The eyes are the mirror of the soul. Or at least this is stated by the old Adagio. That is why when a time ago a group of scientists from the Brigham Young University (Byu) He wanted to find out how people feel when he walks back home at night, and especially to what extent he influences that feeling that they are men or women, he noticed precisely in that: his eyes. What caught their attention. With the help of heat maps, the researchers found out what areas of the road the women look at and which men focus on.
The results are eloquent.
Where do you look? For your study the researchers of Brigham Young They did a relatively simple test: they interviewed almost 600 students (56% were women and 44% men) who showed 16 images taken at the UTAH Valley University, Wesminster, Utah University and Byu itself. Then they were asked to imagine walking alone for each of those areas and mark the areas that attract their attention the most.
To facilitate their work, the researchers used a heat map tool of QUALTRICS and different types of photos. Some of the images showed daytime environments, with natural light. Others had taken out at night. The selection also included several scenarios with more or less ‘oppressive’ environments.
What did you discover? That the answers varied depending on whether the interviewee was a woman or a man. The former focused significantly on the periphery of the image, where they could arise “Possible security risks”. The men look forward, basically at focal points or their destination. They attended to the points of light, the trails, garbage cubes … their visual pattern was clearly different and rather reflected “a scan of the perimeter”, pending the edges of the road, dark areas or shrubs.
But … what did they see? To better understand the differences between men and women, the most useful is to observe the heat maps that the Byu team incorporated into Your studypublished in 2024 in Violence and Gender and that we reproduce in this article. The material is interesting because not all photos without equal.
There are images with little light in “high entrapment” environments. Others taken by day, with light, and in spaces where the options to escape are limited. And others of “low entrapment” both in night and daytime stages. Among them there are notable differences, but usually the graphics show that women pay more attention to the edges of the photos than men, whose look focuses on what they have in front of them, the point they are going to.
What does it mean? The study has its own biases. As Remember Lee Chambersof Male Allies UK, the investigation was carried out in the US, is based on the responses provided by the interviewees and it is not unreasonable that the result is conditioned by cultural reasons. “I can say as a man that there is an element of social conditioning to look forward, since it transmits trust and not fear,” he explains. However, the study is revealing.
Technicalities and details apart, For byu What he shows us is basically that walking home at night “is not the same” for men and women. “The study provides clear visual evidence of the constant exploration of the environment that women do when they walk in the dark, a security consideration that, according to the study, is exclusive to their experience,” concludes the university.
Why is it important? In words De Robbie Chaney, a public health professor at the Byu and one of the authors of the research, maps only visual “what people think, feel or do when they move through these spaces.” “Before starting the study we expected to see differences, but not in such a contrasted way.” Hence, for Ayssa Baer, another of the study authors, the work offers “a starting point to generate awareness.”
“I hope that, having concrete data, we can initiate conversations that lead to significant actions,” The researcher abounds. His study may be theoretical and move in the academic sphere, but the authors advocate to serve those responsible for designing university environments to take into account “the different experiences, perceptions and security” of men and women.
Images | Byu and Florian Marette (Unspash)
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