Effects of Duration of Eye Contact on Judgments of Personality Characteristics

American male (n = 60) and female (n = 60) college undergraduates were randomly assigned to 12 same-sex groups of 10 subjects each. The groups individually viewed one of six 60-s videotapes. The male or female model in the tape maintained eye contact with an alleged interviewer for a total of 5 s, 30 s, or 50 s. Thus, the design factorially combined gender of subject, gender of model, and duration of eye contact, with all comparisons between subjects. After viewing the tape, subjects rated the model on a series of bipolar adjectives designed to assess the perceived potency (e.g., strength, aggression, and leadership) of the model. The results consistently showed that as eye contact increased, the models were perceived as more potent. In addition, the models were judged to have higher grade point averages (GPAs) as their eye contact increased. The effects of gender (of both model and subject) were mostly nonsignificant, following no systematic pattern.