What % of the time are you supposed to make eye contact?

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What percentage of the time are you supposed to make eye contact during a conversation?

Are you an indigenous aboriginal native person? Then you will likely make very limited eye contact. There's nothing at all unusual in this. It's cultural.

As for my personal Aspie eye contact percentage "guesstimates":

If you are intimate with and trust someone, you might expect to make eye contact about half the time.

If you don't know someone and don't feel comfortable with them, you may make very fleeting and peripheral eye contact (glances).

I suppose research exists regarding "eye contact percentages", but I believe this is a more individual and personal choice. Just because someone gets kudos for producing a load of scholarly research does not mean they are correct. For all the academic community knows, this person could be an Aspie or HFA person with great compensation strategies.

I've known Aspies who seem to stare holes into others. I've known Aspies who are very self-conscious regards making eye contact and rarely look into anyone else's eyes. I tend to fall into the latter category. When I'm at ease with someone, maybe I make eye contact 20 - 25% of the time. When I don't like someone, I make no eye contact with them at all. I make a great deal of eye contact with my cats.

I try to at least glance over when im speaking to someone or someone is speaking to me. it shows that you are listening apparently.

Copied from my reply in another thread. Context: I'm an Aspie's dad with some traits, but NT.

Because NTs use eye contact to judge the context/feeling of someone while they're talking, eye contact becomes uncomfortable when the two of you are not talking. eg if there's a long pause in the conversation and eye contact is maintained, NTs then try to derive meaning from that. Why is the other person still looking at me? Are they obsessed with me? Is there a zit on my nose? I imagine it's the same discomfort some aspies feel about all eye contact.

Another factor may be the look you give. When a cat's about to pounce its eyes have a totally focused, nothing else exists in the universe kind of look. That creeps NTs out, yet at the same time people want your attention (NTs make no sense!). So you need to look attentive, but not TOO attentive.

I find it's situational, and depends on your relationship with the person in question. I loathe eye contact, although I always flick a glance or two every so often just for "courtesies" sake.

I"ve noticed that I don't look at people's eyes -- I look at their noses or mouths. Could be why I'm such a freak about good teeth -- because I'm looking at them so much. Looking directly into people's eyes unnerves me. When I'm in a conversation with someone and they are doing the talking, I'll look at their face (see above. But when I'm talking -- unless it's with someone I'm VERY close to, like a best friend or partner -- I look away most of the time, with occasional glances to the other person when I'm making a point.

I stare at something near or behind the person's head the whole time, or I let myself space out while staring in their direction.

My report said my eye contact is normal. I just try to look people in the eye and break contact frequently.

I think my eye contact is normal, well at no one has said anything about it for years. Basically I continually glance at their eyes, although it's never felt natural for me and if I don't think about it I forget to give eye contact.

It's incredibly rare I make actual eye contact because it scares me a lot. So when I am talking to someone I look below their eyes. When I'm listening I normally blur my eyes because it's very hard to look and listen at the same time.

Here's the guidelines I follow:

Make eye contact 50-75% of the time when talking to someone.
Make slightly more eye contact if you know them well, and slightly less if you don't.
Don't make steady eye contact for more than 10 seconds(glance away briefly).
When not making eye contact, glance around casually, and try not to look too far away from the person you're talking to.

A fleeting glance is about all I can handle then my eyes dart away.

That's what I've been wanting to know. I don't want to look uninterested but I don't want it to look artificial, either.

I usely good at eye contact but I sometimes to make eye contact when I'm thinking

I usely good at eye contact but I sometimes to make eye contact when I'm thinking