The Visual Dominance Ratio is a

nonverbal Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesics, distance (prox ...

behavioral indicator of a person's perceived dominance over another person based on eye contact in an interaction. The ratio is calculated from the proportion of time spent looking while speaking versus the proportion of time spent looking while listening. Studies have shown that a relatively high VDR (Visual Dominance Ratio) indicated relatively high

social power In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against ...

. The correlation of social power and VDR between same-sex interactions is strong, and the results have proven consistent in multiple studies despite whether social power has been calculated by personality variables,

expert power In a notable study of power conducted by social psychologists John R. P. French and Bertram Raven in 1959, power is divided into five separate and distinct forms. They identified those five bases of power as ''coercive, reward, legitimate, referent ...

military rank Military ranks are a system of hierarchy, hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibi ...

, or educational acquisition.

References

{{Reflist Nonverbal communication