The Art of Staring: Energy Between Space
by Talbott-Carey, S. Stone, M. Mitchell, K. Wolfenstien, O.
Abstract: Noticing the varying results when it comes to the question “Can you feel people staring at you behind your back?” led to the experiment of which we would attempt to come up with a solid answer.
After multiple trials we concluded that we did not find any strong evidence showing that people can feel somebody staring at them.
Introduction: Have you ever wondered if someone was staring at you from a distance? Have you ever thought you felt their gaze at your back? Well today we took it upon ourselves to find out if these were rational ideas.
Method: Starting out with a formation involving five people we ran through a series of tests using a Chi Square to record data.
First a coin would be flipped, heads for a person sitting on the right, tails for the person on the left. The coin flipper would then call out that the round was starting, queuing the two people with the Chi Square to begin staring either person on a bench -whomever the coin landed on.
The people on the benches would then give a thumbs up or down depending on if they thought they could feel somebody staring at them. Once this round had passed we rotated so that everybody had a chance to be in each position.
Conclusion: The outcome on the Chi Square consisted of more people people being wrong than right. Believing that they were being stared at when they weren’t and vice-versa.
In conclusion there was no clear pattern, therefore leading us to believe that one cannot feel another’s gaze upon their shoulders.
Furthermore in retrospect we could have incorporated people who were not aware that they were part of the experiment, making for less biased data.