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Do you do the Aspie Stare?

Funny stuff! I've heard that I either look very avoiding of looking straight into someone's eyes (if they intimidate me) or I look at people too intensely (the ones I feel comfortable with) >.< Oh well..
 
I could never figure out why I never knew how to smile until I was in my last few years of high school. I honestly thought it was my hypotonia. My fiance says I always look tired.

...it's because I am. lol
 
It took me a long time to learn to smile for photographs. Even now the best I am able to manage is a coy little half-smile. Personally, I think it makes me look quite charming. :cool:
 
wyverary said:
It took me a long time to learn to smile for photographs. Even now the best I am able to manage is a coy little half-smile. Personally, I think it makes me look quite charming. :cool:
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LOL. Me too. Painfully hard to crack a smile for no reason. But yeah...it leaves me with one of those "What does he know that I don't" grins. :cool:
 
Absolutely! With me I always probably due to training for work purposes smile most of the time while doing the stare.
I want to laugh because sometimes i wonder if others see my smile like Garek from DS9 almost creepy! LOL!:laugh:
 
I made eye contact with my boyfriend for the first time the other night, and he found it creepy at first and then he was very happy I finally did it. NT's get emotions from eye contact.
But the Aspie stare was onnnn.
 
I can usually stare someone in the eyes for about 30-40 seconds but have to keep looking away.:unsure:
I find it very uncomfortable unless we are close otherwise I feel like I'm intruding on their personal space and mine.:(
 
When posing for pictures, I usually recall how I feel about life or some other subject-matter. Usually, I'm able to evoke a face that fits the situation. When dealing with people, I used to have difficulty looking others in the eye. Today, I have less trouble with speaking and looking at others, though I still have difficulty staying with others for very long.

In short, I used to have an aspie stare. But it has become well compensated for in social situations.
 
I do generally smile for pictures, but in my day-to-day life, I definitely have the Aspie stare. My entire life people have told me to smile more (you know you don't smile when even a Catholic priest tells you to smile). I've been told that I either make no eye contact or stare like a deer in headlights. My husband says I have it when I'm trying to listen to someone or I'm focused on something, and that I'll snap out of it for a moment and make some expression, and then go back to it. I don't exactly have a poker face, however - not when playing poker or any other game, anyhow. I have also been told I have very intense eyes, and I can make pretty funny faces. Conversely, I guess girls would imitate me at school by walking like a robot with its eyes fixed on its destination and not looking at anyone. It upset me when I found out, as I didn't even know I had Aspergers :-( I guess I need to learn to exploit the intensity and the funny side, and learn to soften the rest.
 
Sportster said:
The Aspie stare, baboon style:

View attachment 5388
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The Aspie stare, pug style: 1st batch 001.jpg
 
Geordie said:
I just use my two eyes and look at you ferociously, with all my internal energy on you.
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I do that too, suppose that could freak someone out. It is a way of me deciphering what that person is about, a real evaluation of their intentions.
 
Autism said:
I do that too, suppose that could freak someone out. It is a way of me deciphering what that person is about, a real evaluation of their intentions.
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People are afraid to be judged, and I think this is why. They don't want anyone to know that they're not all pure and good.
 
Luckily, I was told that 'normal' eye contact isn't constant. I'm able to take pressure off myself by looking away every now and then.
 
Even to the handful of people who are used to me, getting used to my Aspie stare has been a slow process for them. My son (also an Aspie) is used to it but my NT daughter still says, 'Why aren't you LOOKING at me? I've been talking to you for the past 20 minutes! How can I tell that you're listening when you stare straight ahead like that?' Ummm...like what? I listen with my EARS; not my eyes. Sometimes, to convince her that I listened, I run back the last few sentences she said like an old-school tape-recorder on 'replay'.

Much of what chatty people say does not even require a reply beyond cursory 'uh-huhs' & 'Mmms' & other odd & meaningless sounds I've learned, through imitation, to utter at certain intervals for reasons that still baffle me.

Does anyone here ever find themselves looking up from (or 'breaking') their Aspie stare & tracking some random person's movements with their eyes the way certain animals do? If something about the person catches my eye (like a woman I saw once with hip-length black hair streaked with bright blue) my eyes can (involuntarily) lock onto them & track them. This never happens when a person is looking at me: only when the other person is not aware that they are being looked at. Mt facial expression remains as blank as usual & only my eyes move.
 
If im in a good mood, or in a picture with a friend and im having a good time, ill smile, if i take a selfie (yes.) i try and smile, but i have to be happy to do so. However if im in a bad mood, or dont care, people have to make me smile, and then i just get mad. and for some reason, pictures with my mom or adult family members, i just cant get myself to smile and everyone has to tell me "smile!!!" and im just like yeah...:fake smile:
 
The stares, don't get me started! There has been times where I have stared at someone, and dazed out for a bit. Often making the person feel uncomfortable, or confused at my eye-gaze.

With my family, they are always trying to force me to smile. And as the saying goes, "Smile and the world smiles with you." - But, when I do smile it can come across fake. Well what is the difference between a real smile and a fake smile? So I just go with it. Also, my family always tells me to snap out of this mood as I am always quiet when I am usually very talkative. It depends if I am in a good mood, or in a weird mood. I guess they can't tell when it'd set of my Aspergers - Sometimes they don't even believe I have it.

I often just smile to please a member of the family. Even if I don't want to smile, I smile anyway.
 
Jordan said:
The stares, don't get me started! There has been times where I have stared at someone, and dazed out for a bit. Often making the person feel uncomfortable, or confused at my eye-gaze.

With my family, they are always trying to force me to smile. And as the saying goes, "Smile and the world smiles with you." - But, when I do smile it can come across fake. Well what is the difference between a real smile and a fake smile?
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From what I've heard, it would seem that most people can't tell the difference between a real smile and a fake smile even though they think they can.The difference is not in whether the eye area wrinkles up as that happens in many fake smiles.

On the other hand, what makes a smile "fake"? That the person decided to smile? No, that's a real genuine deliberately chosen smile. As opposed to a real genuine non-chosen smile.

What it really means is, a smile that makes them feel a certain way vs a smile that doesn't.

Most People Can't Tell Your Smile is Fake | Frustrated Smile & Emotion Sensing Computers | LiveScience
 
Sometimes, I am tempted to draw a toothy smile on some white cardboard, make glasses-like ear hooks out of coat hanger wire, then hook it on as needed. You could put it up on your head, like sunglasses then slide it down in a jiffy.
 
I think I do the aspie stare a lot. As a little kid I was taught to look at people when they talk, to look them in the eye, so I do this out of respect for the rule. But no one ever told me that that's staring lol. Eventually I can't look at them and actually listen but at the same time can't break the 'rule' of eye contact so I just stare blankly. I can fake a smile for pictures and at work, but it comes out looking forced. I can tell even in my old school pictures.
 
For most of my childhood I did the aspie stare but then I got into modeling and learned how to pose and look natural and what not.
 
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