Look Me in the Eye
Where do Aspergians look when they don’t look you in the eye?
There’s a whole chapter about this in my book, in which I say – among other things - “I look at the ground, so I don’t get distracted.”
Since I wrote those words, several people have offered more insight into where we gaze while we are thinking about something, and why. Here is a hypothesis for your consideration:
Visual thinkers – those of us who think in pictures – gaze up, into the sky.
Musical thinkers, those who think in terms of sounds – gaze sideways
And people who think in logical sequences – reasoning thinkers – gaze down.
Many Aspergians are like me – very logical. Do we all gaze down as a result? Is there anything to the above hypothesis? It’s something to ponder. Can you learn how a person thinks from where their gaze wanders when they’re thinking?
Can you infer it from their words when they respond to you? “I see,” or “I hear you,” or “I think that means . . .”
I think there may indeed be something to this idea.
There’s a whole chapter about this in my book, in which I say – among other things - “I look at the ground, so I don’t get distracted.”
Since I wrote those words, several people have offered more insight into where we gaze while we are thinking about something, and why. Here is a hypothesis for your consideration:
Visual thinkers – those of us who think in pictures – gaze up, into the sky.
Musical thinkers, those who think in terms of sounds – gaze sideways
And people who think in logical sequences – reasoning thinkers – gaze down.
Many Aspergians are like me – very logical. Do we all gaze down as a result? Is there anything to the above hypothesis? It’s something to ponder. Can you learn how a person thinks from where their gaze wanders when they’re thinking?
Can you infer it from their words when they respond to you? “I see,” or “I hear you,” or “I think that means . . .”
I think there may indeed be something to this idea.
Comments
Not a good thing!
I have noticed that with strangers I tend to not look them in the eyes either, for things such as "excuse me" or "oops sorry" or "thank you" for an elevator or a door, etc.... With someone I know I can look them in the eyes but really, it's looking at their face with lots of little flutters to the left or right. I'm sure there are or could be VOLUMES on theories.
It's a fine line, teaching our kids what is socially acceptable vs. teaching them to advocate for themselves.
"I'm not trying to be rude, my brain processes differently so I hear you better if I don't look directly at you."
I hope I can get some insight into this because I think there may well be something there