Dr. Frank McAndrew

And that leads us to jump to the conclusion that they must have other ones as well.

Whereas if a person isn't advertising any good quality that's visible, we're inclined to think, well, they got one bad thing going on.

I wouldn't be surprised if they've got more going on as well.

So we're already biased in favor of or against people based on their appearance.

And so now the good looking person can eventually convince you that they're creepy, but it's going to take more work.

Whereas the other person, you're going to say, okay, a lot quicker.

Yeah.

And this is something that's very culture-specific.

There are some cultures that are much more intimate in the way people interact with each other, a lot more eye contact, closer interaction distances, more touching.

And then there are others that are much more standoffish.

The thing about eye contact, and this is true for primates as well, baboons and chimps and so on,

Direct eye contact, first of all, is very arousing.

Your heart rate increases, adrenaline starts moving through your system because eye contact from another person is a strong social signal of intention.

Now, the intention can be

positive, as in romantic attraction and I love you, and it can be threatening in terms of violence.

If you look at two boxers before a boxing match, the stare down, right?

They're looking at each other right in the eye, nose to nose.

A baseball umpire and a manager having a fight, they're right in each other's faces.

Think of eye contact as turning up the volume on whatever's going on in the interaction.

If it's a pleasant interaction, eye contact makes it more pleasant.