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social dynamics
You believe your internal state is obvious to others.
People systematically overestimate how accurately others can read their emotions or intentions.
In a 1998 study, speakers expected listeners to detect their anxiety during a presentation much better than the listeners actually could. We assume the world has access to our thoughts, but you are effectively opaque.
Most of your awkwardness passes by completely unnoticed by everyone else.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec (1998)
- What the check found
- The study accurately identifies the 'illusion of transparency' as described in the 1998 foundational paper by Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.