Eyes and eye contact

14 cards in this category — of which 13 complete, 1 drafts.

• Direct Eye Contact in JapanIn the West, direct eye contact signals attentiveness and honesty. In Japan, South Korea, and China, sustained gaze toward a superior is perceived as disrespectful or aggressive.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Intense Eye Contact in Arab CulturesIn Arab cultures, direct and sustained eye contact between interlocutors signals sincerity, respect, and engagement. A Westerner who avoids gaze may be perceived as dishonest or uninterested.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Lowered gaze in mixed company (practicing Islam)A Muslim man who lowers his gaze before a foreign woman is respecting a religious norm. She may see it as contempt. Two readings of the same lowered gaze: purity vs. contempt.
  CompleteCuriosity
• The Eye Roll: Contempt or CondescensionRolling the eyes upward expresses contempt, exasperation, or condescension in Western cultures. This gesture, absent or poorly codified in several East Asian cultures, can be interpreted as intentional insubordination by unfamiliar interlocutors.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Making eye contact in the street (USA / Southern Europe)Staring at a stranger in the street: in New York, it reads as a challenge; in Southern Europe, a sustained gaze is better tolerated. The same gaze, two rules - Anglo-American "civil inattention" versus greater tolerance in the south.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Staring at a stranger's baby (Scandinavia vs. Latin America)Admiring a stranger's baby - smiling at it, touching it - is warm and expected in Latin America (simpatía, the evil eye), but can seem intrusive in Scandinavia, where reserve equals respect for privacy. Not to be caricatured as "warm versus cold".
  CompleteCuriosity
• Pointing with the eyes (Malay/Indonesian)Malays and Indonesians point with their eyes. Finger outstretched = vulgar. Stranger sees nothing. Two codes, two worlds.
  CompleteCuriosity
• Close your eyes and listen (USA vs. non-Western cultures)Japanese executive closes his eyes in a meeting: concentration or hierarchical restraint. Westerners see sleep.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Averting Gaze Before an Elder (West Africa)Nigerian youth looks down before his father: respect. Same young man in the USA: suspicious. Silent gaze means two opposite things depending on culture.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Gaze Aversion (Native North American Peoples)A young Navajo lowers his eyes before an elder: deep respect. Same gesture before an American judge: suspicion of guilt. One gesture, two opposite readings.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Lowering the Gaze Before Elders (Korea)A young Korean lowers their eyes before their mother: filial respect. Same gesture before an American superior: suspicion of guilt. One gesture, two opposite readings.
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Read the Indonesian smile (joy vs discomfort)Indonesian employee smiles: does she accept? Is she happy? Uncomfortable? The smile hides as much as it reveals.
  CompleteCuriosity
• Lowering the eyes before authority (respeto, Latin America)Before a figure of authority, lowering the eyes is a mark of respect (respeto) in Latin America and among US Latinos - but the English-speaking observer, who expects a direct gaze, reads it as evasiveness or dishonesty. (Not to be confused: Spain, for its part, is a high-eye-contact culture.)
  CompleteMisunderstanding
• Le clin d'œil de séduction (Asie de l'Est)Un clin d'œil dans un bureau tokyoïte : inconvenance certifiée.
  DraftMisunderstanding