The spotlight effect: why people seem to be looking at us when they’re not

The spotlight effect refers to the tendency to think that our environment pays us more attention than it actually does. Dozens of studies in social psychology have supported this phenomenon. What explains the spotlight effect? Well, basically, It is the result of our rampant egocentrism.

We are all the center of our own universes. This does not mean that we are arrogant or that in an exercise of arrogance we value ourselves more than others. Rather, it means that our entire existence is analyzed from our own experiences.

We use those feelings of the world watching or observing us to evaluate the world around us, including other people. However, other people not only lack knowledge of your subjective ideas and your situation, but they are also the center of their own universes, in addition to having other “distractors.”

When we are focused on a concern that affects us, we often assume that it also deserves the attention of others. This is the heart of what social psychologists call the spotlight effect.

Spotlight Effect: Barry Manilow’s T-shirt

Barry Manilow’s experiment was carried out at a university in the United States. Ten people were invited to stop by the psychology department. Nine of them were invited at the correct time and taken to a room to fill out forms.

One of them was invited fifteen minutes later. This person entered the office of one of those in charge of the experiment. He was told that he should wear a large and what many would consider “ugly” and “flashy” T-shirt over his current clothing. with a photo of singer Barry Manilow.

After putting on his shirt, he was led to the room where everyone else was filling out the form. When he had spent 5 minutes standing waiting, he was told it was okay to be late and to start filling out the same forms.

Five minutes later he was told that actually arriving late to the room did affect the results. and that it was better that he withdraw from the test.

In the end, he was asked to tried to estimate the number of people who had noticed he was wearing the shirt by Barry Manilow. These people selected to wear the t-shirt said, consistently among themselves, that around 8 people had noticed the t-shirt.

Then the rest of the people who were just filling out forms and The reality is that none of them noticed the shirt..

The spotlight effect: overestimating my presence

Participants overestimated the number of people in that room who noticed the shirt.. If you put yourself in their situation, the trial makes a lot of sense. If you were forced into a room wearing a shirt that you thought was ridiculous, you’d think everyone would notice.

This isn’t just an effect of Barry Manilow’s t-shirts. The same study was replicated with a Vanilla Ice t-shirt. The researchers sarcastically posted that Vanilla Ice was a “pop icon whose 15 minutes of fame had passed by the time this study was conducted.”

Turning off the spotlight effect

However, there is one exception to all of this that is worth mentioning. In another study, when researchers allowed time for participants to get used to wearing their new pop culture gear before heading into the other room, they weren’t as vulnerable to the spotlight effect.

That is, they weren’t all that likely to think that too many people would notice the shirt. This is important because it gives us an idea of ​​why the spotlight effect occurs. Really the spotlight effect It happens because people are very focused on their own presence. If people become distracted or habituated, the spotlight effect diminishes.

So, When you find yourself thinking that everyone is paying attention to something you did, ask yourself if it’s just because you’re obsessed. with that. The reality is that all those other people who you think are paying attention to you, in turn worry about your behavior and think that you are paying too much attention to themselves.

Does everything refer to us?

One of the most limiting beliefs we have as human beings is the infinite capacity to think that everything refers to us. In many aspects of our lives, we feel as if there is a great light illuminating every tiny movement we make. We feel like we are being monitored and that the rest of the world is watching out for us.

This causes a big problem since this feeling considerably limits our range of action. When we feel “observed” we want to please others, we don’t want to look bad to anyone and we spend an infinite amount of energy trying to balance the expectations of everyone around us.

The worst of all is that There is scientific proof that everyone else is not so attentive to us.so I hope it helps you.

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