroscience
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In: Visual cognition, Vol. 29, No. 5, 29.03.2021, p. 277-287.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Look away to listen
T2 - the interplay of emotional context and eye contact in video conversations
AU - Breil, Christina
AU - Böckler, Anne
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the German Research Foundation under Grant number BO 4962/1-1. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback that helped us to strengthen our manuscript.
PY - 2021/3/29
Y1 - 2021/3/29
N2 - Eye gaze is a fundamental element of social interaction. We investigated the role of gaze direction during video conversations between friends, colleagues or strangers. Participants watched short video cuts of a target person engaging in direct gaze, averted gaze or a mixture of both (gaze direction) while listening to another, invisible, person recounting a neutral or negative autobiographical episode (emotional context). Subsequently, participants rated the target person on empathy, perspective taking and trustworthiness and indicated how close they perceived the relationship between conversation partners. We found that participants rated the target person and the interaction less favourable when the target’s gaze was averted. Critically, these effects of gaze direction were modulated by emotional context: When narrations were negative, (partly) averted gaze had a less negative impact on participants evaluations. Hence, gaze direction is not perceived and interpreted in isolation, but in context.
AB - Eye gaze is a fundamental element of social interaction. We investigated the role of gaze direction during video conversations between friends, colleagues or strangers. Participants watched short video cuts of a target person engaging in direct gaze, averted gaze or a mixture of both (gaze direction) while listening to another, invisible, person recounting a neutral or negative autobiographical episode (emotional context). Subsequently, participants rated the target person on empathy, perspective taking and trustworthiness and indicated how close they perceived the relationship between conversation partners. We found that participants rated the target person and the interaction less favourable when the target’s gaze was averted. Critically, these effects of gaze direction were modulated by emotional context: When narrations were negative, (partly) averted gaze had a less negative impact on participants evaluations. Hence, gaze direction is not perceived and interpreted in isolation, but in context.
KW - communication
KW - direct gaze
KW - empathy
KW - gaze behaviour
KW - Social interaction
KW - video conversations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103417026&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13506285.2021.1908470
DO - 10.1080/13506285.2021.1908470
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103417026
VL - 29
SP - 277
EP - 287
JO - Visual cognition
JF - Visual cognition
SN - 1350-6285
IS - 5
ER -