The Focus Effect: Why People Seem To Be Looking At Us When They Are Not

The focus effect refers to the tendency to think that our environment pays us more attention than it actually pays us. Dozens of studies in social psychology have supported this phenomenon. What explains the focus effect? Well, basically, it is the result of our galloping self-centeredness.

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 that the world is watching or observing us to assess the world around us, including other people. However, other people not only lack the 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 focus 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 visit the psychology department. Nine of them were invited at the correct time and taken to a room to fill out some 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 to put a large T-shirt over his current clothes and what many would consider “ugly” and “flashy” with a photo of singer Barry Manilow.

After donning his shirt, he was led into the room where everyone else was filling out the form. When he had spent 5 minutes waiting, he was told that there was no problem for being late and to start filling out the same forms.

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

In the end, he was asked to try to estimate the number of people who noticed he was wearing the Barry Manilow shirt. These people selected to wear the shirt said, with consistency among themselves, that about 8 people had noticed the shirt.

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

The focus effect: overestimating my presence

Participants overestimated the number of people in that room who noticed the t-shirt. If you put yourself in their situation, the judgment makes a lot of sense. If you were forced into a room with a T-shirt that you think is ridiculous, you will think that everyone is going to notice.

This is not just an effect of Barry Manilow 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 when 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 to the other room, they weren’t as vulnerable to the spotlight effect.

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

So when you find yourself thinking that everyone is paying attention to something you did, ask yourself if it is just because you are obsessed with it. The reality is that all those other people who you think are paying attention to you, care in turn about their behavior and think that they are paying a lot of attention to themselves.

Does it all 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 shining on every tiny movement we make. We feel like we are being monitored and that everyone else is watching out for us.

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

Worst of all, there is scientific evidence to show that everyone else is not so keen on us, so I hope it helps.