The psychology of staring contests

MSNBC reports:

A new study suggests that we may engage in staring contests without even thinking about it, especially if we’re people who like to run things. “The initiation of the staredown is reflexive for dominant people,” says study lead author David Terburg, a psychology researcher at Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

The staredown, it seems, is an automatic part of a controlling person’s human-relations toolkit. The bossier you are, the more likely you’ll turn to an encounter into a confrontation without even knowing it.

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