Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Part 12 - The Gaze

Gazing into the eyes of another person conveys meaning.  However, the male and female brains process, transmit and decode messages differently.  Within groups of males, gazing can sometimes be misconstrued as staring which might then degrade to an assertion of dominance. Then other behaviors are generated as these males try to 'settle things' a.k.a. a fight takes place. 

With females, gazes and glances convey much richer meaning and entire 'conversations' may happen without a single spoken word having to be uttered. Males seem less capable of communicating this way, by comparison.

Let me provide an example. A woman enters a room with a mix of men and women. The women in the room all look at her from top to bottom, then assess her and through a series of glances, nods and eye movements, discuss this women and come to some common agreement.  The men will also look at her from top to bottom but will then get vocal with each other, possibly as they size up their individual chances of engaging the women.

Gazes are viewed as deliberate acts that convey meaning so 'stray gazes' affect people.  Clarification is often sought, when women look at other women 'accidentally' and confrontation results when men look at other men, 'accidentally'.

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