Spotlight Effect Research Articles

The Social Spotlight Increases Blindness to Change Blindness

The results of research on change blindness and the spotlight effect suggest that (a) others are unlikely to notice changes in our appearance and (b) we are likely to overestimate the extent to which others notice changes in our appearance. However, little research has directly addressed the latter possibility. In Study 1, target persons overestimated the extent to which observers noticed a change in their sweatshirt. In Study 2, observers who followed the target persons throughout the study overestimated the extent to which other observers noticed the change in the target persons' sweatshirt, but target persons' overestimations were significantly higher. The results suggest that the spotlight effect increases blindness to change blindness.

The publicly self-consciousness consumer: Prepared to be embarrassed

This research examined whether high public self-consciousness (HPUBSC) consumers are more inclined than low public self-consciousness (LPUBSC) consumers to buy products aimed at preventing embarrassment but which are embarrassing to buy. Study 1 found that PUBSC is positively associated with increased intentions to buy such products. Study 2 showed that an increase in the severity of the social consequences associated with an embarrassing situation increased participants' purchase intentions, regardless of their level of PUBSC. However, whereas an increase in the frequency of an embarrassing situation's occurrence increased the purchase intentions of LPUBSC participants, it decreased the purchase intentions of HPUBSC participants. Study 3 revealed evidence of a reverse spotlight effect for HPUBSC participants.

Attention-modulated activity in visual cortex—More than a simple ‘spotlight’

We assessed modulation of retinotopic visual cortex representing peripheral regions of the visual field while subjects engaged in a central attention task. The onset of an attention capturing central letter stream attenuated activity in representations of the peripheral locations. When these locations were empty, the observed reduction was the same whether subjects passively viewed or actively attended the letter stream. For locations containing distracting letters, however, an additional attenuation was observed during the active task. In a second experiment we found that representations of target incompatible peripheral letters were suppressed relative to a control task, whereas at the same time representations of compatible peripheral letters were relatively enhanced. The fMRI results are complemented by behavioral data demonstrating prolonged responses to probes presented at suppressed locations. In sum, our study suggests that activity modulation across the visual field representation not only reflects an attentional spotlight effect but is additionally shaped by the nature of sensory input at unattended locations as well as its relation to task demands.

The spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency in social anxiety

[Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In: R. G. Heimberg, M. R. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 69–93). New York: Guildford Press] cognitive model of social phobia suggests that both public and private sources of information contribute to the construction of the self as a social object, which is thought to maintain the disorder. This study used two concepts developed in social psychology that might help to explain the processes that contribute to the development of this constructed self. These two concepts are the spotlight effect [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] and the illusion of transparency [Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., & Savitsky, K. (1998). The Illusion of transparency: biased assessments of others’ ability to read one's own emotional states. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75(2), 332–346]. Participants performed a memory task under either a low or a high social-evaluative condition. In the high social-evaluative condition, participants reported higher levels of the spotlight effect and more negative evaluation of task performance, compared to participants in the low social-evaluative condition. There were no differences between the two conditions in levels of the illusion of transparency. Surprisingly, however, in the low social-evaluative condition, participants reported higher levels of the illusion of transparency than the spotlight effect, whereas, in the high social-evaluative condition, they reported the opposite. Results suggest that the spotlight effect may be specific to social-evaluative concerns, whereas, the illusion of transparency may represent more general features of social anxiety concerns. Implications of the results for Clark and Wells’ cognitive model of social phobia model are discussed.

Early scale effect and hemisphere superiority on the visual spatial attention: From the electrophysiological evidence of ERP *

The visual attention mechanism in the brain was studied among 16 young subjects through the precue-target visual search paradigm using the event-related potentials ( ERPs) technique, with the attentive ranges cued with different scales of Chinese words. The results showed that the response time was shortened as the cue scale was reduced, while the amplitudes of the P1 and N1 components of the ERPs increased. These results not only provided the electrophysiological evidence supporting the spotlight theory, but also indicated that the spotlight effect occurred during the early period of the selected attention. Two kinds of separation in the P2 effect were observed. One separation was between the P1 effect and P2 effect, which meant that additional computation was needed when the spatial scale of attention was enlarged; the other was between the left and right hemisphere of the P2 effect, which indicates that the attentive processing of the cue range mainly occurred in the left hemisphere.

The Spotlight Effect Revisited: Overestimating the Manifest Variability of Our Actions and Appearance

Three studies examined people's estimates of the perceived variability of their appearance and behavior in the eyes of others. Whether assessing the manifest variability of their physical appearance (Studies 1a, 1b, and 1c), their athletic accomplishments (Study 2), or their performance on a popular videogame (Study 3), participants consistently overestimated the extent to which their ups and downs would be noted by observers. The results of Study 3 suggest that this bias stems in part from a failure to appreciate the extent to which observers are preoccupied with managing their own actions. Discussion focuses on how this corollary of the “spotlight effect” can contribute to social anxiety and gnawing regrets of inaction.

The spotlight effect in social judgment: an egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one's own actions and appearance.

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.

The spotlight effect in social judgment: An egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one's own actions and appearance.

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.

The Spotlight Effect and the Illusion of Transparency

We review a program of research that examines people s judgments about how they are seen by others. The research indicates that people tend to anchor on their own experience when making such judgments, with the result that their assessments are often egocentrically biased. Our review focuses on two biases in particular, the spotlight effect, or people s tendency to overestimate the extent to which their behavior and appearance are noticed and evaluated by others, and the illusion of transparency, or people s tendency to overestimate the extent to which their internal states leak out and are detectable by others.

Optics

Schott is pleased to announce the launch of its new cold light source, the KL 1500 electronic. The light source is used in the field of microscopy and also when photographing heat-sensitive objects to produce intense yet ‘cold’ illumination. After passing through a Schott KG1 heat filter the light from the 150W halogen bulb is directed to the object via flexible or semi-rigid fibre-optic light guides. These light guides are available in a variety of configurations with up to three branches with a maximum length of 1600 mm. Accessories for the KL 1500 electronic include a range of filters such as daylight conversion, neutral density and a variety of colours. In addition, a focusing lens can be fitted to the individual fibreoptic output beam to produce a spotlight effect. Polarising and coloured-glass filters are also available to fit directly into the focusing lens. The light source has a variable brightness control and a sliding bulb housing which permits quick and easy bulb replacement.

Studies of Anomalous Contrast and Assimilation*

Studies of von Bezold type of “spread” or assimilation, wherein white lines lighten and black lines darken contiguous areas, have shown that the effect depends upon both absolute and relative widths of the lines and intervening areas and their respective reflectances. Moreover, there is a continuum from assimilation (reversal of classical contrast) to contrast with an interval in which neither assimilation nor contrast occurs. With grays of about 36% reflectance, assimilation is found with lines up to 8–10 mm after which classical contrast is found. With grays of 80% and 14% reflectance, assimilation occurs when the white and black lines and the line separations are as wide as 29 mm. Another type of anomalous contrast, the Gelb spotlight effect, proves to be a case of ‘trigger’ contrast, so-called here because of the very large contrast effect of the very small patch of white. Here the area and position of the white surface exert measurable, consistent effects. A theory of retinal and/or central facilitation and inhibition seems to account for the data.