I thought the "halo effect" was the idea that everyone is noticing you
or something about you, that you are more conspicuous than you really
are, that you are in the spotlight, especially for some particular
little thing ("Oh, my gosh, everyone will be staring at me because I
wore the wrong shoes" or "How can I go to the party with this little
bandage on my chin?" or "I missed a word when I recited my poem"),
when in reality nobody is paying any special attention to your little
imperfection because they're all busy thinking *they* are in the
spotlight.

But that's not the halo effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

So what's the term for the phenomenon I described?  It's some term
vaguely similar to the halo effect, but that's not it.  What is it,
then?

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 29 Oct 2005 16:07 PDT

How about "the fishbowl effect"?

"Many former cult members experience 'the fishbowl effect,' feeling
that the uninformed 'world out there' is looking askance at them,
including family members."

http://www.csj.org/infoserv_bookreview/tobais_madeleine_captivehearts.htm

---

Clarification of Question by archae0pteryx-ga on 29 Oct 2005 16:50 PDT

Hi, Pink!  Nice to see you here.

Hmm, I think that's very close, but it doesn't seem to me to be quite
the same thing.  As I understand it, the fishbowl effect is about a
feeling of exposure, lack of privacy, nowhere to hide--you're in full
view.  And maybe you really are--it's not an illusion or a consequence
of being the center of your own universe.  The effect I'm talking
about is more like an exaggerated awareness of oneself, the idea that
you're center stage to everyone else just because you are to
yourself--an illusion because they are probably not looking at you at
all; instead, they are imagining themselves to be center stage.

(I'm not judging or analyzing the phenomenon, much less requesting
help with a cure, just looking for the name I've heard that sums it
up.)

Thanks,
Tryx

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 29 Oct 2005 18:11 PDT

Self-consciousness? Exaggerated self-image?

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 29 Oct 2005 18:14 PDT

Or, distorted self-image.

---

Clarification of Question by archae0pteryx-ga on 29 Oct 2005 19:42 PDT

Self-consciousness, sure, that's part of it, sublime1, and thank you
for chiming in.  But I'm looking for an expression that is like "the
halo effect" and "the fishbowl effect" and not just a literal term.  I
am positive that I have heard one.  My problem is not with
understanding or describing the experience.  It's remembering the
expression.

It's the "Hello" effect, as in, "Hello, get over yourself, ya dip, and
stop worrying about what others think because they are enmeshed in
their own little worlds and are by far too busy fretting over their
own real or perceived problems to notice you, unless they are freaks."

Once you are no longer in high school (or college, but to a lesser
extent because there you are paying to go to school and have a
different set of concerns), this begins to make sense. When you are
working to support a spouse, kids, house, car, and consumerist
lifestyle, you stop freaking out over stupid stuff and start freaking
out over keeping your head above water. Or getting enough sleep.

Mmm, sleep.