Most predators take direct eye contact as an act of aggression. When dogs are submissive, they lower their heads, or expose their neck or belly. Prey don’t like eye contact with predators because predators tend to look at what they are going to attack. Some cultures take direct eye contact as a sign of disrespect, others take avoiding eye contact as a sign of guilt or ill intent. As always, people are weird.
cats are funny because they don’t like eye contact, unless you’re squinting at them which very explicitly means you’re super friendly, then they can just stare into your soul for hours as you rub their tummy and they rumble like a washing machine.
“Being stared at by a predator makes me uncomfortable.”
“But it’s your own species. You’re a predator.”
“That also makes me uncomfortable.”
Most predators take direct eye contact as an act of aggression. When dogs are submissive, they lower their heads, or expose their neck or belly. Prey don’t like eye contact with predators because predators tend to look at what they are going to attack. Some cultures take direct eye contact as a sign of disrespect, others take avoiding eye contact as a sign of guilt or ill intent. As always, people are weird.
cats are funny because they don’t like eye contact, unless you’re squinting at them which very explicitly means you’re super friendly, then they can just stare into your soul for hours as you rub their tummy and they rumble like a washing machine.