Eye Exchange a glance with someone, and then look away. (46) . Hold the glance for a second longer, and you have made a different statement. Hold for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every social situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a person’s gaze without being intimate, rude, or aggressive. If you are on an elevator, what gaze time are you permitted (47) . You very likely give other passengers a quick glance to size them up and to assure them that you mean no threat. Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to emit a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contact, what sociologist Erving Goffman (1963) calls "a dimming of the lights". (48) Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on an elevator, you will make the other person exceedingly uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself. If you hold eye contact for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person (49) For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They typically gaze at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second plus stare, he signals "I know you." "I am interested in you." Or " (50) "This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
A. To answer this question, consider what you typically do.
B. If one is looked at by a stranger for too long, he tends to feel curious.
C. You look down at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passenger’s eyes.