Yep . . . while I have often said that many folks who work in NLP put way too much stock in so-called eye movement patterns as an indication of one’s mental state and the like (the folks who don’t calibrate first but rely upon decades old charts and apply them universally are missing out on what could be a powerful tool and really screwing themselves and their clients over) . . . but . . . likewise I do encourage folks to learn to calibrate eye movements effectively.

Interestingly, new studies are coming out that have shown correlations between eye movement and political orientation. Liberals tend to follow another person’s gaze and will look to where the other person is looking while conservatives tend to ignore the gaze of others. One could say that liberals make a natural effort to see into another’s world view and understand their experiences while conservatives are fixed in their way and more insular about their experiences. One could say that.

Either way, studies such as those conducted by psychologists at the University of Nebraska have shown that gaze cues are real and that they do correlate strongly with political orientation.

See the full paper at http://psych.unl.edu/mdodd/VAMP/A439B_DHS_PoliticalGaze_FinalAPP.pdf.

– Brian