TY  - JOUR
A1  - Landmann, Eva
A1  - Breil, Christina
A1  - Huestegge, Lynn
A1  - Böckler, Anne
T1  - The semantics of gaze in person perception: a novel qualitative-quantitative approach
T2  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Interpreting gaze behavior is essential in evaluating interaction partners, yet the ‘semantics of gaze’ in dynamic interactions are still poorly understood. We aimed to comprehensively investigate effects of gaze behavior patterns in different conversation contexts, using a two-step, qualitative-quantitative procedure. Participants watched video clips of single persons listening to autobiographic narrations by another (invisible) person. The listener’s gaze behavior was manipulated in terms of gaze direction, frequency and direction of gaze shifts, and blink frequency; emotional context was manipulated through the valence of the narration (neutral/negative). In Experiment 1 (qualitative-exploratory), participants freely described which states and traits they attributed to the listener in each condition, allowing us to identify relevant aspects of person perception and to construct distinct rating scales that were implemented in Experiment 2 (quantitative-confirmatory). Results revealed systematic and differential meanings ascribed to the listener’s gaze behavior. For example, rapid blinking and fast gaze shifts were rated more negatively (e.g., restless and unnatural) than slower gaze behavior; downward gaze was evaluated more favorably (e.g., empathetic) than other gaze aversion types, especially in the emotionally negative context. Overall, our study contributes to a more systematic understanding of flexible gaze semantics in social interaction.
KW  - human behaviour
KW  - psychology
KW  - semantics of gaze
KW  - person perception
KW  - face perception
Y1  - 2024
UR  - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/opus4-wuerzburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/36141
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-361413
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 14
IS  - 1
ER  -