7 Barry Manilow and the Spotlight Effect
You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
—DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
Cornell Professor Thomas Gilovich and his colleagues devised a social experiment, published in 2000, to see whether other people are really observing and judging us at every turn.1 One hundred and nine college students entered a room full of their peers, individually and alone, wearing a T-shirt with a photo of the pop singer Barry Manilow emblazoned on the front. The researchers had selected an image of Manilow, the patron saint of uncool, knowing that it would be “embarrassing” for the students. Sorry, Barry.
The observers in the room were sitting at a table facing ...
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