Vitamin Eye

Eye for an Eye -- Visual Violence

Shelagh Robinson, Ph.D. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:32:42 +0000

It begins with a look - one that goes out of its way to be malevolent. Not accidental, or by chance. By choice.

Maybe you've seen it? The direct, narrow, overlong stare? At first glance it may not look like much. Hostile eyes are so fast and fleeting that it's hard to see how they could have much impact. After all, a dirty look sent doesn't mean it's received, or accepted. Nonetheless, eye violence is a compelling force in the social universe, with the power to influence our physical and emotional well-being. And not just for the person on the receiving end of the look. Perpetrators do no good for themselves either.

Employed to send warnings, set boundaries, punish, and establish dominance, aggressive eye contacts are used around the world to regulate behavior from a distance. Used judiciously, they have their place. But enforcement crosses the line into cruelty when looks are used to antagonize, coerce, or hurt. It's this intention to harm that sets visual violence apart.

When compared with physical aggression, the visual sort may look pretty tame, but being on the receiving end of a nasty look is no joke. Highly sensitive to signals of social threat, staring eyes have a peculiar resonance for humans, and other primates. Experienced as highly unpleasant across cultures, the reaction that is induced by prolonged hostile eye contact taps deeply into pack animal, some might say archetypal, fears. Mean looks are well-known to stimulate feelings of stress and resentment. And often, retaliation - an eye for an eye.

Visual hostility is hardly confined to the schoolyard. Machiavellians, sociopaths and bullies of all ages are known to commit random acts of eye violence, for no other reason except that they can. They flash over-the-top visual aggression at times when to do so is simply gratuitous. A death look at a driver who comes too close, a cut-eye at someone who gets in the way, a hate glare at "one of them."

Even the most seemingly pacific of people, who might otherwise draw the line at overt expressions of physical or verbal violence, will flash eyes of judgment and careless contempt at people around them. Women and men, old and young, of every color, who indulge in casually vicious looks, rationalize, "She deserved it." "He was in my way." "I felt like it."

And why not? If there's no actual contact, no damage done, right? Hate eyes are safe, even socially sanctioned, methods of being malicious. Simple to excuse if they're even noticed at all, and easy to hide, eye aggressions appear harmless.

Research into the consequences of relational violence doesn't support this perspective. Studies, and a great deal of anecdotal evidence, shows that exposure to aggression does have a measurable negative impact on psychological well-being. And it's not just the thin-skinned who are affected. A hostile look from the right person, at the right time, can induce tension and self-doubt in the most resilient of individuals. Both in the moment and afterwards, eye violence can cut to the emotional quick, blocking and paralyzing.

The effects are physical too. Exposure to hostile eyes arouses, sending cortisol and adrenalin levels soaring. Repeated exposure prolongs sympathetic nervous system activation and fight or flight responses. Over time, one's reserves of energy and attention deplete, weakening the body and rendering it more vulnerable to illness.

There are consequences for the perpetrator too. Although impact statements tend to focus on victims of visual violence, research shows that expressions of aggression can be costly to offender. Studies show that "Cynical Hostility" (1) , characterized by enduring negative interpersonal attitudes and behaviors, including antagonistic eye expressions, is a risk factor for adverse health outcomes as diverse as cardiovascular disease and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While the cause and effect is not yet clear, experts speculate that expressions of hostility stimulate cytokine levels. Central to immune system functioning, cytokine activation negatively impacts on mood, accelerates processes of aging and influences health in a myriad of unseen manners (2). In short: Intentional expressions of animosity, visual or otherwise, are toxic at a cellular level.

One other consequence of visual violence that's often overlooked has to do with energy. Science is unequivocal: there is no such thing as a force that is emitted from the eyes, electrical or otherwise (3). However, while researchers find little empirical data on the pathological power of evil eyes, the negative influence of a hostile look is well respected across cultural groups. Around the globe, malicious visuals are believed to exert considerable influence on the material world -- perhaps because our eyes represent important intersections between intention and action. They sit on the threshold of where thoughts become deeds, and fantasies become realities. According to old wisdom, malevolence materializes in the eyes - it becomes real in the world through the gaze. Focused animosity constitutes a vibration of negative intention that ripples out, contaminating whomever it touches before reverberating back to strike its sender.
Just because it hasn't been proven, does that mean it's not real?

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Intervention, at a really grass-roots level.

We pay a great deal of attention to the aftermath of social violence in our efforts avoid it. But innovation in prevention focuses on bigger picture issues: the subtle seeds of interpersonal aggression. For concerned citizens, it begins with simple observation; watching our own patterns of hostility and retaliation, and monitoring the frequency with which we throw mean looks at strangers, acquaintances, intimates and family.

Because it's not enough to ignore visual violence. It's not enough to stand up to it. We have to stop, too. Especially when it's not convenient. Especially when we don't feel like it. Especially when it's hard to resist the temptation to be mean with our eyes.

For our own good.

And each time we do so, to paraphrase an expert, we become the change we want to see in the world.

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References:
1. http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/66/4/572#R1...
2. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199907/the-infection-conn...
3. Winer, G. A., Cottrell, J. E., Gregg, V., Fournier, J. S., & Bica, L. A. (2002). Fundamentally misunderstanding visual perception: Adults' belief in visual emissions. American Psychologist, 57, 417-424.

Gaze Raising

Shelagh Robinson, Ph.D. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:53:47 +0000

Star-gazer or navel-gazer?

It's not either/ or, but patterns and tendencies - explore the activities at the end of this blog to see yours.
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Up, down and around. We each survey the world we live in, but don't all look the same. In the course of our day to day sidewalk lives, en route from points A to B, we each reveal characteristic eye movements as unique to us as our accents, and often just as invisible.

How we behave with our eyes, especially when we're not looking at anything in particular, reflects our distinctive blends of nature (including neurobiology and personality)1a,1b and nurture (including cultural background and gender)2a, 2b. The proportions of time we spend with our gaze pointed down at the ground, up at the sky, or at eye-level, also varies in relation to our mood, motivation, and level of hunger, to name a few factors 3.

Where do your eyes go when you feel great? When you feel not so great? Chances are your answer includes "verticality." How, and how often, we look down, and up, and stay there for a second or two, is influenced by our psychological and physical state at a given moment.3 And influence is reciprocal: Our vertical visuals shape the health of our minds and bodies.

Look up? Look down? Does it really make a difference?

Variations in eye angle don't have to be obtuse for them to radically influence what and who comes into our field of vision. When it comes to our optics, minute changes in eye orientation radically transform our perspective. Raising our eyes' focus by millimeters alters our viewpoint by miles. Lowering them translates into a complete shift in vista.
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Ultimately, the advantages of raising our gaze, psychological and physiological, could be the subject of an entire book. I will devote attention to the physical benefits of eyerising in later blogs. Here, I have selected 4 positives that are not always obvious.

When you look up:
1. The position and curvature of your eyeballs results in the reflection of more overhead light from your scleras (the whites of your eyes) than when your eyes are down. Even if you're not looking directly at anyone, with raised eyes, you are more likely to be seen, and more likely to notice being seen.

2. The periphery of your visual field expands because less light is blocked by your eyelids. Raising your gaze shifts the position of the pupil and reveals a subtle blinder. You are suddenly more attentive to what sits at the upper limits of your vision. This enables you to tune into social possibilities (e.g., cute person at party checking you out) and opportunities (e.g., spotting something you'd been looking for) with greater ease.

3.We survey our surroundings more effectively. Self-defense experts tell us to ‘chin and eyes up' especially when we walk alone. This is because looking above the horizon shows us what and who is at the upper edges of our visual field - optically, what is distant to us and may be coming closer. With our gaze slightly raised, we are more alert to movements out of the corners of our eyes (and, importantly, we assume visual postures of strength, security and confidence, looking less like victims and acting less like prey).

4. We experience enhanced reaction times. Soccer players, snowboarders, mountain bike racers and other athletes know the advantages of keeping their eyes up. In competition, it's good to look ahead rather than focus on the ground under foot. A raised gaze, especially at high speeds, enables you to better see what's ahead in order to prepare for it before you're on top of it. And even if we're not athletes, we can apply the wisdom of kinetic experts to our own comparably slow lives whenever we take moments to pay attention to what's up - as we walk, run, sit, play or drive a vehicle.

It's not about extreme behaviors - it's about proportion. ‘Eyes-above-the-horizon' doesn't mean that it's not good to look down. It doesn't mean that you scan continuously above the horizon. Simply, we bring our awareness to looking up, more often, and do it.

Sure we're all busy and can think of 1001 other issues and habits that need work, but exploring our eye habits doesn't have to take away from our lives. Indoors and out, alone or with others, increasing the split-seconds we spend with our eyes above the horizon, creates quiet change. Small adjustments to chronic eye patterns can shift our lives in ways unimagined.

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Activity Suggestions:

- Stop reading and take a bearing on the horizon. Look at it now, then just above it without moving your chin. Feel your eye muscles - they're not just pulling against gravity, but long-standing habit as well. How often do you do this?
- Gaze at the ceiling, looking back and forth to the count of five. What do you see that hadn't expected?
- Watch people out of the corners of your eyes - notice how well you see them, especially their eyes, when you raise your own just a little.
- Glance out the window at the sky - when was the last time you lingered observing star patterns, or skyscrapers? Let your eyes roam high to exercise far sightedness.
- Chew on tree tops and lick the edges of clouds with your eyes. Play with your vision.

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Here is a simple graphic that can show you how to keep track of your visual verticals. From time to time, when you're not looking at anything particular, take a reading, and become more visually aware.

_1 LOOKING AT SKY/ CEILING IMMEDIATELY ABOVE YOU
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|_2
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|_3
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|_4
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|_____5 HORIZON
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|_6
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|_7
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|_8
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|_9 LOOKING AT GROUND IMMEDIATELY BELOW YOU

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References:

1a. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200310/the-eyes-and-mental-illness

1b. Kleinke, C.L. (1986). Gaze and eye contact: A research review. Psychological Bulletin, 100(1), 78-100.
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&id=5FC59ED5-F729-D4FD-E40C-41D42FE4EDB7&resultID=5&page=1&dbTab=pa

2a. http://jcc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/39/6/716
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.00030222b.

2b. http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca:8881/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36033&local_base=GEN01-MCG02

3. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/pdf_extract/123/576/615
http://www.eyetec.net/group6/M27S1.htm

Blindspots

Shelagh Robinson, Ph.D. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:00:11 +0000

How your eyes behave when you're not watching.

Who you looking at? More importantly, who you not looking at?
What does it matter?
It can be important to know. When we take a second look at what and who we ordinarily overlook, we discover some very interesting things about ourselves.

In our public and private lives, we are all susceptible to blindspots. Cognitive, emotional, physical, vehicular, we are all vulnerable to ‘not seeing' aspects of ourselves or the world around us.

When it comes to our social visual behaviors, it's not as if we don't know what we do with our eyes with other people. In our interactions, we are aware, sometimes hyperaware, of what our eyes do and how we want them to appear. We can choose to look in some directions, more closely in others, and not at all in certain situations. That we have conscious control over our ocular activities is evident.

However, it is just as true that sometimes our eyes move outside our direction, before we have a chance to think about it. In these blindspots, when we are not aware, our eyes can act as if independent entities, pulling us to some sights, occasionally against our will, and pushing us away from others. Who we end up looking at in these instants, and how, is not necessarily under our conscious control.

It's a great evolutionary gift, this design that allows our eyes to take over in the heat of the moment. Our saccadic eye movements keep us safe by roving quickly, detecting threats and opportunities too fast for our slow processing. In these instants, information from our eyes bypasses the slower pathway to the visual cortex (where we actually think about what we're seeing) and instead speeds directly to the Hypothalamus. For quick action. So fastballs can be caught, dodgeballs ducked, toddlers restrained, and cars controlled.

Our social saccades allow us to survive and thrive in fast-paced social environments. However, because they tend to lie outside our awareness, these rapid eye movements can also get in our way, occluding certain information and preoccupying us with the obvious and superficial. While helping us gain our bearings, these sudden eye actions sometimes speed us in the wrong direction. All of a sudden, in snap vision, we can find ourselves looking away when we don't mean to, or looking too long, or not looking at all - on the basis of incomplete information or faulty assumptions.

Think of a time when you looked before looking - when you inadvertently did what you hadn't intended to with your eyes, and created a problem for yourself. When your eyes got you in trouble. When you looked too quickly and missed a critical detail, when you looked away and wished you hadn't. When you misjudged someone and it showed in your narrowed stare, your eye roll, your fast glare. There are big consequences to these sorts of blindspots, generally seen only in hindsight.
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Referred to as microexpressions, our social saccades are often discussed as out of our awareness. However, just as we are able to bring our patterns of emotion, thought and breath into the here-and-now, so too can we become familiar with, and even anticipate, our micro eye expressions.

Mindfulness of our negative visual habits can be useful in lots of social situations. Particularly when we feel uncomfortable - stressed, angry, hungry, frustrated, nervous, confused - our REMs can educate us. Acting as signposts (look here!), our unplanned reactions reveal flashes of inner motivations, emotions and judgments of others not otherwise visible. Suddenly, under duress, our true colors show: hidden prejudices, denied anger, concealed envy, desires for revenge - in our plain sight.

My clients bring their eye awareness to bear in traffic tie-ups, business functions, crowded planes and family dinner tables. They use them to spot ‘danger' situations when they are apt to fall into negative saccadic routines, recognizing primitive reaction patterns that surface in times of tension. In this way, they can anticipate when, where, and with whom they are likely to use their eyes in ways that are unwise -- and avoid careless expressions of disrespect, dismissal, and hostility.

What they come to realize in these instants is that their eyes not only take in information and communicate non-verbally, but they also act as transmitters of attention, or powers of intention. While invisible to the naked eye, experiences of 'eye energy' with others are actually very common. Often resulting in strong emotions, our positive eye exchanges can be amplified and passed on to others - just as the negative may ripple away from us to infect and inflict pain. This transmission capacity is important in light of recent research on positive social contagions. The healthful consequences of friendship networks involve viral connections that move between people. Succinctly, how we look has an impact that echoes back to us.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/337/dec04_2/a2338.pdf
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-source-healing/200901/medicinal-friendships

This kind of insight that offers real split-second options: To respond rather than react, to be thoughtful not thoughtless, to walk our talks even when it's not easy, and (paraphrasing) become the change we want to see in the world.

Exploring our social visual blindspots is a powerfully personal journey - no experts needed. Just the will to look into yourself for something you may not yet see.
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Reply here, or email: vitamineye@gmail.com

Eye Candy

Shelagh Robinson, Ph.D. — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:11:02 +0000

Eye candy is, by definition, good-looking people: Sweet to stare at, they tempt us with their addictive visuals. But the term has another meaning, especially when we remember that our brain's primary fuel is sugar. Eye candy is also a special kind of mutual gaze -- one that is dense with energy, sends our pleasure chemicals surging, and looks absolutely delicious. And it's good for you.

As a psychologist specializing in eye contact, and instructor in the psychology of vision, I've heard of hundreds of variations of eye candy. Mythic, even archetypal, these soft looks, gentle leers, and come-hither stares are the stuff of legend. Mesmerizing, they can make the hearts of even the sturdiest among us beat faster. Eye candy can stop us in our tracks. Being allowed to feast for an instant upon someone's beautiful eyes, an instant of mutual acknowledgment, can make us feel downright inebriated. No surprise: Love drugs are directly connected to our eyes.

Described as hyper-social apes, humans like to be around other people (at least occasionally), and are able to take great physical and psychological enjoyment from our eye connections with the people we see. In fact, our brains are made for visual pleasure, reinforcing positive social eye connection, and promoting inter-ocular experiences of good will for mutual benefit.

Evolution has favored the development of brain connections between our looks and our reward centers. Eye-to-eye contact is well-known to trigger autonomic nervous system response: The HPA pathway (Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Adrenal) is directly stimulated by the eyes that come into our sightlines before we're fully aware of who we're seeing.

Even a slightly prolonged mutual gaze can make our sympathetic nervous systems go wild: pupils dilate, we flush, feel a rush, sweaty palms, the whole bit. Fight or flight? Tend and befriend? Our hypothalamus rushes to find the appropriate social response. In the presence of oxytocin, we may choose the latter.

Oxytocin, a hormone produced in the hypothalamus, is known to be associated with positive gaze experiences. Nursing mothers, new lovers and puppy owners share spiking "cuddle drug" levels. These tender mutual eye interludes are both inspired by oxytocin, and catalyze its synthesis in our brains. A true ‘virtuous cycle,' experiences of eye candy lead to oxytocin production and feelings of well-being, which stimulates us to look good at others - to do eye candy.

Research evidence abounds: ours are very pro-social brains that reward us for using our eyes with others - even strangers - in connecting and caring ways. When we don't get enough eye candy, the pleasure centers of our brains are not as active, and we don't feel as good.

Eye candy deficiencies can feel very unpleasant. Just ask anyone past their 15 minutes of fame what it's like to go unnoticed, to be ignored, after their instant in the spotlight. Empty. Hungry. Symptoms of attention deficits are painful and may linger, including emotions of despondence, fear, paranoia, rage. Profound sadness. Feelings of invisibility and unreality. Existential confusion.

Desire for eye candy can be insatiable. Some individuals go to extraordinary lengths to cultivate it, expending considerable time, money and energy to draw the visual approval of people around them. Fortunately, a supply of good quality eye candy may be found in the looks of pets and small children. The gazes of these beings are specifically not intimidating or judgmental. The pleasure is that they look back with eyes of innocent interest at anyone.

Just watching the eyes of happy people, even if they're not looking at us, may be a form of eye candy. We're drawn to the looks of cheerful individuals -- reinforced by positive visuals. Just as there is something depleting about being witness to angry and suspicious looks, there's something heartening about observing joyful and receptive visual interactions. Indirect eye contact comprise important aspects of our social environment, subtly shaping our morale and feelings of trust.

For many people, however, quality sources of eye candy are scarce. That's why visual pleasures sell. In our media-heavy, and too-often solitary, lives we instinctively take refuge in the eyes of beautiful people on posters, billboards, and magazine covers whose eyes reach out to ours. And in the variety of electronic images that flicker across our screens that offer eye contact by proxy. An essential element in these media-made eye contacts is how the people in the images look back: they never reject, never say stop looking, never ask what we're looking at. No embarrassment, paranoia or pain. We can look again and again.

That our eyes are drawn to the eyes of people who can't see us is proof of their power to fascinate us. Such sources of pseudo connection still feel good because they offer us an element of social sensation. But like many drugs, the stripped down ‘pure' version may lack the therapeutic nuances of the natural source. Vicarious forms of eye candy lack immediacy and connection -- vital social nutrients that we need to feel good.

So activate your health: Savor your positive visuals.
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Vitamin Eye: Some Looks Can Shift Lives

Shelagh Robinson, Ph.D. — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:59:53 +0000

You know the feeling. Even if you've never thought about it, you recognize it: The physical surge of love at first sight. A proud glance by someone you admire. The warm gaze of a happy child. When your team is winning and you gleefully catch the eyes of other fans.

You actively and unguardedly seek out this eye contact. Even with strangers. It's an ancient, almost primitive, pleasure.

Our visual connection with others is important to us for more than just social reasons. The ways we use our eyes with people impact on our psychological and physical well-being. From instant to instant, our eyes function as floodgates: They let in some visuals, but not others, opening us to some perspectives, but shutting out the rest - all according to attention, interest, and a host of other variables.

Neuroscientists study what happens behind our eyes when we visually connect with others. Consider the parts of the brain associated with pleasure, like the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Both are activated by what and who comes into our sightlines. Neurotransmitters connected with feelings of well-being, like serotonin and dopamine, are linked to receiving positive visuals. And neuropeptides like oxytocin are central to social recognition, attachment, and eye-to-eye contact. Even antibody production in our immune system fluctuates according to who we see. Our body's pleasure centers are stimulated by information from our eyes that is processed before we're even aware of it.

Much research focuses on the hypothalamus. Among its many vital functions, this structure regulates the body's physical reward system - feeling good as a result of experiencing something. Kampe's now-classic study using fMRI measurements established that a specific part of the hypothalamus - the ventral striatum - responds to the direction of other people's gaze behavior.

When volunteers viewed faces they found attractive, regardless of the person's gender, the ventral striatum showed activation. This is a region linked to the anticipation of reward which activates dopamine regions of the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of satisfaction and enjoyment. Conversely, pictures of attractive people with an averted gaze, elicited decreased activation in participants' ventral striatum.
In short: when we are looked at directly by someone we see as nice-looking, we feel good, and we feel less good when that person doesn't catch our eye. Highly active during social visual interactions, our brain's pleasure centers are turned on by our eyes in many different ways.

This sort of visual psychology resides in our shared positive eye connections. The mutual recognition that produces a sensational spark happens with people we don't know, and people we do. In much less time than in takes to tell it.

It's the vital human resource.

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Discussions around eye contact need to become bigger.
This blog will probe topics such as:
-eye candy and charisma
-mental health and microexpressions
-visual violence and cultural display
-ocular bonding and attention
-marketing strategy and visual activism
-creativity and visual altruism
-quantum vision and observer effects
-blindspots, the sense of being stared at, and evil eyes

Perhaps you have some ideas that you would like to see featured in the conversation. Please let me know.

Because some looks can shift lives.
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