Make eye contact. Have you ever heard that advice before? It usually tops the list of things to do when interviewing for a new job or meeting a new client. Most people do not want to conduct business with someone who cannot make eye contact with them. If you’re going to build your career and make connections, confidence is vital.

Breaking Eye Contact

As essential as making eye contact is, breaking eye contact is just as important. New research suggests that you best not stare too long into a hiring manager’s eyes. The investigators examined why repeated instances of eye contact are frequent during conversations. The research team gathered a group of students and separated them into conversational pairs. The students then talked about anything for 10 minutes. During the conversation, the students sat across from each other and wore eye-tracking glasses. The researchers asked each student how engaged they were during the conversation. The results indicate that eye contact occurs when people are on the same page during a conversation. These moments are known as “shared attention.”

Shared Attention

Both sets of pupils dilate in unison during shared attention. Shared attention is a moment, and if eye contact is maintained any longer than that, shared attention declines until eye contact breaks. Next, the process of building shared attention begins again. Eye contact indicates that shared attention is great, and both participants synchronize. As eye contact continues, the synchrony decreases. Engaging conversations require one to be on the same page and, at other times, say something new.

Research findings differ from the belief that eye contact promotes greater conversation engagement. Eye contact does not create synchrony. Eye contact occurs after we are already on the same page with whom we are speaking and holding the gaze will ruin the flow of the conversation. The breaking of eye contact provides the chance to refresh the talk. It helps to disrupt the conversation to introduce a new idea or thought.

Don’t Overthink It

According to the results, eye contact occurs in unison with greater engagement and increased pupillary synchrony. However, the synchrony declines upon contact and will only recover once eye contact breaks. The moments of eye contact signal a shared understanding and the need to contribute our independent voices. Don’t overthink it. Just do your best to engage in conversation; eye contact will likely happen on its own. Just don’t forget to break eye contact after a few moments.

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