Patterns of Gaze in Cooperative and Competitive Negotiation

Abstract

On the basis of theoretical assumptions about the information needs of cooperative and competitive negotiators, it was predicted that experimental manipulation of motivational orientation should produce different patterns of gaze and mutual gaze. The frequency and duration of gaze and mutual gaze of naive subjects in 28 dyads was monitored by video cameras. As predicted, the average length of gaze and mutual gaze was greater for cooperators, while frequency of gaze and mutual gaze were the same in both cooperation and competition. This pattern is consistent with the claim that length of gaze indexes the affective function of eye contact, while frequency is an index of the monitoring function. Analysis of frequency and duration of speech showed that the gaze patterns held even when allowance was made for the coordinating function of gaze in conversation. Females were found to engage in longer gaze and mutual gaze than males, in both cooperation and competition.

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