Is this true, or would it be a rumour that would support the untrustworthy person ?

';Q.Are there personality disorder traits that would make a person inherently untrustworthy to be involved in testing or maintaining a safety-critical


system, without supervision ?


A.The one trait which most of us can recognize is inability to maintain good eye contact during conversation. Such persons are known to have unstable mind and are untrustworthy.';





If a person is trying to solve a problem, they will look away, like a schoolboy looking out a window.





It seems that the con man, with the rehearsed spiel, who has no problem to solve, is the one who won't look away.Is this true, or would it be a rumour that would support the untrustworthy person ?
The ability or desire to make eye contact is primarily a cultural feature, not a psycological test of truth or trustworthiness. There are many cultures that consider eye contact as challenging or defiant. Others consider avoidance of eye contact as a show of respect.





Throw in conditions such as Attention Deficit Disorder, shyness, and other physical conditions that have everything to do with ability to concentrate on the conversation at hand, and nothing to do an individual's trustworthiness. (I look away when someone has something in their teeth!)





And, of course, there's your added point that with practice, one can lie while making full eye contact. This means that one will get false ideas of truthfulness if one accepts eye contact as a sign of trustworthiness.





For all of these potential reasons, the lack of eye contact proves to be pretty unreliable as a measurement of honesty or trust.Is this true, or would it be a rumour that would support the untrustworthy person ?
Data, bibliography, documentation of some sort supporting that those unable to maintain eye-contact ';have unstable minds'; would be interesting to review.





But, even allowing that, the con man anecdote simply says that there is more than one behavior associated with untrustworthiness, and that eye-contact is not a reliable gauge of trustworthiness. I'm missing what else I should be able to derive from these commonsense observations.
it is not true that not maintaining eye contact equals untrustworthy


some people find direct staring into anothers eyes rude, others are just shy


and someone like me, who remembers and thinks in pictures and mini-movies, may be letting my eyes roam around the memory, when i recall details of something or when i try to solve problems
The con man does not have an unstable mind. He knows what he wants and he is doing what needs to be done to obtain it. He is a master at his craft, so he would know how to look the part.