The Spotlight Effect

Researchers had participants wear embarrassing t-shirts into a room of strangers. The participants estimated that about half the people noticed their shirt, but in reality, only about a fourth did. We drastically overestimate  how much others notice our flaws, fears, and insecurities.

Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). 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, 78(2), 211-222. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.211