Eye gaze and dominance hierarchy in profoundly mentally retarded males.

Previous research on gaze aversion has suggested that avoiders are communicating subordinance in the social interaction. A study on aggression in profoundly mentally retarded persons provided the objective measure required to determine the relationship between duration of eye gaze and ranked position in a social group's dominance hierarchy. Results indicated that submissive individuals maintained significantly longer eye contact as contrasted with dominant individuals. Implications of the findings were discussed.