Look them in the eye - but which one?

[Bamboo]

When you look at someone in the eye, you can really only look into one of their eyes at a time (or it's very difficult to look into both at once).

My right eye is dominant. I usually look straight across, my right eye into their left. Sometimes I'll glance over into their left.

EDIT: Eye dominance test.

So how do you look someone in the eye?

Do you look across, or over, or both? Which one first?

 

[Moiety]

How can I tell whether I'm right eye or left eye dominant?

 

[nanook]

my left eye is physically "stronger" (i am farsighted), but i still believe that i look from my right "over into" my opponent's right eye more frequently. (but no one is around to test this, besides photos)

my understanding is, that a diagonal view (ie to the left) resonates with the opposite brain hemisphere (ie the right), so in this case i would focus "on/from" my right hemisphere. according to the test with the animated dancing lady (*.gif) i am always right brained.

 

[Lady_X]

so...weird. i thought i looked in both but apparently i look in my left...their right i guess.

edit...so that makes me right eye dominant ??...it's across and to the left.

edit...oh but it's their right...so green i guess.

 

[thisGuy]

ive actually thought about this...usually when im talking to someone and the conversation is about baby's diapers and talcum powder...then i start wondering what exactly am i looking at...

consciously, i look at the top part of their face...if i look into one eye, i feel weird that they will feel weird...so i keep doing it...jk, i stop if i feel that they feel weird. sub-consciously tho, no clue where im looking

that said, if the person is interesting enough for us to unravel the mysteries of each other's eyes, im usually not thinking of which eye to focus on

 

[Bamboo]

I should have posted this first.

Eye dom. test.

 

[Bamboo]

so...weird. i thought i looked in both but apparently i look in my left...their right i guess.

edit...so that makes me right eye dominant ??...it's across and to the left.

edit...oh but it's their right...so green i guess.

Figure out your eye dominance first. It sounds like you are right eyed, and look across.

"Green."
I knew using different colors in that graphic would be useful...

 

[beyondaurora]

I thought this topic was familiar:

http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/other-psychology-topics/11689-into-eye-do-you-look-then.html

I seem to cross over to the left, then switch back and forth from there.

 

[Bamboo]

I thought this topic was familiar:

http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/other-psychology-topics/11689-into-eye-do-you-look-then.html

I seem to cross over to the left, then switch back and forth from there.

Dammit.

I never would have guessed it's already been done. Ha, oh well.

 

[Lady_X]

ive actually thought about this...usually when im talking to someone and the conversation is about baby's diapers and talcum powder...then i start wondering what exactly am i looking at...

consciously, i look at the top part of their face...if i look into one eye, i feel weird that they will feel weird...so i keep doing it...jk, i stop if i feel that they feel weird. sub-consciously tho, no clue where im looking

that said, if the person is interesting enough for us to unravel the mysteries of each other's eyes, im usually not thinking of which eye to focus on

this is hilarious.

 

[nanook]

when i was a child, i was right eye dominant and my left eye squinted. they put a pirate sticker on my right eye, so i took over the left eye, it stopped squinting and it became stronger in terms of dioptries. (i had glasses as well)

when they removed the sticker, i continued to use the stronger left eye for practical means. i wonder if this has messed me up. you know, how left handed people claim to be messed up through being forced to live right handed.

 

[The Outsider]

It seems I am left eye dominant.

When interacting with people, I usually look into their left (my right) at first, then possibly shift between the eyes.

A lot of times I seem to forget to look in the eyes though. I look all over the face or somewhere else, then I quickly look back at the eyes when I remember. I hate it when the other person looks me back into the eyes for too long, makes me feel really weird.
Generally, when speaking I initiate more eye contact, when listening, I start looking elsewhere.

If it's a girl I like, I don't mind holding the eye contact though.

 

[RiderOnTheStorm]

This is so odd for me. I can honestly say that I have never thought about this before. I hope I won't be too distracted by paying attention to this something new the next time I talk to someone face to face. =P

Edit: Oh, right to left, I guess, so it says. I'll see about that.

 

[garbage]

My right to their left, apparently.

 

[Venom]

my left (their right)

i wonder if this correlates to something else?

 

[01011010]

my left (their right)

Same

 

[Athenian200]

I'm apparently right-eyed.

I usually don't look people in the eye unless I'm around one of those annoying people that suspect you're autistic or something if you don't (because eye contact always makes me feel uncomfortably vulnerable), and then I become very self-conscious about eye contact around them, making sure to do it to their satisfaction. When I do look people in the eye, though, I actually tend to focus in-between their eyes in an attempt to look into both at once. It usually seems to work well enough to be seen as looking them in the eyes.

 

[Blackmail!]

my left (their right)

i wonder if this correlates to something else?

Yes. If you're right-handed, then your left eye should be dominant.

And if you're left-handed, then it should be your right one.

It has to do with brain dominance

And if you're in between (partial ambidextry = cross-dominance), like me, well, those tests are puzzling, because even if my left eye is slightly dominant, I can switch it easily with my right one "in just a blink of an eye". The same reflex applies with telescopes, cameras, and my plant foot. I can use either one or the other, it's confusing. It means I'm equally clumsy with both sides of my body.

So when I look at the face of people, I endlessly switch from their left eye to their right one, from the right to the left, and so on.

 

[PureWhispers]

Left eye dominant, but right handed. I'm sort of a strange case in general when it comes to left/right dominance, because aside from being right-handed, almost everything else indicates the opposite dominance. It's almost like my body is ambidextrous, but my hands aren't.

 

[Blackmail!]

Left eye dominant, but right handed.

You're perfectly normal. The cranial nerves are inverted compared to the ones which command the rest of the body. Thus if you are right-handed, it means that the left hemisphere of your brain is dominant.