Eye Contact
Mr. Hayes, the manager of a chain drugstore, prides himself on the way he runs his business. Customers seem happy to shop there, and he believes it is becasue of the esprit de corps he has created among the employees.
One day while helping Isabela unpack a new shipment of toiletries, he invited her to take a break and sit down and have a cup of coffee with him. Shyly, she accepted. Mr. Hayes chatted with her casually but noticed that, when he speaks to her, Isabela looked down at the floor and seemed disinterested. He believed she was being disrespectful and reprimanded her for this.
She was surprised at his anger.
In his typically American open style of communication, Mr. Hayes confronted Isabela about not looking at him. Reluctantly, she explained why. As a newcomer from Mexico, she had been taught to avoid eye contact as a mark of respect to authority figures --- teachers, emp
loyers, parents. Mr. Hayes did not know this. He then informed her that most Americans interpret lack of eye contact as disrespect and deviousness. Ultimately, he convinced Isabela to try and change her habit, which she slowly did.
People from many Asian, Latin American, and Caribbean cultures also avoid eye contact as a sign of respect. Many African Americans, especially from the South, observe this custom, too. A master’s thesis by Samuel Avoian, a graduate student at Central Missouri State University, tells how misinterpreting eye-contact customs can have a negative impact when white football coaches recruit African American players for their teams.
archaic
He reports that, when speaking, white communicators usually look away from the listener, only periodically glancing at them. They do the opposite when listening --- they are expected to look at the speaker all the time.
    Many African Americans communicate in an opposite way. When speaking, they tend to constantly stare at the listener; when listening, they mostly look away. Therefore, if white sports recruiters are not informed about these significant differences, they can be misled ab
out interest and attentiveness when interviewing prospective African American ballplayers.
    In multicultural America, issues of eye contact have brought about social conflicts of two different kinds: in many urban centers, non-Korean customers became angry when Korean shopkeepers did not look at them directly. The customers translated the lack of eye contact as a sign of disrespect, a habit blamed for contributing to the open confrontation taking place between some Asians and African Amercians in New York, Texas, and California. Many teachers too have provided stories about classroom conflicts based on their misunderstanding Asian and Latin American children’s lack of eye contact as being disrespectful.
    On the other hand, direct eye contact has now taken on a new meaning among the younger generation and across ethnic borders. Particularly in urban centers, when one teenager looks directly at another, this is considered provocation, sometimes called mad-dogging, and can lead to physical conflict.
    Mad-dogging has become the source of many campus conflicts. In one high school, it re
sulted in a fight between Cambodian newcomers and African-American students. The Cambodians had been staring at the other students merely to learn how Americans behave, yet the others misinterpreted the Cambodians’ intentions and the fight began.
    Mad-dogging seems to be connected the avoidance of eye contact as a sign of respect. Thus, in the urban contemporary youth scene, if one looks directly at another, this disrespects, or “disses,” that person. Much like the archaic phrase “I demand satisfaction,” which became the overture to a duel, mad-dogging may become a prelude to a physical encounter.
    At the entrances to Universal Studio’s “City Walk” attraction in Los Angeles, they have posted Code of Conduct signs. The second rule warns against “physicially or verbally threatening any person, fighting, annoying others through noisy or boisterous activities or by unnecessary staring ...”
Mad-dogging耍狗疯（指怒目相视，挑起事端）
Qs
1. How do cultural differences affect the way people use their eyes to speak and listen?
2. What would be your advice for a Chinese teenager who has recently been enrolled into a high school in New York City and who is leaving China soon for the first time?

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