Eye contact norms differ across cultures. In the United States and Europe, eye contact typically signifies honesty and attention. However, most Latin-American, Asian, and African cultures interpret direct eye contact as rude, confrontational, and aggressive. Thus, depending on the culture, eye contact can be considered respectful or offensive.

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Violating cultural expectations is not, in and of itself, a satisfactory means of identifying the presence of a psychological disorder. Because behavior varies from one culture to another, what may be expected and considered appropriate in one culture may not be viewed as such in other cultures.

Cultural Expectations and Psychological Disorders

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Cultural expectations are not universally shared. For instance, returning a stranger's smile is expected in the United States due to a social norm of reciprocating friendly gestures. In contrast, cultural expectations in Japan involve showing reserve and restraint around strangers, so Japanese people are generally unresponsive to smiles from strangers.

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