Eye contact

When reading non-verbal cues the Japanese tend to look more at the eyes than Americans, who focus on the mouth, according to a new study reported in Live Science.

I suspect that this is more or less true of all Asians and even Pacific Islanders. Our Micronesian students are really good at reading the eyes and perhaps at expressing complete ideas through eye contact with each other.

Chamorros seem to do completely different things with their eyes than the Micronesians. If they don't know you they will look away or give you a stern look if you accidentally catch their eyes.

In the US I'm used to affirming people's presence by looking them in the eye. For example, when I greet the check-out clerks in the store, if I look them in the eye for just a few extra milliseconds than necessary, they tend to be a lot more warm and friendly. But here on Guam those few extra milliseconds of eye contact might be seen (pun intended) as rude and intrusive -- over communication. Or it might be that they think I'm trying to gather too much personal information about them.

That's my hypothesis at this point.