How To Improve Your Eye Contact And Confidence

Women and Eye Contact

Strong eye contact is an important part of human connection. When you communicate with someone and keep eye contact, you assert yourself in the conversation and set yourself up for a genuine relationship. Regardless of whether you're speaking to a colleague, a family member, a friend, or a romantic partner, knowing how to use your eyes effectively can increase the value of what you say.

Personality Traits Associated with Strong Eye Contact

Those with strong eye contact are some of the most admirable people in society. Dominant individuals with a high status consistently make more eye contact than those with a lower status. This is because they are confident in who they are. Similarly, strong eye contact can signal a more capable personality. Therapists, for example, are more effective, according to their patients, when they make eye contact.

Studies show that people are more likely to believe someone who keeps eye contact during conversation. If you want others to perceive you as honest, then eye contact is essential. People also believe those who make eye contact are more animated and therefore more friendly. Friendly and honest people are, by default, more likeable.

What Our Eye Motions Mean

While strong eye contact can be associated with someone's personality, there are subconscious eye motions we make that signal less obvious sentiments.
For example, our pupils dilate when we're interested in conversation. Most people blink around twenty times per minute, but if you blink more than average, it's a sign of physical attraction. Glancing to the left means you're trying to remember something, and glancing to the right signifies that the creative side of your brain is working.

How Men and Women Communicate Non-Verbally

Men and women have different communication forms, both verbal and non-verbal. Non-verbal communication can be hard to interpret if you don't know what signs to look for.

Men use fewer facial expressions and less eye contact than women. Women use their faces to create an emotional connection with men. Women prefer side-to-side conversations because proximity establishes intimacy, while men prefer face-to-face conversations. Instead of using their facial expressions, men tend to use hand gestures to signal their emotional response to a situation.

How to Improve Your Eye Contact

If you want to improve your eye contact and, as a result, improve your confidence, you can do so with some helpful tips under your belt. Many individuals are afraid of eye contact because they fear eye contact rejection. You should never fear rejection when looking into another person's eyes. Be strong with your eye contact, but don't stare too hard. Try glancing away every five seconds to break up your gaze.

When making eye contact, always respect the individual's personal space. You should break your gaze to the center and not down. Looking down during a conversation can signal a lack of confidence. When conversing with someone, focus on one eye at a time and make equal eye contact when listening and speaking. You can practice on friends and family to feel confident in your skills.

Eye Contact in the Field

There are many ways to apply your eye contact skills in real-life situations. If you're in the office, you can make eye contact with your coworkers or manager during a meeting and break eye contact to the side every few seconds. As a result, you'll leave a positive impression on your colleagues and show them how friendly and confident you are.

When giving a speech on stage, you can sweep your eyes across the crowd and then focus in and make eye contact with a few individuals. When the audience sees you connect with the crowd in this way, they'll be more receptive to your message.
If you want to connect with strangers on the street, meet their eyes quickly and briefly nod when passing. They'll know you are friendly, yet unintimidated by their presence.

Knowing how to use eye contact in various situations can change the way people perceive you. Whether you want to be more confident at work, more connected with a loved one, or more friendly in a crowd, your eyes have the power to change your message. Try keeping your nonverbal interactions and facial expressions at the forefront of your mind moving forward and watch how quickly your relationships transform.

This is a guest post contributed by Heidi Thiel from Siege Media.