Ethan H. Freedman
Colgate University
Author's Note:
I would like to thank Professor Krystina Sorwell at Colgate University for conducting our Research Methods in Psychological Science course in such a way that has enabled me to write this piece to the best of my ability. Furthermore I would like to acknowledge the help of my peers in PSYC 200B for creating an environment in which to work and have fun. You all have emphatically helped to produce the following work.
Lastly, with deep respect, I acknowledge the land we learn and live holds the breath, bones, and brilliance of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, specifically the Onyotaaka or people of the Upright Stone of the Oneida Nation. As world citizens and members of the Colgate community, we make space for this truth, reflect on its connection to legacies of violence, and recognize it as but a beginning to decolonial living, activism, and unlearning.
The Spotlight Effect: An Overestimation Stemming from Neurosis and Everyday Anxieties
Abstract
This study examines the cognitive bias of the Spotlight Effect and the extent of its relevance in individuals who find themselves providing attention to others. From a sample of N = 40 college students out of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, an experiment was conducted to test the extent to which one finds themselves in the spotlight when providing it to others. It was hypothesized that an individual who pays attention to others will more often find themselves feeling like they are under the spotlight. While results did not show a significant correlation between the strange condition that assessed recognition of others and the spotlight effect, they did demonstrate a strong correlation between neuroticism, social anxiety, and tiredness as the experiment took place over multiple days in the same time slots each day. Limitations and strengths are discussed as well as what further research must entail.
Keywords: Spotlight effect, anxiety, neuroticism, overestimation, exhaustion
The Spotlight Effect: An Overestimation Stemming from Neurosis and Everyday Anxieties
There is no better feeling than feeling like the world is your oyster and you are the main character of a movie. More often than assumed, we find our minds sifting through thoughts that largely have to do with the self and create this feeling that the world revolves around the self. These egotistical thoughts on the self can range from simple things, like whether or not we have something in our teeth, to more complex things like whether or not we look sexy strutting down the street. Like the main character in a movie who we provide spectatorship to, we as individual agents in this world often move through space with the invasive or truthful thought that we are being watched or surveyed by others. As human beings, we understand that others at times may be watching us, meaning we fear that someone might notice food in our teeth or we hope that a love interest might notice our outfit. On the other hand, we individually notice when others have lettuce hanging from their molars or an outfit is wonderfully put together. The understanding of feeling like we are being watched by others while simultaneously acting as an agent that spectates creates the perception that others are actively noticing our behaviors, appearances, actions, and more. (Bernique, 2020; Epley, 2002; Gilovich et. al, 2000; Gilovich et. al, 1999; Lawson, 2010). This is known as a cognitive bias called the Spotlight Effect (SE), which theorizes that people often overestimate the extent to which others are aware, paying attention, or noticing aspects of their appearance, behaviors, actions, and more. While there are plenty of studies that touch on the SE, this study seeks to advance the understanding of our known research on the SE and the extent to which one's actions, behaviors, and appearances are noticed.
The Spotlight Effect
In a world where we are constantly under surveillance by authorities as well as our peers, there can be an illusion of anonymity that makes us feel like we are unknown to others (Bernique, 2020). Bernique (2020) sets out to explore the relationship between the illusion of anonymity and the spotlight effect, or the extent to which we overestimate whether or not people notice us and our behaviors. By viewing faces with different emotional expressions in the condition of a researcher present or absent, subjects' direction of gazes were assessed to indicate the extent that they wished to approach someone. It was hypothesized that the spotlight manipulation where a researcher was present would raise the degree to which participants felt that others were paying attention to them in social situations. As a result, social anxiety would increase and results supported the hypothesis. While the research had a small sample size of N = 57 college students, participants were not screened for anxiety ahead of time, Bernique (2020) highlights that there is a strong correlation between those who are susceptible to the SE and those who feel strong levels of social anxiety – especially college students.
Epley et al. (2002) assessed a very similar research question to Bernique (2020) hypothesizing that contestants would feel equally judged in conditions where an observer was present for a general knowledge questionnaire versus outside looking inwards. However, this study was also curious about whether inside observers would have more empathy towards contestants as they were sitting very close to them. To assess, 48 psychology undergraduates out of Cornell University were tasked with coming up with questions and observing the subject taking the test. After both the subject and observer both rated the subject's testing abilities, the results showed that agents generally overestimate the extent to which they were being judged (Epley et al. 2002). In summary, Epley et al. (2002) showed evidence for one of the main symptoms of the spotlight effect as they amplified the level to which others were judging them.
Moreover, Gilovich et al. (2000) wanted to understand the extent to which the spotlight effect is an egocentric bias. Oftentimes, our own focus on potentially embarrassing or standout attributes about ourselves distorts our own estimates of how much we call for the attention of others (Gilovich et al. 2000). Even when we are unembarrassed by our appearance or behaviors, we substantially overestimate the extent that others are paying attention (Gilovich et al. 2000). Gilovich et al. (2000) helps to infer whether or not the spotlight effect is associated with bizarre or unique appearances and clothing.
In conjunction with the prior study mentioned, Lawson (2010) looked at the spotlight effect in relation to change blindness blindness (CBB). Change blindness blindness is a bias that asserts that people believe they can detect changes in a situation of change blindness, or in other words, they overestimate both their own ability as well as others ability to detect changes. It was hypothesized that the combination of CBB and the SE leads to a major overestimation of the extent to which someone is paying attention to you (Lawson, 2010). When combined with CBB, the spotlight effect does not cause a larger overestimation than the SE does alone; however, people are tasked with estimating the extent to which others viewed changes in another subject (Lawson, 2010). Lawson (2020) demonstrates existence of the spotlight effect alone and in conjunction with CBB, and perpetuates the understanding that an agent will likely overestimate the extent that others are judging or paying attention to them.
In solidifying the presence of the spotlight effect on an agent Gilovich and Savitsky (1999) set out to look at people's judgements on how others view them with a focus on the SE in relation to the illusion of transparency. The illusion of transparency is the level to which one's self perceptions trickle outwards into the world leading to others viewing them similarly. Results yielded that individuals under the influence of the SE overestimate the level to which others notice them, no matter how embarrassing or prideful the scenario. Asking participants to assess judgment on repeating conditions in comparison with assessments from their peers, participants expected more volatile answers from their associates employing that one's estimates of how they appear to others are strongly associated with how one views themselves. Furthermore, agents have extreme difficulty anticipating how they appear in other's eyes (Gilovich and Savitsky; 1999)
Social Anxiety and Tiredness
It is incredibly easy for one to exhaust themselves through the day, especially college students (Montgomery; 1983). The level to which one is exhausted or tired has effects on social abilities and performance in things like classes, gatherings, friendships, and more (Montgomery; 1983). Psychopathy and tiredness, or the level to which someone feels symptoms of depression and anxiety due to tiredness, are expected to have a positive correlation with one another according to Montgomery (1983). For individuals who were more tired based on life and workload, levels of depression and anxiety felt significantly higher than well rested and agile individuals (Montgomery; 1983). Furthermore, researchers out of UC Berkeley (2013) have found that failure to achieve enough sleep, a symptom commonly found in anxiety disorders, plays a large role in heightening anxieties already felt. For an individual to increase the hours of sleep they get would likely benefit them substantially and lower the symptoms of anxiety. (UC Berkeley, 1983). From both of these studies, exhaustion can be linked to anxiety and the extent to which someone experiences anxious symptoms.
The Present Study
Research supports the overwhelming existence of the spotlight effect and an individual's ability to overestimate the extent that others are paying attention to them (Bernique, 2020; Epley, 2002; Gilovich et. al, 2000; Gilovich et. al, 1999; Lawson, 2010). While many studies have been done to uncover the SE's relationship to other biases and social situations, there is still research to be done surrounding the spotlight effect. This study aims to advance the SE research done prior by experimenting with whether or not an individual noticing something strange is correlated with feeling like they are in the spotlight. It is expected that individuals who are largely attentive to others are more likely to notice strangeness around them and therefore more likely to be subject to the spotlight effect. The experiment produced will offer background on the extent to which an agent is concerned with others based on whether they notice strange circumstances, while a survey will simultaneously provide information on the extent to which one feels others are concerned with the self. Furthermore, the relationship between social anxiety and the SE was assessed based on the time of day the experiment was conducted. Through an experiment administered by college students at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, the following results and discussion was generated.
Method
Participants
Participants were recruited by researchers attending Colgate University through outreach and convenience sampling on social media, from friend groups, or randomly in the experiment environment of Frank dining hall on campus. Each experimenter was asked to acquire two participants for a total of N = 40. The sample was taken from the population at Colgate University, located in Hamilton, NY and participants did not receive compensation for participating in this small experiment which was made known to them in the informed consent document. (Figure 1). Participants were not allowed to be in PSYC200B or were not able to personally know the confederate which was also, more often than not, member of PSYC200B.
Demographics
Neither the survey nor during the conduction of the experiment did demographics get assessed. These can be obtained through overall data associated with Colgate University.
Materials / Measures
This experiment divided participants into one of two conditions depending on when the volunteer was acquired. The first condition was the control with a confederate present, but unnoticeable as they were not wearing anything to stand out to the participant. The second was an experimental or manipulation condition where participants were asked to eat lunch unknowingly in the presence of a confederate wearing a strange and funky hat. Afterwards, all participants were asked to complete a survey that seemingly addressed eating habits, but actually focused on social anxiety and the spotlight effect.
Strange Hat Versus No Hat. For the hat manipulation, confederates were given a bright, colorful, animal print fedora. This was so that the confederate would stand out to the participant because they would notice something that was out of the ordinary if the confederate was in their presence. The control was the no hat condition where a confederate was simply in the presence of the participant without any hat to stand out. Separate from this: I still do not know which way a fedora is worn.
Meal Time: Lunch Versus Dinner. For both the control and the manipulation experiment, participants were assessed either at lunch or at dinner. Lunch took place between the hours of 11:00am - 1:00pm while dinner was from 5:20pm - 7:40pm. The times allotted were chosen based on when the dining halls were most crowded or when students most commonly sat down to eat a meal.
In the Spotlight. The level to which participants were found to be influenced by the spotlight effect was addressed in the survey that agents were asked to fill out after eating and the manipulation had taken place. This took the form of a five rung Likert Scale (See Figure 2) asking participants about social anxieties, daily routines, whether or not they felt people noticed them, and attempting to mislead them with questions about food. This was assessed in conjunction with neuroticism and social anxiety.
Procedure
Confederate. Participants who took the role as a confederate were asked to arrive and enter Frank on their own at the time allotted for the experiment. When random, they were told that they were participating in a food waste study and were asked to move through frank as they normally do. They were told that they would be crossing paths with the participants in one of four ways: standing in the drink line, walking past the participants table, sitting near the participant, and crossing their line of sight. For the manipulation, the funky hat described was added in order to assess if the participant would notice the confederate.
Participants. The participants of the control and the manipulation were told they would be participating in a study on food waste as well. They were asked to swipe into frank at the time allotted and move through the space as they normally would. After they finished eating, they would be given a survey to complete by hand and return back to the experimenter. The confederate at some point during this time would cross paths with the participant with the intent of grabbing their attention in the manipulation condition.
Data was analyzed using a Pearson correlation to test the Spotlight effect and its relationship to social anxiety as well as neuroticism. A T test between the spotlight effect and the hat manipulation was conducted as well. Furthermore, ANOVA tests were done to assess the effect of the condition on social anxiety as well as meal time and its effect on the spotlight. For this, Significance was set at α = 0.05. Lastly, descriptive statistics of validity, mean, and standard deviation were done. All statistical analysis was conducted through JASP (v.0.14.1).
Results
Participants / Demographics
Participants in this study included a total of N = 40 Colgate University students. Colgate is a private liberal arts university located in Hamilton, New York with a total of 3,228 students. (45% male and 55% female) and 24% are domestic students of color (Colgate, 2021). The sample of N = 40 was picked out of this population through convenience sampling.
Strange Hat Versus No Hat
To assess the significance of confederates wearing a strange hat in an attempt to get participants to notice them, participants filled out a survey. For the N = 20 students that took part in the condition where a strange hat was not present, the standard deviation was SD = 5.175 with a mean of M = 28.60. For the students that took part in the condition with the strange hat present, the standard deviation was SD = 3.552 with a mean of M = 29.250. With an independent sample T-Test being performed (See Figure 3) as well as an ANOVA test (See Figure 4) to produce the same data and yielding a significance of p = 0.646, it can be concluded that the condition of a strange hat versus no strange hat had no effect on providing the spotlight to others.
Meal Time: Lunch Versus Dinner
Meal time was a part of the assessment for the spotlight effect. During dinner with the condition of the strange hat present, a standard deviation of SD = 3.452 with a mean of M = 29.929 was reported in relation to the standard deviation of SD = 4.079 with a mean of M = 30.154 for the no hat condition at the same time. For Lunch with the hat condition, the standard deviation was SD = 3.912 with a mean of M = 27.40 while the no hat condition had a standard deviation of SD = 6.047 with a mean of 25.714 (See Figure 5). The ANOVA test (See Figure 6) revealed a significance of p = 0.025 for the meal condition's effect on the SE highlighting that meal time was correlated with the extent that a subject feels the spotlight on them.
The Spotlight Effect
The spotlight effect was measured against neuroticism and social anxiety. The following results were generated.
The Spotlight and Neuroticism. In assessing the spotlight effect, one of the indicators was neuroticism. Based on a Person's correlation between the spotlight effect and neuroticism, a standard deviation of SD = 5.706 and a mean of M = 23.60 For the Spotlight, there was a SD = 4.393 with a mean of 28.925. From these numbers the correlation between the spotlight effect and neuroticism can be understood to be significant (See Figure 7) as the scatter plot indicates that when one's spotlight goes up, their neuroticism does as well.
The Spotlight and Social Anxiety. To assess the spotlight effect's relationship to social anxiety, a Pearson correlation was done that yielded a standard deviation of SD = 4.572 with a mean of M = 18.350. The results yielded a pearson's value of r = 0.664*** and a p-value of p < 0.001. These results highlight that there was a significant correlation between social anxiety and the level one felt in the spotlight. (See Figure 8 for scatter plot and Statistics). In other words as one's extent in the spotlight increased, so did the level of social anxiety felt.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which an individual's experience of the spotlight effect is associated with the extent to which one notices others in a public setting. It was hypothesized that an agent who encountered the confederate wearing a funky hat would report feeling more likely that others were taking notice of them. This means that these participants were going to be more susceptible to the spotlight effect, while participants in the control group would not report feeling like others were paying much attention to them. Through an experiment that helped to assess the extent an individual notices others and a survey with a scale that measured a predictor variable and tested the amount an individual feels like they are in the spotlight, the following discussion was brought to fruition.
Strange Hat Versus No Hat
For the condition where a participant either experienced the manipulation of the confederate wearing a hat versus wearing no hat, it was expected that individuals would be more susceptible to the spotlight effect if they noticed our confederate. Based on Lawson (2010) and their study on change blindness, one can understand why our estimation was incorrect. Lawson generated evidence for the fact that our visual perception that occurs when a stimulus undergoes a change without being noticed by its observer has an overestimation effect on the extent that one feels in the spotlight. In conjunction with our study, this overestimation carried over in our hypothesis of the effect of the hat. As experimenters, it was assumed that one would notice the hat more than the results showed, which signifies that we were overestimating the spotlight effect's relationship to strange situations. While the spotlight effect was present in our study, its relationship to whether or not the confederate was wearing the strange hat was one that came out of our projections for the study. Based on Gilovich and Savitsky (1999), our self perceptions of how we might have perceived the condition if we as experimenters were participants trickled out into our perceptions of others perpetuating overestimation of the spotlight experience. Furthermore, in creating a study that was influenced by our own perceptions of the world, it is important to understand that we can be correct and correlated with our estimates that others have of us, but our inferences are more often incorrect than not (Gilovich and Savitsky (1999).
Meal Time: Lunch versus Dinner
From Montgomery (1983) it can be understood that the level to which one is exhausted or tired has significant effects on social abilities and performance in the social world. While this experiment did not directly hypothesize a relationship between tiredness and the spotlight effect, results indirectly generated a relationship between tiredness and the spotlight. With tiredness being positively correlated with the extent that someone feels levels of depression and anxiety, one can understand the results that were devised from Meal time analysis (Montgomery; 1983). An individual experiencing the lunch time manipulation experienced less of the spotlight effect during the manipulation. For the N = 40 college students who participated, this could be because their exhaustion levels are at a low during lunch time in comparison to the dinner time manipulation. In this manipulation the descriptives that the survey supported yielded information that suggested agents were more overcome by exhaustion, fatigue, social anxiety, and more. As one's spotlight effect increased, their social anxiety scores did as well (See Figure 8). Furthermore, College students are known to be agents that, either out of their own volition or the overconsumption of work that they undergo, fail to achieve sufficient sleep. From the study at UC Berkeley (2013), it is understood that failure to sleep is a common symptom of anxiety disorders. With social anxiety tightly correlated to the extent someone feels like they are in the spotlight, it makes sense why the dinner manipulation perpetuates stronger levels of anxiety compared to the lunch manipulation. On top of that, for agents who are not achieving sufficient sleep hours, the extent to which they might be exhausted throughout the day could be more extreme. In the end, the strong correlation between social anxiety and the spotlight effect can be explained by fatigue and exhaustion that is experienced throughout the day.
The Spotlight Effect
Spotlight Effect and Social Anxiety: At a small private liberal arts school like Colgate University, the extent that an individual finds themselves under the surveillance of authorities and peers could be assumed to be smaller than that of a larger university. However, based on Bernique (2020), the illusion of anonymity is understood to be powerful enough to make an agent feel like they are unknown to others while simultaneously igniting an experience of spotlight effect. This is due to the fact that social anxiety can increase with the illusion of anonymity (Bernique; 2020). Our study supported the relationship between social anxieties and the spotlight effect that Bernique (2020) proposed and furthered the research established by Epley et al. (2002). For individuals in both conditions during both meal times, the extent that they felt judged by others was strong. In the end, The correlation between social anxiety found in our study and the overall experience of the spotlight effect can be traced to the extent one feels anxious in social situations.
The Spotlight Effect and Neuroticism. Gilovich et al. (2000), the relationship between the spotlight effect and egocentric biases is highlighted as something capable of creating an overestimation of the spotlight effect. In an individual believing that they are the main offender in any situation, no matter if it is embarrassing or not, we tend to overestimate the extent that one is paying attention to us (Gilovich et al., 2000). For our experiment to yield data that supports a positive correlation between neuroticism and the spotlight effect means that an agent feeling higher symptoms of neurosis is likely to overestimate the extent others are paying attention to them. Furthermore, neurotic behavior stems from anxiety oftentimes. With the present study generating understanding of anxiety and its correlation to the spotlight effect, neuroticism can be similarly tied in. If anxiety goes up as time goes by in a day, the level that one feels neurotic is also rising (Montgomery, 1983; UC Berkeley, 2013). Thus, meal time and its relationship to social anxiety, while not explicitly tested, could be assumed similar in regards to meal time and neurosis. In the end, neuroticism is positively correlated with the experience of the spotlight.
Strengths and Limitation of the Study
As per usual for studies conducted with a small sample size out of a small population, a limitation of the present study was that it was conducted in such a way that external validity is hard to interpret. This is emphasized by the fact that convenient sampling was done in order to generate a sample size. This means that the act of college student experimenters seeking out individuals on their college campus, one that is already small in comparison to larger schools, likely means that the sample was generated from those we know best – our peers. Just like in everyday life, the people we surround ourselves with may be uniform in the way they show, experience, or interpret the world around them. Thus, individuals that made up the sample size were a limitation because of convenient sampling.
Furthermore, another limitation for the study was the hat vs. no hat condition. We as individuals often fear wearing eccentric or crazy outfits that would make us stand out; however, written and recorded responses showed that individuals did not notice the confederate wearing a hat at all. This aspect of the study is a limitation because it highlights that we as experimenters were influenced by the spotlight effect. In coming up with how we would test the extent that people notice others, we quite literally overestimated the level to which a confederate wearing a funky hat might be noticed. This could also be due to the fact that college can be a place where homogeneity thrives; however, abnormality is not as scrutinized as we think. This could be due to the fact that college values push for uniformity in conjunction with authenticity.
Strengths of the study can be traced to the conduction of the experiment. By actively seeking out students without PSYC 200B to be a confederate, we were able to eliminate confounds of random participants not knowing what to do. This made the act of presenting the confederate to the participant in some way, shape, or form easier as the confederate was also the role of an experimenter for their own manipulation trial.
Furthermore, while the survey produced was one that had to be done by hand, making recording slightly hard as an individual's writing can be hard to interpret, the Likert scale used provided significant feedback and results that were tangent to the prior research as well as productive in providing more information.
The Present Study
While the present study did not support our hypothesis that an individual who notices the strange hat condition is more likely to find themselves under the influence of the spotlight bias, it did provide other information on the relationship between time of day, exhaustion, neuroticism, and the spotlight effect that went beyond the research conducted prior (Bernique, 2020; Epley et al., 2002; Montgomery, 1983; Gilovich et al., 2000; Gilovich and Savitsky, 1999; Lawson, 2010; UC Berkeley, 2013). This study hypothesized that participants who encountered the confederate wearing the funky hat would report feeling more likely that others were taking notice of them. While results generated did not show that the hat had a significant effect on creating the spotlight, they did yield significant correlations to neuroticism, social anxiety, and tiredness. While the spotlight effect can take origin in anxiety and neurosis, sometimes our assessments of when we are in the spotlight can be correct – but often incorrect too. The current study provides more information on where the spotlight effect stems from and helps to solidify the idea that our understanding of when we are in the spotlight is often an overestimation.
For the present reality the knowledge and understanding of human judgements to be a significant aspect of creating perceptions about the world, existing spotlight research seems to focus a lot on the tangible world. In understanding the vastness of where we as beings experience the spotlight effect, it is very important to address the relationship that technology has in perpetuating the SE. With social media on the rise every day and new ways to move about space being created, situations where one may find themself in the spotlight is increasing too. With the present study yielding many results in conjunction with social anxiety, neuroticism, and tiredness, the stresses that social media and technology bring in relation to the spotlight effect should be evaluated. This is because, like all of our other estimations of the SE including this experiment, we tend to overestimate the level that we feel we are under the spotlight.
References
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Epley, N., Savitsky, K., & Gilovich, T. (2002). Empathy neglect: Reconciling the spotlight effect and the correspondence bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(2), 300–312. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.300
Montgomery, G. K. (1983). Uncommon tiredness among college undergraduates. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(4), 517–525. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.51.4.517
Gilovich, Thomas, et al. "The Spotlight Effect in Social Judgment: An Egocentric Bias in Estimates of the Salience of One's Own Actions and Appearance." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=2e61218f-b032-41c4-bf19-78456c43d886%40redis
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Timothy J. Lawson (2010) The Social Spotlight Increases Blindness to Change Blindness, BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 32:4, 360-368, DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2010.519200
University of California - Berkeley. (2013, June 26). Tired and edgy? Sleep deprivation boosts anticipatory anxiety. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 30, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130626143031.htm