Have you ever felt like everyone was staring at you, watching your every move? You walk around and you just feel like the centre of attraction. 

Well, this is called the spotlight effect. The research was carried out in 1999 by psychologists Thomas Gilovich and Kenneth Sowinski.

The research required several students to wear a Barry Manilow’s t-shirt and walk around campus. For those who don’t know who Barry Manilow’s is, he was a famously hated musician. 

 Then come back and report an average of how many people they think paid attention or noticed their shirt as they walked around campus. 

The report showed that the students tend to overestimate the number of people who noticed them.

This is what is called the spotlight effect. 

The idea is that everyone is paying attention to you as if a spotlight was placed directly above you. When in reality everyone is just going about their day. 

You’re only the main character in your story. Can you even begin to imagine paying attention to all the people who walk past daily? As humans, we tend to be a little self-absorbed so we pay too much attention to ourselves rather than others. 

The same way you don’t see all those people is the same way they don’t see you.