Do you start off talking to people one-on-one with peripheral vision and verbally addressing them? On the other hand, do you always expect direct eye contact with every person with whom you converse? Are they a false dichotomy? Though it’s a survey, I find it hard to nail down categories; some input would be well-received.
I always look people in the eye when I start to talk to them. Otherwise, they may think I’m talking to someone else nearby.
Speak directly to their face. Don’t lock eyes much unless I want to fight them if male or seduce them if female. Locking eyes is … provocative among all the great ape species; even ours.
I physically can’t keep my eyes from moving. I make sure I’m not looking at a person, especially a woman, anywhere but the face. My eyes move side to side quite a bit.
You mean, like shifty?
Yes. I can’t control it; it’s physically painful for me to focus on one spot.
Quoted for truth. And it’s not only apes. In many species, a direct extended stare indicates aggression, intimacy, or hunting behavior.
Different human cultures have different rules for who’s supposed to look at whom when during conversations. Sometimes this leads to trouble as a lot of people assume their culture’s rules are universal and the other person is just being rude.
I think the better I know someone, the less I look at them. I’ve had entire conversations with my husband just staring at his feet. Whereas I’ll do the obligatory eye contact thing more often if it’s someone new.
I’ve always found different communication styles interesting. I was probably raised to look people in the eye, as Dolphinboy wrote, so a person can tell who I’m addressing. But I know some people who sometimes look outwards peripherally while talking, like persons who pick up trash on the streets at my job, because they’re looking for safety hazards and other reasons.
There’s a legit difference between two people having a conversation where that’s the main activity, versus two people having a conversation while doing something else, and the something else is the main activity.
Lotta people who work in groups yak while their hands are busy doing whatever. They’re mostly looking at the work, not each other. Same for social events that involve doing a craft or playing a game or whatever. Mouth for yakking, eyes on the activity.
IMO that’s not the scenario the OP was interested in. Here’s another not-really-the-point scenario.
I go out to eat with GF often. Sometimes we sit at a 4-top across from each other. Sometimes we sit at a 4-top side by side. Sometimes we sit side by side at a bar or counter. If we’re lucky we get corner spots.
Who looks at who how and how much changes radically depending on how we’re seated. Again, not the OP’s point for discussion.
I make short eye contact when I’m first addressing a person, but rarely during a conversation. Instead, my eyes and my head wander all around, with short instances of taking up eye contact again for milliseconds from time to time. Most people I talk to do the same. I’d find it creepy if someone would keep up eye contact all the time during a conversation, but I don’t remember ever encountering this. Maybe my way is just the way Germans do conversation, but I’ve also talked to people of many other nationalities and cultures and don’t remember any incongruences in the conversational style.