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

Chapter 3: The Eyes Have It
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emotional. Clinical studies by Eckhard Hess, PhD, the former
head of the Department of Psychology at the University of
Chicago, have shown that the pupil unconsciously widens
when the eye sees something pleasant, exciting, or arousing.
If people are highly interested or emotionally aroused by
what they see, their pupils open to allow them to see more.
So when card players saw their opponents’ rapid pupil dilation
(four aces!), they had “a gut feeling” not to bet on the
next hand.
But it’s not just card sharks who rely on pupil size for
information. We all detect dilation/contraction and respond
to those cues. Lovers look deeply into each other’s eyes,
instinctively looking for pupil dilation that confirms their
mutual attraction. Successful salespeople unconsciously
monitor pupil dilation (indicating the customer is interested
and ready to buy) and pupil contraction (signaling resistance,
anger, or negativity).
We are genetically programmed to be influenced by the
size of eye pupils. This makes sense, as it would have been
Which do you find more appealing?