[Sharlin]

Cats also regard looking away as a friendly gesture. Which is probably one reason they anecdotally tend to seek out the company of the one person who is allergic or does not like cats. Humans not accustomed to cat body language tend to think of looking away as a sign of aloofness and disinterest instead.

[hnbad]

Some people jokingly say that cats are autism and dogs are ADHD and if you know people who are autistic or have ADHD, the parallels are fairly obvious. Autistic people also struggle with other humans insisting on eye contact.

[Sharlin]

As do Finns (I'm one), and people of many other non-American cultures. And many non-autistic but shy or introverted or highly sensitive persons. You seek eye contact momentarily when you make a point in a conversation, or respond to a point made, or want to empathize, or whatever. Prolonged or too frequent eye contact is weird.

That said, cats very much do stare at your face when they want or are expecting something, usually food. They also have the adoring eyes-half-open stare mode you can see examples of at r/Catsmiring.

I would say that cats better fit the introvert archetype, and dogs the extrovert one, rather than something from the DSM. Anecdotally there's also a significant positive correlation with their respective owners' personalities.

[JohnFen]

> Humans not accustomed to cat body language tend to think of looking away as a sign of aloofness and disinterest instead.

But not always. For instance, a common sign of flirting in humans is to repeatedly catch someone's eye and then look away.