(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

My muscles are not big. So, I went to a gym to exercise. When I entered, I noticed three guys with big muscles standing together laughing. I was sure they were laughing at my small arm-muscles and I felt embarrassed. Later I wondered if they were really laughing at me or at some joke.

I recently read about a famous experiment that helped me understand my embarrassment. A researcher painted a brown scar that looked real on the cheek of a young woman named Maria and showed her the scar in a mirror. Then he told her to enter a small room and have a conversation with a young woman inside…..(See complete article below.)

(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the 21st article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

Why You Think People Are Watching You (But They Aren’t!)

My muscles are not big. So, I went to a gym to exercise. When I entered, I noticed three guys with big muscles standing together laughing. I was sure they were laughing at my small arm-muscles, and I felt embarrassed. Later I wondered if they were really laughing at me or at some joke.

I recently read about a famous experiment that helped me understand my embarrassment. A researcher painted a brown scar that looked real on the cheek of a young woman named Maria and showed her the scar in a mirror. Then he told her to enter a small room and have a conversation with a young woman inside. After ten minutes, Maria came out. She told the researcher, “That person was not friendly. She kept looking at my scar, and she didn’t want to talk to me.”

But here is the secret: Maria did not have a scar. Just before Maria went into the room, the researcher said, “Oh, I need to put some more makeup on the scar so it will stay brown.” However, he secretly cleaned the scar off.

Maria didn’t know it was gone. Because she was worried about the scar, she imagined that the other person was being mean. The truth was that the other person was trying to have a normal conversation. The researchers repeated this with many different women, and the results were almost always the same. Every time, the women thought they knew what the other person was thinking, but they were mistaken.

Experts call this the “spotlight effect.” We often feel like everyone is watching us, so we worry about how we look or how we act. Actually, most people are too busy thinking about themselves!

The spotlight effect shows up in other situations too. In another experiment, researchers asked a student named Alex to wear an embarrassing t-shirt into a room full of people. Afterward, the researcher asked Alex, “How many people noticed your shirt?” Alex guessed that 50% of the people noticed. But when the researchers asked the people in the room, only 20% saw it.

Most people didn’t notice the shirt at all. When researchers repeated this experiment, the results were very similar. Every time, the person with the embarrassing shirt believed that most of the volunteers noticed them, but only a small number actually did.

These studies teach us something important: other people are not watching us as much as we think. They are busy with their own lives and their own worries—just like us. So, the next time you feel embarrassed in class, at work, or in public, remember: the spotlight is probably only in your head.

Short, High-Interest Articles for Extensive Reading © 2026 David & Peggy Kehe.  This page is photocopiable for classroom use.

Here is the link to the article and exercises that you can use with your students: People don’t really think about us ARTICLE & EXERCIXES

David Kehe
Faculty Emeritus

*About the free-download materials. During my 40 years of teaching ESL, I have had many colleagues who were very generous with their time, advice and materials. These downloads are my way of paying it forward.