We have spoken previously about the spotlight effect. This is a cognitive bias that causes players to overestimate the degree to which they are observed and noticed by others, as well as the degree to which others care about what they notice about them. For example, the spotlight effect could cause someone to think that everyone is going to remember one of their misplaced passes, when in reality hardly anyone will.
The spotlight effect can strongly influence your thinking in a variety of situations, so it’s important to understand it, especially when it comes to playing confidently.
The reason for this phenomena is that we suffer from an egocentric bias - a tendency to anchor other people’s viewpoint to our own. Since we are so used to seeing things from our own perspective, we struggle to accurately judge what other’s perspective is like, and often overestimate our role. While it’s difficult to avoid this form of biased thought entirely, being aware of it can certainly help reduce the negative impact that it has on performance.
In this post, we can speak further on the ideal mindset for dealing with the spotlight effect. Most importantly, when you make a mistake, assess the situation in a realistic way, and think about how likely others are to notice it. When in doubt, assume that you are likely overestimating how much people care. Remember that, even if someone does notice a mistake, they likely don’t care about it nearly as much as you think, and almost certainly won’t remember it in the long-run.
Overall, your goal should be to reduce your inherent bias when it comes to estimating the likelihood, so that you can think in a clearer, more rational way, and play in a more confident manner. For most people, learning to mitigate the spotlight effect means learning to not worry so much about the small details of what you do, which can help you become less self-conscious, less anxious, and more confident.
Bukayo Saka showed noticeably greater confidence under the spotlight in this World Cup as compared to the previous year in the Euros. A big part of the improvement resulted from psychological gains in dealing with this effect.
Comments