The perception of eye contact is associated with men's need to belong, self-esteem, and loneliness

As social beings, most humans live within an extensive network of relationships that, to a large extent, define their identity and personality. In interpersonal interactions, the direction of others’ eye gaze, along with their other facial information (e.g., facial expression), provides important clues indicating the dynamics of relationships, such as initiation, sustenance, or termination, between individuals. The sensitivity to eye gaze, which plays a pivotal role in the development of social cognition, is observed from early infancy. Despite showing a preference for faces with a direct gaze over those with an averted gaze from infancy, humans are not flawless in detecting a direct gaze. This has been investigated by measuring the cone of direct gaze (CoDG), a range of gaze directions slightly deviating from the direct gaze which observers accept as eye contact. The width of CoDG has significant inter-individual differences. Some people accept considerable gaze deviations as direct gaze (a wide CoDG), whereas others seem to be more conservative in perceiving whether they are being looked at or not (a narrow CoDG). In the present study, we were interested in investigating if the width of individuals’ CoDG would be associated with their socioemotional characteristics. In this respect, individuals’ belongingness need is a likely candidate. Individuals with a narrow CoDG may experience high belongingness needs, as perceiving others’ gaze direction as averted away from them may elicit the feelings of social exclusion consequently reducing the sense of belonging. The current article aims first to investigate whether the CoDG width predicts the strength of a need to belong (NTB; a need to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of meaningful interpersonal relationships). Furthermore, as high levels of NTB are closely associated with low self-esteem and high loneliness, especially among individuals with unsatisfying relationships, we also investigate whether individual differences in the strength of NTB serve as a mechanism (mediator) and/or a condition (moderator) through which the CoDG width can affect self-esteem and loneliness.

Results (N = 367) showed that: (i) men’s CoDG width predicted the NTB, self-esteem, and loneliness; (ii) men’s narrow CoDG predicted high loneliness via a high NTB and low self-esteem; (iii) a narrow CoDG was associated with low self-esteem via high loneliness only in high-NTB men. Among women, the CoDG width was not associated with the NTB, self-esteem, and loneliness. The findings are discussed considering the formation and maintenance of relationships together with gender differences.