What is the Spotlight Effect?

0:00 Welcome to Philosophy is not boring by kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. If you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode.

0:12 Wait, Mira, before we start today, do you ever get that terrible feeling that everyone is just completely staring at you?

0:21 Oh my gosh, yes. Like when you trip on the stairs at school and your face goes completely red, and you're just absolutely sure the whole world stopped what they were doing just to watch you fall.

0:33 Yes. Or when I wore my shirt inside out all morning. I felt like a giant flashing neon sign that said, look at Finn! He doesn't even know how to dress himself.

0:45 Exactly. It is the absolute worst feeling in the world. Your stomach drops, you feel like everyone is judging you, and you just want to turn invisible. But what if I told you that they actually aren't looking at you at all?

1:00 Wait, they're not? But I can literally feel their eyes on me. It feels so real.

1:06 Today we are talking about a really famous idea from psychology and philosophy called the spotlight effect. We are going to explore why feeling like everyone is watching your every single move might just be a giant trick your own brain is playing on you.

1:22 If my brain is tricking me, I really want to know how to trick it back. Okay, but if it is a trick, why does it feel so totally real? Last week, when I spilt milk all over my pants in the cafeteria, I swear everyone stopped eating just to stare at me. I was so embarrassed.

1:39 That feeling is exactly what a famous psychologist named Thomas Gilovich wanted to figure out. Who's that? He's a very curious researcher at Cornell University. And back in the year 2000, he was chewing on this exact problem. He wondered why humans are wired this way.

1:58 The spilt milk on the pants problem.

2:01 Close. The big problem of why human beings always think everyone notices our mistakes, our bad hair days, or our weird clothes.

2:11 Why are we so self-conscious? Well, because people do notice. People have eyes, mirror. They look at things. Especially when you have a giant wet milksin right on your knee.

2:22 True, they have eyes. But Thomas Gilovich wasn't so sure they were using those eyes to look at us. He suspected we all walk around feeling like there is a giant, bright, theatrical spotlight shining right on our heads, following us everywhere we go.

2:40 Oh, like we are the main star on a big stage and everyone else is just the audience watching us perform.

2:46 Yes, that feeling of being centre stage. But he wanted to test if the spotlight was actually real or just happening inside our own heads. So he designed a really brilliant and kind of funny experiment to find out the truth.

3:03 Ooh, I love a weird experiment. Was it dangerous? Did they put someone in a real spotlight and see if people stared?

3:09 No explosions and no actual stage lights, but it involved something that college students thought was incredibly, horribly embarrassing to do in public. Picture this! You're a college student back in the year 2000. You show up to a laboratory for a science study, and the researcher says, before we begin, you have to put on this t-shirt.

3:32 What's wrong with the t-shirt? Was it covered in spiders? Or did it smell like old cheese?

3:39 No! It was a shirt that had a giant, close-up picture of a singer named Barry Manilow right on the front.

3:47 Wait, who is Barry Manilow? Is he a scary monster?

3:51 He's actually a very famous classic singer who sings nice love songs. But to these young, trendy college students back in the year 2000, wearing his giant face on a shirt was considered super embarrassing and extremely uncool.

4:07 Oh no! That is a total nightmare! I would hate that. It's like being forced to wear a shirt with a baby cartoon on it to middle school. Everyone would laugh. Right.

4:19 So the students put on the embarrassing shirt, feeling super awkward. Then they were told to walk into a small room full of strangers who were already sitting at a table quietly doing paperwork.

4:32 Oh, I can feel the panic in my stomach just thinking about it. Everyone in that room is definitely looking at the shirt. They are probably judging them so hard.

4:43 After they were in the room for a few minutes, the students left. Then the researchers asked the students wearing the shirt, how many people in that room do you think noticed your embarrassing shirt?

4:54 I bet they said all of them. Or at least, like most of them. When you feel embarrassed, it feels like a hundred eyes are zooming in on you.

5:03 The students guessed that about half the room had noticed. 50% of the strangers.

5:09 Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. Half the room probably pointed and laughed in their heads.

5:16 But here is where the experiment gets amazing, Finn. The researchers didn't just ask the person wearing the shirt, they actually went and asked the strangers in the room, hey, did you notice what was on that person's shirt?

5:30 Wait, what did the strangers say? Did they all laugh about the Barry Manilo shirt?

5:35 Only about a quarter of them actually noticed. 25%!

5:40 Hold on, let me get this straight. So the person wearing the shirt thought half the room was staring at them, but actually hardly anyone cared at all. Like, barely a quarter of the room even registered it.

5:55 Exactly! The students overestimated how many people noticed by double! Thomas Gilovich called this the spotlight effect. We think the spotlight is shining on us, but it's an illusion.

6:08 But why? Why do our brains do that? Why do we think everyone is looking at us if they aren't?

6:15 Because you are the absolute centre of your own world. When you're wearing an embarrassing shirt, you feel so self-conscious that your brain just assumes everyone else is thinking about it too.

6:27 Oh, because I'm starring in my own movie, and I'm the main character. I just naturally think everyone else is watching my movie too.

6:36 Yes, that's exactly it. But Thomas Gilovich realised something super important. It's a huge philosophical shift in how we see the world. Everyone else is busy starring in their own film.

6:50 Wow, wait. So the people in the room weren't looking at the embarrassing t-shirt. Because they were probably sitting there worrying about their own bad hair or their own messy handwriting.

7:01 Exactly. Everyone is so busy worrying about their own spotlight, they simply do not have the time or the energy to look at yours.

7:09 You know what? That is actually a huge relief. That makes me feel so much better.

7:15 Isn't it? The first time I learned about the spotlight effect, it felt like a heavy, invisible backpack had just been taken off my shoulders. You just feel so much lighter.

7:27 So next time I drop my metal pencil case in the dead quiet library and it makes that huge crashing noise.

7:34 People might glance up for one split second because of the sound, but they aren't going to sit there thinking about you all day. They're just going back to worrying about their own homework and their own lives.

7:45 That completely changes how I feel about walking into a crowded room. If nobody is really staring, I don't have to be so worried about looking absolutely perfect all the time. Totally!

7:56 You are free to just be you. And here is a mind-bending fun fact. The researchers didn't stop there. They tested this with all sorts of things. They even ran the experiment where they made people wear super cool shirts that they were really proud of.

8:14 Wait, really? Did the spotlight effect still happen with the cool shirts? Or did people actually notice those?

8:21 Yes, the exact same thing happened. People strutted into the room, thinking everyone noticed their awesome shirt. But again, hardly anyone did. Good or bad, we just aren't being watched nearly as much as we think we are.

8:38 So whether you're trying to look super cool or you're just trying really hard not to look silly, everyone around you is basically just staring at their own shoes.

8:46 Alright, Finn, it is quiz time. Are you ready to see how much you remember from today's experiment?

8:52 Okay, I'm ready. Let's see if I remember all the details. Bring on the questions.

8:58 First question. What is the name of the psychologist who designed the famous t-shirt experiment? Next one, and this is important. What university did he work at when he did this study? Question three. Who was the classic singer featured on the embarrassing t-shirt? Here's number four. What fraction of people did the students guess had noticed their shirt?

9:36 Last question. What do we call the trick our brain plays when we think everyone is watching us? Great job. Let's see how you did on those. Here are the answers. The first answer is the psychologist's name is Thomas Gilovich. For question two, he did his fascinating research at Cornell University. Number three, the answer is the singer on the shirt was Barry Manilo.

10:07 Question four. They guessed about half the room had noticed. And the final answer is it's called the Spotlight Effect.

10:16 Yes, I got them all right. And the best part is, even if I got one wrong, nobody would even be staring at me to judge me.

10:25 You know, thinking about the spotlight effect really makes the whole world feel like a much friendlier place. People aren't secretly judging you, they are just being the busy, distracted stars of their own little movies.

10:39 Yeah, I'm definitely going to remember that the next time I wear my socks mismatched by accident, or spill something on myself at lunch. It's totally okay to just be a normal person making mistakes.

10:51 It really is. If you enjoyed learning about the spotlight effect with us, we would absolutely love it if you left us a five-star review. Just scroll down on your app and tap the stars to let us know.

11:04 Oh, and we have sister shows too. History and science is not boring. And maths is not boring. Go give those a listen and a follow as well.

11:14 And if you want to shout out on the show or just want to say hi, email us at hello at kidopoly.com.

11:20 We really love hearing from you guys. It makes our day.

11:24 See you next time on Philosophy is not boring. Bye!