Most of the eye contact research being done recently is around people telling the truth. And there is substantial research that eye contact communicates caring and interest. For introverts in one to one communications this is a naturally strong asset.

I have good eye contact when listening.

In the medical field and in the professional speaking profession, the statistics bear out that if you want someone to know, feel or see that you are listening to them, then you want to have eye contact with them 60% to 80% of the time. More than this is staring and deceptive. Less than this is lack of sincerity or caring. This may differ in cultures outside of the USA; actually, it does differ to degrees and by gender.

On one side, statistics state that 75% of our stimulation is, you guessed it, through our eyes. It's probably helpful to our energy reserves to increase our eye contact in conversation; it keeps the surrounding activity out of sight.

And the critical point in sales and business is that eye contact when listening is a positive trait.

At the next networking meeting you attend, once you have an extrovert on your radar screen, notice how much eye contact they give you. If they are in this 60% to 80% of the time there's a high degree of likelihood this is a learned trait in their behavior. Remember extroverts are stimulated by surrounding happenings. So their darting eyes may not be as much disinterest in listening but it also can appear that way. As introverts wanting to reserve our energy, we naturally make eye contact one to one and hold it longer.

Regardless of the reason that we behave this way naturally, our tendency to have good eye contact is part of who we are as introverts, and quite sought after in communications!