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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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Exline, R., and Messick, D. (1967). ‘The effects of dependency and social reinforcement upon visual behaviour during an interview.’ Brit. J. soc. clin. Psychol., 6, 256–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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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