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Understanding Human Gaze

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Abstract

Social attention is a foundational component of human social behavior. Our ability to detect and think about the direction of other’s gaze involves the attribution of mental states to others and scaffolds the development of other complex cognitive skills. Gaze-following is also widespread among other primates, but the cognitive mechanisms underlying gaze-sensitive behaviors appear to differ across species. Understanding the evolutionary origins of human social attention capacities can reveal the roots of our species’ unique patterns of cognition and culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Rosemary Bettle & Alexandra G. Rosati

Authors
  1. Rosemary Bettle
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  2. Alexandra G. Rosati
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rosemary Bettle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA

    Catherine Salmon

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Bettle, R., Rosati, A.G. (2016). Understanding Human Gaze. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3148-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3148-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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