The Eye-Contact Experiment took the whole world in a whirl as we discovered the connection that we have lost over the course of time. It has been our pleasure to be able to bring the experience to the good people in KYUEM (with a few tweaks of our own!). Our aims were simple.
1. To encourage human connection
2. To address discrimination and cliques in college
We did this through the following steps.
1. Participants were asked to fill in questionnaires to describe themselves and the type of people they are least likely to approach or most likely to critic.
2. They are then partnered up based on their questionnaires. (Those who were opposite)
3. Participants are then given 4 minutes to make eye-contact in silence.
4. After the 4 minutes, they are asked to fill in questionnaires. They are then allowed to walk away, stay for a chat or be interviewed.
Based on the feedback we got, many participants felt a "weird connection and emotion" and requested for more sessions. An important event to point out was that two of the participants were really close friends. According to one of them, "It did not make the experience any less meaningful. On the contrary, it was even more eye-opening. Because being close friends, it shouldn't have been awkward. Instead looking at her closely, I realised how I never really paid close attention to the details of her face. I didn't really know my best friend as much as I would like to. We spend so much time talking, we don't internalise or just appreciate each other's presence. Definitely something I want to do with her more in the future,". Coming from someone who observed the whole thing, I can say that it was also a moving experience for my friends and I and we definitely look forward to future sessions with everyone. Also, shout out to The Liberators International for allowing us to be part of this beautiful journey!
Check out the documented experiment here.
1. To encourage human connection
2. To address discrimination and cliques in college
We did this through the following steps.
1. Participants were asked to fill in questionnaires to describe themselves and the type of people they are least likely to approach or most likely to critic.
2. They are then partnered up based on their questionnaires. (Those who were opposite)
3. Participants are then given 4 minutes to make eye-contact in silence.
4. After the 4 minutes, they are asked to fill in questionnaires. They are then allowed to walk away, stay for a chat or be interviewed.
Based on the feedback we got, many participants felt a "weird connection and emotion" and requested for more sessions. An important event to point out was that two of the participants were really close friends. According to one of them, "It did not make the experience any less meaningful. On the contrary, it was even more eye-opening. Because being close friends, it shouldn't have been awkward. Instead looking at her closely, I realised how I never really paid close attention to the details of her face. I didn't really know my best friend as much as I would like to. We spend so much time talking, we don't internalise or just appreciate each other's presence. Definitely something I want to do with her more in the future,". Coming from someone who observed the whole thing, I can say that it was also a moving experience for my friends and I and we definitely look forward to future sessions with everyone. Also, shout out to The Liberators International for allowing us to be part of this beautiful journey!
Check out the documented experiment here.