In contemporary sociological and psychological research, it has been estimated that at least 65 percent of communication between people is expressed through nonverbal messages. Within this category, the largest percentage of nonverbal communication occurs visual, or as eye contact in communication. This paper will first present a brief biological overview of the way the human eye works, and will then focus on the visual aspects of nonverbal communication, attempting to analyze the way the eye acts to reveal personality and emotional communication.
Scholarly research indicates that there are at least nine components of communication that are expressive in a nonverbal manner, leading to increased difficulties in understanding and explaining communication. These components follow: the human body, in that physical characteristics often convey a message; kinesics, the language of body position and movement; paralanguage, those voice qualities and characteristics that accompany spoken words; silence; tacesics and stroking, the language of touch and its substitutes; proxemics, the way that humans use space to communicate; chronemics, time in both its cultural and physiological dimensions; color; and, considered to be one of the most dominant forms of nonverbal communication, the eyes, their contract and use (Vargas, 1986, pp. 10 11).
Even in popular culture, the power of the eyes is almost dominant in the contemporary world. Everywhere humans look there are visual messages designed to entrance, entice, and otherwise affect human behavior. In contemporary films, visual messages are paramount in description, emotionality, and the like. Moreover, the visual power of actors and actresses establishes an undiminished link between the pragmatic and the possible, establishing a greater degree of commonality between audience and performer than ever before. Likewise, advertising and the visual messages it sends proves just how effectiv...