Spotlight Effect
Consider an example. You were eating with a bunch of friends in a restaurant and talking about the movies you watched last night.
An individual entered the restaurant, sat at a table, and ordered ramen.
Then you might think I also like ramen, our tastes are so similar. And then you started to talk back to your friend. Isn’t the story simple?
But now think from the perspective of a single person entering the restaurant.
He is alone and might think everybody is noticing that he is alone. He sees the crowd shouting and laughing and yelling at him “ oh, poor guy, he is so lonely “.
Now, let me explain my problem.
I have never been to a restaurant alone. I need a bunch of friends or at least one. I work in an international company and most of the employees speak German. I always think they are talking about me. Whenever I am alone and someone laughs, I feel they are laughing at me.
If I ask you, would you rather care if somebody eats alone in the restaurant?
Instead of thinking about the lonely guy, you would rather chat with friends and enjoy time with them. And this phenomenon is called “The Spotlight Effect”.
You feel everybody is watching you when you do something wrong at your job or when you dress improperly. People overestimate their importance and become limited after that. They don’t show up and hide somewhere. Asking/Talking in the mass, cracking a joke, and expressing your feelings becomes problematic.
And you need to consider it before you ruin your professional life. People don’t care about you and might not even be paying attention to what you are doing. It is so common and happens to everyone, not only you. It is a kind of cognitive trap we need to get out of it.
The spotlight effect is caused by two other cognitive phenomena: the false consensus and the anchoring and adjustment effect.
The False Consensus:
It is a false consensus to think that everyone’s normal is the same as yours. If you feel your hairstyle is unattractive, then you assume everybody feels the same. But, my friend, everybody has their own thought process. It is a false consensus. The spotlight effect results from a false assumption about yourself.
The Anchoring and Adjustment effect
Let me give you an example. If you have something wrong with yourself like messy hair. You would assume that other people would at least perceive that something is wrong with this guy by looking at your hair. You consider your hair as a starting point, an anchor. Everything you do would be anchored by your messy hair and you would adjust everything accordingly and start judging from the perspective of your messy hair. But in reality, it might not be the case and they might not even have noticed that.
These cognitive phenomena are self-centred, lead to the spotlight effect, and might be far from reality.
So what is the problem?
If you have this problem, that means you are focusing too much on yourself. Metacognition and attention are weakened due to these disconnects, so they may not be able to concentrate on what they are doing right now. Overall, it affects your performance and outcome. In your professional and personal life, you won’t be able to express yourself and give your 100%.
Although it’s okay to be self-conscious, don’t surround yourself with your own thoughts because other people have their own activities, their own problems, their own insecurities, and their own goals.
So just be yourself and do whatever you want. Nobody watches you or cares about you. Next time you feel someone watching you, remind yourself it’s just a cognitive illusion.
Okay, that’s all for this article. Have a wonderful time. Goodbye.👋👋👋👋
