Not being looked in the eye when talking with someone

Mine...... that's interesting. I shall be looking out for that now! At the risk of being pedantic is the lying person looking to their own left or to the left of the person in front of them.? I'm left handed and nearly everything I do favours the left. That is a bit worrying as I like to think I am a very honest person.

What if you're ambidextrous?

I take your point ixion but that applies to arms not eyes.

If you are both left and right handed and a lying person, which side would you be looking at, left or right? Or would you alternate?

And no need to apologise for being pedantic. You have come to an appropriate thread?

I think I would have to alternate, just to confuse the lying person as they too may be aware of the looking left theory.

?

My neighbour never looks anyone in the eye. I find it most disconcerting, but she is a perfectly nice woman. She works as a classroom assistant so I've always wondered how the kids know who she's speaking to.

Buffyfly.... The person to whom you are speaking to looks to their left...

I think somebody is overthinking this don’t you?

Gosh! And all these years I didn’t realise I had to look into someone’s eyes when they speak or when I speak to them and now I have to smile as well?

I wish someone had told me this 70 years ago.

Indeed.

Whole careers can be affected by such things that are not related to a person's achievements, like asking "Father's occupation" on forms. If they ask, they take it into consideration, consciously or subsconsciously, because they know.

Otherwise, why ask?

On which forms have you been asked to state your father’s occupation?

StarDreamer

Indeed.

Whole careers can be affected by such things that are not related to a person's achievements, like asking "Father's occupation" on forms. If they ask, they take it into consideration, consciously or subsconsciously, because they know.

Otherwise, why ask?

Oh we’ve heard this complaint before!
I don’t remember what answer the poster gave at the time -census return perhaps?- but that was the first I had ever heard of it and suggested a inferiority complex or mammoth chip on that persons shoulder .
When have you encountered this question OP?

Germanshepherdsmum

On which forms have you been asked to state your father’s occupation?

UCAS 1969 here, IIRC.
Nothing since...

Has to be stated on a marriage certificate of course.

VioletSky

I am terrible at eye contact, too much or too little.

I dont think it means anything about people being engaged and interested in talking to anyone

Same here VioletSky. (Love your name, wish I had thought of that myself)!

Mine
That myth was debunked some years ago.

www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/myth-busted-looking-left-or-right-doesnt-indicate-if-youre-lying-1922058/

I imagine that not making eye contact in a job interview could seriously affect your chances of getting the job. I appointed the chap with eyes looking in different directions who I mentioned above because there was obviously a physical cause and he clearly did his best to make eye contact. Had he not had this obvious condition and simply didn’t make eye contact I would not have appointed him. So yes, this does affect career prospects but I am still wondering about this form asking about one’s father which apparently hampers your prospects.

Germanshepherdsmum

Has to be stated on a marriage certificate of course.

That wouldn’t affect one’s career (!) and nowadays a UCAS form, or UCCA as I think we knew it, would favour the humbler the occupation over the more “professional” as I understand many universities seek to prioritise first time family members’ applications.

MawtheMerrier

StarDreamer

Indeed.

Whole careers can be affected by such things that are not related to a person's achievements, like asking "Father's occupation" on forms. If they ask, they take it into consideration, consciously or subsconsciously, because they know.

Otherwise, why ask?

Oh we’ve heard this complaint before!
I don’t remember what answer the poster gave at the time -census return perhaps?- but that was the first I had ever heard of it and suggested a inferiority complex or mammoth chip on that persons shoulder .
When have you encountered this question OP?

The UCCA university application form in the 1960s.

I wondered then how it might affect someone if the prospective student's father were in particular ocupations, deceased, unknown, in prison, and so on.

It was years later that I realised that the answer might have really helped some prospective students if the interviewer had a snob attitude.

My concern was not about me, some people here always seem to try to lock a discussion about a topic onto my own circumstances rather than considering the whole range of possible situations. Even back then I considered the wider implications of policies affecting people's lives.

Is the question asked on the university applications forms these days? Does anyone here know?

Baggs

Germanshepherdsmum

Autism, shyness or lying.

Just so.

Or none of the above.

MawtheMerrier

Germanshepherdsmum

Has to be stated on a marriage certificate of course.

That wouldn’t affect one’s career (!) and nowadays a UCAS form, or UCCA as I think we knew it, would favour the humbler the occupation over the more “professional” as I understand many universities seek to prioritise first time family members’ applications.

But it is still unfair to some prospective students.

For example, a Bishop's daughter, wher the Bishop has an Oxford degree.

Whether that being taken into consideration helps her application or damages her application, asking affects her application.

Namsnanny ?????

I have no idea whether this question was still asked when my son went to university, in 2005. Nowadays Oxbridge is very keen to take students from working class backgrounds and state schools. That is a very positive move. Are you concerned that Oxford would reject the Bishop's daughter? Just because her father is a Bishop and an Oxford alumnus, doesn't mean she is the best candidate.

Despite your claim to be interested in the bigger picture SD, I can't help but think that this is a very personal problem for you and that you believe your father's occupation has in some way had an adverse effect on your career. Are you willing to tell us what your father's occupation was and how you think it hindered you?