No, I'm not asking you to do my homework for me. :p

It happens that I have to take a poll, based on the following two questions:

1. In American society, how far away from another person are you supposed to keep your face when talking to him or her (assuming you know the person fairly well)?

2. For how many seconds is it normally permissible to maintain eye contact with a total stranger? That is, how long would you expect eye contact to be tolerated before the person being looked at looks away?



Thanks, guys.

All I know is that whenever I meet someone new, I immediately challenge them to a staring contest.

when i meet someone new im friendly then i screw it up by making an *** of myself

1) 2-3 feet.

2) For me, 0.1 seconds or so, but then I guess I'm not normal. Maybe 2-3 seconds.

a) 1.5-3 feet

b) 1-3 seconds

...ish

1) 3 feet.
2) 1-2 seconds.

Sociology is some crazy stuff; it's probably a fun class.

It depends on where you are (crowded/empty street), but I'm digging the 1.5-3 range.

And I'd say no more than two seconds. At least, that's when it becomes uncomfortable.

Also, depending on what type of person you're looking at (physically deformed/handicapped/superhot/overweight), they might take offense faster than your standard 150 pound, 5"8 guy in a t-shirt and jeans.

1) At least 10 inches (if confined to close quarters), otherwise at least 12 inches

2) One second, give or take a few milliseconds. But, then, I dislike making eye contact anyway.

1) Um... depends on the situation. Two feet I guess.

2) A second or two I guess.

3-4 feet.

And I avoid eye contact unless I'm trying to challenge someone to a staring contest.

.. Because we all know Flexor is well versed in American society. :p (Or is he secretly admitting the US owns Canada... ) ?

>.>

1) About a foot. Unless it was/is intimate, or you're trying to annoy the person.

2) It depends: if the person is attractive and/or finds me attractive, it could be for quite a while. Likewise for someone whom I may have beef with (IE: friend of someone that I've fought with). For a normal stranger, possibly one second.

1) Depending on the person's breath, 2 to 87 feet.
2) Untill they turn thier eyes first.

I think it depends on the context for the eye contact thing. I mean, if you're walking down the sidewalk, and someone else is too in the opposite direction, you know that game you always play? You each kind of stare off awkwardly in some direction, then you just have to get a sneak peak of eye contact for about a tenth of a second, but of course the other person does the same thing at exactly the same time you do, and you each look elsewhere immediately. Yeah, don't tell me that doesn't happen to you. :p

However, in any other circumstance, such as an instance where you're expected to work with a stranger or something, then it becomes a little bit longer.

1.) About two people would be when shaking hands, so about 2 feet

2.) Are you just staring at them, or is this an introduction, meeting someone kind of thing? If you're jsut staring, less than a second. If you're meeting someone, a few seconds