Гришенко в. Д. Диссертация
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| Eye Contact
CASE 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 because of the esprit de corps he has created among the employees. One day while helping Isabela unpack a new shipment of toiletries, he invites her to take a break and sit down and have a cup of coffee with him. Shyly, she accepts. Mr. Hayes chats with her casually but notices that when he speaks to her, Isabela looks down at the floor and seems uninterested. He believes she is being disrespectful and reprimands her for this. She is surprised at his anger. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMENTARY (for the teacher and students 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, employers, 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, Latino, 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. He reports that when speaking, white communicators usually look away from the listeners, only periodically glancing at them. They do the opposite when listening—they are expected to look at the speaker all the time. 214 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 about interest and attentiveness when interviewing prospective African American ballplayers. • Avoidance of eye contact may be a sign of respect. Cultural differences affect how people use their eyes to speak and listen. 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 Americans 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 a 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 resulted 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 with 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 Studios' "City Walk" attraction in Los Angeles, they have posted Code of Conduct signs. The second rule warns against "physically or verbally threatening any person, fighting, annoying others through noisy or boisterous activities or by unnecessary staring. ..." • Direct eye contact among urban youths can signal an invitation to a fight. |