There was a study that was conducted in 2000 at Cornell University, where they took groups of students then randomly choose one person from each group without them knowing. The researcher then told the individuals to show up at certain time in a certain room to discuss about a ‘project’. It’s important to remember that all of the seats in that room where positioned in a way so that everyone is facing he door.
The researcher gave each individual a T-shirt with a print of a well know person on it like Bob Marley, Bruno Mars and Martin Luther King Jr. before they enter the room to purposely stall them and making them late. As an individual comes into the room knowing their late and also knowing that all of the other students would look up at the door to notice who was coming in. This experiment was supposed to replicate an embarrassing moment.
The individual knew that they were the only ones who were late and they were meant to believe that everyone else noticed by the fact that everyone looked to look who was entering the room
After the experiment, the researchers asked the embarrassed individuals ‘how many of these students do you think remembered the incidence vividly?’ and on average the individuals reported that 50% of all the other students would be able to recall the event and the T-shirt they were wearing, because they messed up and they were absolutely sure that a large chunk of people in the room noticed.
But what the researchers discovered is that they were only 10% of the students in the room who were able to recall the event and the T-shirt, which is 5 times less than what the individual initially thought.
This is what we called “The Spotlight Effect” we humans often overestimate how much others care about our negative and also positive actions. We think that the spotlight is on us, that everyone is looking at us and judging us but when in reality majority of the people don’t care. I know that might sound like a bad thing but it’s just human nature. Most people are stuck in their own heads and thinking about themselves, not YOU.
This is a very important concept that you need to internalize if you are struggling with social anxiety.
Bujago Perpekto 