The "feeling of being watched"--is there really anything to it?
Sometimes I've read "S/he had a feeling of being watched." Don't know if I've ever heard it in RL.
Anyway, is there really anything to that?
= new reply since forum marked as read
See Rupert Sheldrake's "The Sense of Being Stared At" -- fascinating!!
Your question reminded me of the English scientist Rupert Sheldrake (he is controversial so unfortunately imho some just identify/dismiss him as a new ager and/or parapsychologist even though he has proper scientific credentials). I think his work is too interesting to dismiss so quickly and out of prejudice. Certainly one can and should (as in all proper science) argue with his conclusions, but he points to phenomena that many of us have experienced ourselves or observed in other animals, and he asks some great questions about what exactly is driving and ENABLING these "sensations," this awareness.
You can find his books on Amazon and his TED talks on YouTube, (the book I'm thinking of in particular is "The Sense of Being Stared At"
. As I mentioned,he is controversial, and hard science types tend to be skeptical of his work since he does allow for or at least consider the possibility of extra-scientific phenomena like telepathy being involved in certain cases. Sheldrake considers the "sense of being stared at," which obviously has very compelling possibilities for our understanding of the evolution of the predator/prey relationship, a deeply compelling phenomenon that has never received the scientific study it deserves, even if it, or at least some of the scientists researching it, push boundaries. At the most basic level it is a fascinating evolutionary development that assists prey animals, and it also can be observed in animals that can be both prey and predator like us. It is a fascinating form of "silent" communication. Sheldrake's own background is in biology (Ph.D. from Cambridge)
He has also worked on dogs who display an uncanny ability to know when their owners are coming home well before they can hear an owner's car or a schoolbus or other obvious tip-offs, even when accounting for and changing all the obvious details (they would change the times the person came home, leave the dog alone rather than surrounded by people who might clue it off in some way by their body language or even releasing certain hormones, etc). Even though hard-core science types might just dismiss it all as woo, I think his work is fascinating. I myself have CERTAINLY experienced the uncanny, even distinctly creepy feeling of being stared at by someone with nefarious thoughts or intentions -- BEFORE you actually notice a person watching you intently. He talks about this part of the phenomenon, and how it even has physical effects BEFORE we even spot or are aware of the "voyeur," such as the small hairs on your arms and the back of you neck standing up to signal a possible fight/flight scenario. Anyway this stuff interests me so it was cool to see your question!!! Hope this helps!
Here is a blurb from Amazon:
"Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books. He was among the top 100 Global Thought Leaders for 2013, as ranked by the Duttweiler Institute, Zurich, Switzerland's leading think tank. He studied natural sciences at Cambridge University, where he was a Scholar of Clare College, took a double first class honours degree and was awarded the University Botany Prize (1963). He then studied philosophy and history of science at Harvard University, where he was a Frank Knox Fellow (1963-64), before returning to Cambridge, where he took a Ph.D. in biochemistry (1967)" From the Amazon Page
https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Being-Stared-At-Extended/dp/060960807X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1489318573&sr=8-2&keywords=Sense+of+being+stared+at
