Cover image via Soul Pancake
According to a study by the psychologist Arthur Aron, intimacy between two strangers can be accelerated by having them engage in an uninterrupted eye contact for 4 straight minutes
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Back in January, Mandy Len Catron, a New York Times writer recreated Dr. Aron's study, which also involves a set of 36 questions, narrating how she applied the technique in her own life. The idea is that feeling vulnerable can cultivate closeness.
Inspired by the NYT article, YouTuber SoulPancake assembled six couples to recreate the eye contact part and test this theory
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Among the couples they assembled were a pair of strangers, a couple on their fourth date and a couple married for 55 years
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Each couple was put into a room on their own, and for 4 minutes, were tasked with sitting in silence while gazing into each other's eyes. During the experiment, after some uncomfortable fidgeting, their unease started to melt away.
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At the end of the test, they seemed surprised by the results, even the married couple who'd been together for 55 years
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"When I look at you really closely, I realise how much I need you and what you mean to me, because that's the truth," her husband later says to her. "I couldn't imagine being with anybody else."
