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Eye-Contact and Depression: A Preliminary Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Mary K. Hinchliffe ,
Meredith H. Lancashire  and
F. J. Roberts
Mary K. Hinchliffe
Affiliation:
University of Bristol Department of Mental Health, 21 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ
Meredith H. Lancashire
Affiliation:
University of Bristol Department of Mental Health, 21 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ
F. J. Roberts
Affiliation:
University of Bristol Department of Mental Health, 21 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ
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Extract

Riemer (1955) has argued that gaze is an ‘expression of affect’ between individuals. Kendon (1967) writes that the direction of gaze has a regulatory and expressive function, and ‘fluctuations in the amount of eye-contact during the course of one conversation showed that it was inversely related to the amount of emotionality displayed by the participants'. Also that it has a regulatory function which governs the pattern of social interaction. Argyle and Dean (1965) made similar observations in their concept of intimacy. They postulate that there is an Intimacy Equilibrium; Intimacy is a function of eye-contact, physical proximity, intimacy of topic, amount of smiling etc. They have shown that an alteration in one variable produces a change in the others until an equilibrium is reached. Exline et al. (1965, 1966, 1967) have described other aspects of eye-contact in relation to sex, dependency, social reinforcement, affiliative needs and affective relations. These findings support those of Kendon and Argyle.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 117 , Issue 540 , November 1970 , pp. 571 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1970 

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References

Argyle, M., and Dean, J. (1965). ‘Eye contact, distance and affiliation.’ Sociometry, 28, 289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Exline, R., Gray, D., and Schuette, D. (1965). ‘Visual behaviour in a dyad. as affected by interview content and sex of respondent.’ J. Personality Soc. Psychol., 1, No. 3, 201–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Kendon, A. (1967). ‘Some functions of gaze direction in social interaction.’ Acta psychologica, 26, 22–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riemer, M. D. (1955). ‘Abnormalities of the gaze. A classification.’ Psychiat. Quart., 26, 659–72.Google Scholar
Zung, F. (1965). ‘Self-rating depression scale in an outpatient clinic.’ Arch. gen. Psychiat., 13, 508–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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