The Prince and the Pauper – Chapter Thirty-Three – Fun Fact

In Ch. 33 of The Prince and the Pauper, Miles Hendon experiences a feeling that many of us can probably relate to. The Prince and the Pauper Chapter 33 Fun Fact focuses on…

SENSING SOMEONE WATCHING YOU

Keep reading or watch the video below for more information.

Reference in The Prince and the Pauper

“Miles Hendon saved him the trouble; for he turned about, then, as a man generally will when somebody mesmerises him by gazing hard at him from behind..” (p. 200)

Why do we get this feeling?

Our eyes take in more than we realize
- Our brains can be sensitive to what our conscious awareness isn’t
- Study in 1974 proved blindsight – patients could still respond to visual stimuli though their visual cortex was destroyed

We think ourselves into feeling this way
- Article from 1898
- Described the feeling of someone watching you as a self-fulfilling prophecy
- Feel like you’re being watched; begin fidgeting; people look at you because you are fidgeting, for example

Gaze perception
- Our brains are specialized to draw us to the gaze of others or the direction of their gaze
- Our brains also generate assumptions about someone’s gaze based on our experiences
- A study found people tend to assume they are being watched if the visual clues weren’t decisive (for example if a person nearby was wearing dark glasses)