(Bk Business) Carol Kinsey Goman Ph.D.-The Nonverbal Advantage_ Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work -Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2008)

42 The Nonverbal Advantage
Whether it’s shifty-eyed guilt or wide-eyed innocence,
we instinctively link eye gestures to a person’s underlying
motives. We’ve heard and used phrases like these all our lives:
“He gave an icy stare.”
“She gave him the evil eye.”
“If looks could kill...”
“I went in with my eyes wide open.”
“He had a gleam in his eye.”
“She looked daggers at the other woman.”
“He looked down his nose at us.”
“We see eye to eye about this.”
The Power of Eye Contact
Eye contact is so powerful because it is instinctive and connected
with humans’ early survival patterns. Children who
could attract and maintain eye contact, and therefore increase
attention, had the best chance of being fed and cared for. As
adults we still put a lot of credence in the signals we give and
get from one another’s eyes. When people don’t look directly
at us (so that we can read those important signals) they may,
indeed, freak us out!
“I read someplace that eye contact
is a very important business skill.”