Body Language of Eye Direction, NLP and Eye Access Cues
Cue: Eye Direction, NLP, and Eye Access Cues.
Synonym(s): NLP, Eye Access Cues.
Description: Eye movements are a key component Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP in this contest defines the process by which eye direction, that is, where the eyes look, can predict underlying thought process.
In One Sentence: The direction in which the eyes are cast is thought to provide clues to a person’s underlying thought process.
How To Use it: This cue is not something one can actively use to influence others as most people are not attuned to it’s meaning. Therefore, it is something we read in others rather than use ourselves. Although, if someone else is actively trying to read your body language (such as a police interrogator), and you know it, you might feign eye direction in order to confuse them.
Otherwise, eye direction is a cue best read in other people. See Meaning and/or Motivation.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “The direction I look outlines my thought process, so if you watch carefully you can figure out what kind of thoughts I’m accessing.”
Variant: N/A
Cue In Action: She was trying to figure out if her husband was telling the truth so she watched carefully when she asked him what the casino looked like. His eyes moved up and to the right. This told her that he was trying to construct a visual image. She was onto him.
Meaning and/or Motivation: For most right-handed people, eye movement up and to the left is a signal of accessing a visual memory.
Movement up and right means that a person is trying to construct a visual image.
Eyes either right or left, but still level, indicate an auditory process such as remembering sounds and words.
Down and left indicate internal dialogue or self-talk.
Down and right indicate a tactile or visceral feeling. When the eyes are straight ahead, unfocused or dilated they signal visual or any sensory information.
When reading someone’s eye access cues, be sure to formulate a baseline under normal conditions beforehand. Not all people respond to this rule in the same manner.
Cue Cluster: N/A
Body Language Category: Autonomic signal, Eye Language.
Resources:
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