Why do people fear making eye contact with random people?

Answer 1

Fear of eye contact is a lot more prevalent in Caucasian cultures, and there is some evidence that it is related to what pairing of serotonin transporter genes an individual has. Europeans have a much higher rate of "Long" serotonin transporter genes, while the more socially active Asian cultures have more people with "Short" serotonin transporter genes. In Europeans with both a short and long gene, there is a much higher rate of fear of eye contact. That is the nature, or genetic argument.

Personality also plays a large role in a person's fear of eye contact. People who test low in openness to experiences on 5-factors tests, or high in intuition on Meyer's-Briggs tests tend to fear or avoid eye contact. This is surprising to some people, because a person's extroversion should be what determines fear of eye contact, but extroversion vs. introversion is only mildly associated, which intuition (or trusting your instincts before trusting what you can sense), has a stronger association. Also fear of eye contact is strongly correlated with autistic cluster disorders and oddly, also high IQ.

Nurture, your social environment and early family life, also play a very large role. First born children have less fear of eye contact, as do people from large families. Oddly again though, American's from large cities have more fear of eye contact. So that could potentially mean that having an innate fear of eye-contact can be overcome by lots of social interaction, but only social interaction with people your trust - not strangers.

So the short answer is that nobody really knows. Wanting to look at peoples eyes is considered normal by most people, because it is associated with social dominance behavior. But not all of us want to be socially dominant! Maybe that's the true answer? People who don't want to look into other people's eyes, don't want to be in charge?

Answer 2

They do not like contacts because they have to toUch your eye ball.

Answer 3

Fear of making eye contact with random people can stem from social anxiety, lack of confidence, or fear of being judged or rejected by others. It may also be a learned behavior based on cultural norms or past negative experiences.