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By Root 660 0

thought the gestures might have been isolated or out of context. On reviewing the videotape, we asked him about the hand-to-mouth gesture and he said that when he was asked the question, he thought he could have responded in two ways: one negative, one positive. As he thought about the negative answer and of how the interviewer might react to it, he covered his mouth. When he thought of the positive answer, however, his hand dropped away from his mouth and he resumed an open posture. His uncertainty about the interviewer's possible reaction to the negative reply had resulted in the sudden Mouth Cover.

This illustrates how easy it can be to misinterpret a hand-to-face gesture and to jump to wrong conclusions.

Chapter 8

EYE SIGNALS

Some men have the ability to see

through solid surfaces

Throughout history, we've been preoccupied with the eyes and their effect on human behavior. Eye contact regulates conversation, gives cues of dominance, “He looked down his nose at me,” or forms the basis for suspecting a liar, “Look me in the eye when you say that!” We spend much of our face-to-face time looking at the other person's face, so eye signals are a vital part of being able to read a person's attitude and thoughts. When people meet for the first time they make a series of quick judgments about each other, based largely on what they see.

We use phrases such as “She looked daggers at him,” “He had that gleam in his eye,” “She has big baby eyes,” “He has shifty eyes,” “She has inviting eyes,” “She gave him a look to kill,” “She gave an icy stare,” or “He gave me the evil eye.” We also say a person has Bette Davis eyes, Spanish eyes, bedroom eyes, hard, angry, blank, private, sad, happy, defiant, cold, jealous, unforgiving, and piercing eyes. When we use these phrases we are unwittingly referring to the size of the person's pupils and to his gaze behavior. The eyes can be the most revealing and accurate of all human communication signals because they are a focal point on the body and the pupils work independently of conscious control.

The Dilating Pupils

In given light conditions, your pupils will dilate or contract as your attitude and mood change from positive to negative and vice versa. When someone becomes excited, their pupils can dilate to up to four times their original size. Conversely, an angry, negative mood causes the pupils to contract to what are commonly known as “beady little eyes” or “snake eyes.” Lighter eyes can look more attractive because it's easier to see the dilation taking place.

“Beady” eyes

“Bedroom” eyes

Eckhard Hess, the former head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago and pioneer of the studies of pupillometry found that pupil size is affected by one's general state of arousal. In general, pupil size increases when people view something that stimulates them. Hess found that the pupils of both heterosexual men and women dilate when viewing pinups of the opposite sex and constrict when viewing same-sex pinups. Similar findings have also been obtained when people were asked to look at pleasant or unpleasant pictures including foods, political figures, a disabled child, war scenes, or when listening to music. Hess also found that increases in pupil size are positively correlated with mental activity associated with problem solving, reaching maximum dilation as a person arrives at the solution.

We applied this research to the business world and demonstrated how people rate models in photographs as more attractive if the photo has been altered to make the pupil area larger. This was an effective way to increase the sales of any product that used a close-up of the face, such as women's cosmetics, hair products, and clothing. Using brochures in a direct-mail campaign, we were able to help increase the direct catalog sales of Revlon lipsticks by 45 percent by enlarging the pupil size of the models in the photographs.

Which picture do you find more attractive?

The eyes are a key signal in courtship and the purpose of eye makeup is to emphasize