How Long Can You Make Eye Contact Before Shit Gets Weird?

you’re able to make up one’s mind a mickle by wait into a person ’s eye . For years , scientists have consider how eye contactbuilds trustand if it reveals whethersomeone is lying . Now , a Modern study published in the Royal Society Open Science today examines precisely how long we prefer to look someone in the eyes .

The tricky thing about manage eye contact in real world preferences is that it is n’t an exact skill . Each person has different preference and comfort levels . If middle middleman is too scant , it seduce you face untrustworthy . If you glare for too long , it makes you seem overly interested and kind of creepy . The approximate game is nearly unimaginable to solve without the help of advanced computers .

To direct the experimentation , the investigator ask a group of 498 masses to find out a picture of a person staring into the screen door . The test subjects were asked to press a button if the eye contact became uncomfortable at any point — either too short or too long . research worker tracked the motility of their optic and size of their pupils using eye - tracking technology . They find , on average , mass preferred to look someone in the eyes for3.3 secondment .

The researchers determined this by measuring how quickly a topic ’s pupils dilated . The longer a mortal wanted to stare someone in the middle , the quicker their pupils lucubrate .

This does n’t mean that you should bring a stop watch to your next particular date , but it should give you a better sense of what will really aid you connect with a someone : expect them in the eyes a couple of seconds at a time .

[ Royal Society Open ScienceviaScience ]

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.