Closing Your Eyes: A Sign of Dishonesty?
“His eyes are shut on the cover to convey that he doesn’t want to reveal or share anything when in fact he’s letting us into his life through his retelling of experiences.”“The image I had was a book about truth and integrity, with looking someone in the eye traditionally being a visual clue of honesty.”“…unable to look others in the eye. He cannot connect with people the same way I can when I look someone in the eyes.”From all the responses on last week’s test, it seems that generally people associate looking someone in the eye with telling the truth, possessing integrity, and connecting with others. Looking someone in the eye is absolutely a telling sign of whether someone is engaging in a truthful and honest conversation or not. Often times in relationships, one of the parties will tell the other to look them in the eye and tell them something, if they really want to survey whether or not the person is telling the truth. Going along with the cultural analyses we did, a lot of people may have trouble looking someone in the eye if they feel shame on behalf of something they did. And when people feel shame for something, they usually try to hide it, either through lying or fabricating. It makes things much more complicated for Robison because of his autism. It is very difficult for autistic people to look other people in the eye, not cause they’re lying, but because of the disorder and its effects. Closing your eyes can also reveal that you’re afraid or ashamed to open up to someone else. The eyes are a very telling body part and only when you open them can you begin to share experiences with a sense of honesty and integrity.
