Fallacies and Cognitive Biases: Spotlight Effect ~ by Ransom

This article is part of an ongoing series that began with Fallacies and Cognitive Biases.

The above picture is a detail from "50 Cognitive Biases to be aware of so you can be the very best version of you"

"We overestimate how much people are paying attention to our behavior and appearance."

We pay more attention to ourselves than others pay to us.  Our failures appear more monsterous to ourselves than they do to others.

This cognitive bias protects us from social isolation.

Appearance and grooming are culturally defined but not arbitrary.  They reflect and influence physical health.

Behavior is not arbitrary.  Odd behavior may indicate physical illness -- suggesting transmissibility -- or mental illness -- suggesting unreliability.

Odd behavior may also indicate membership in a different culture.  This may mean unreliability, unenforceability, and minimal social ties.  See In-Group Favoritism.

There is a strong asymmetry here.  As an attacker only needs one point to attack but a defender must defend all points, people who do not know a man only need one strange display to become suspicious but he must avoid all displays to avoid the risk of arousing suspicion.

The solution is to be generally fastideous.  While this does have a small cost due to unneccessary good performance it avoids the dramatic cost of ostroscism.