Look Up! Your Eyes Mesmerize

We hope this week’s Communication Capsule gives you a boost. Your feedback on our Forum is welcomed and valued.

Here’s looking at you!  When someone makes eye contact, they are perceived as more connected, as well as more trustworthy and likeable. We’ve long discussed the value of eye contact, and now it turns out that this basic mode of communication is so powerful it even has an impact on our relationship with “brand mascots.”

In a study published last month in the journal Environment and Behavior, researchers at Cornell manipulated the gaze of the cartoon rabbit on Trix cereal boxes and found that adults were more likely to choose Trix over competing brands if the rabbit was looking at them rather than away. Researchers also found that the eyes of characters on boxes of cereal marketed to kids were directed downward—to meet the upturned gaze of little tykes in grocery aisles.

If marketers know how to invoke the power of eye contact, we should all be conscious of its impact.  Eye contact activates the parts of the brain that help us to more acutely and accurately process another person’s feelings and intentions. It gives us, as The New York Times put it, “a cognitive jump start.”

So, look up from those mobile devices and connect! You will not only be perceived as more aware and empathic—you actually will be.

Please share your experience: When you consciously make an effort to increase eye contact, what do you notice about the outcome?  Join the conversation and click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum.