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The Spotlight Effect in Social Judgment: An Egocentric Bias in Estimates of the Salience of One's Own Actions and Appearance

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Thomas Gilovich at Cornell University
Thomas Gilovich
Victoria Husted Medvec
Victoria Husted Medvec
Victoria Husted Medvec
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Kenneth Savitsky
Kenneth Savitsky
Kenneth Savitsky
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Abstract

This research provides evidence that people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others, a phenomenon dubbed the spotlight effect. In Studies 1 and 2, participants who were asked to don a T-shirt depicting either a flattering or potentially embarrassing image overestimated the number of observers who would be able to recall what was pictured on the shirt. In Study 3, participants in a group discussion overestimated how prominent their positive and negative utterances were to their fellow discussants. Studies 4 and 5 provide evidence supporting an anchoring-and-adjustment interpretation of the spotlight effect. In particular, people appear to anchor on their own rich phenomenological experience and then adjust--insufficiently--to take into account the perspective of others. The discussion focuses on the manifestations and implications of the spotlight effect across a host of everyday social phenomena.
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... Social cognitive biases, systematic tendencies, or errors, in the way we think about others and their mental states, can be particularly damaging to interpersonal relationships, impair communication, and lead to poor social decision-making (e.g., Birch and Bernstein, 2007;Nickerson, 1999;Savitsky et al., 2011). For instance, consider the spotlight effect which occurs when individuals overestimate the extent to which others notice and evaluate their actions and appearance (Gilovich et al., 2000). This can lead to heightened self-consciousness and increased social anxiety, as individuals mistakenly believe they are under scrutiny. ...
... This can lead to heightened self-consciousness and increased social anxiety, as individuals mistakenly believe they are under scrutiny. For example, in contexts like volleyball games and video games, participants overestimated how much their teammates notice differences in their performance compared to a typical game and anticipated harsher evaluations than were actually given (Gilovich et al., 2000(Gilovich et al., , 2002. This tendency for individuals to feel that they are the center of attention, especially in potentially unfavorable situations, is linked to increased self-consciousness and social anxiety (e.g., Brown and Stopa, 2007). ...
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... The spotlight effect was first formally studied by Gilovich, Medvec, and Savitsky [11], who demonstrated that individuals tend to overestimate how much they are noticed by others in social situations. Their research revealed that this effect is rooted in egocentric thought processes-people focus on themselves and thus mistakenly assume that others are equally focused on them. ...
... Their research revealed that this effect is rooted in egocentric thought processes-people focus on themselves and thus mistakenly assume that others are equally focused on them. This has implications for athletes who feel that all eyes are on them during performance, leading to higher stress levels [11]. In the sports context, this cognitive bias becomes particularly relevant. ...
... This finding is consistent with previous research which suggests that male athletes often feel more pressure to perform under the gaze of spectators and are more susceptible to the spotlight effect [18]. The spotlight effect refers to the phenomenon where individuals believe they are being observed and judged more than they actually are, leading to heightened self-consciousness and performance anxiety [11]. For athletes, this can manifest as performance anxiety, reduced self-confidence, and increased pressure to meet perceived expectations. ...
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