# Can You Tell When Someone Is Staring at You From Behind? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 13, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812 "2013-03-13T12:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/21 "2013-03-13T18:17:37Z")
**Can You Tell When Someone Is Staring at You From Behind?** Only when you have a guilty conscience. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/22 "2013-03-13T19:54:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m sorry, but what sense would be used to determine if sound and/or movement is normal behind you? In fact, what with all the billions of different combinations of sound and/or movement that are possible in life, how could anyone tell which ones indicate that anyone in particular is staring at a particular individual? It’s not like the eyes send a signal out that _pings_ off the back of your skull. Not necessary. You simply need to have something - anything - change in your sensory input and go out of whatever your brain deems “normal” bounds. Sounds, scent, light patterns (as in, slight variances in shadows or ambient light), even pressure or heat. You amy not know exactly _what_ causes these, and it doens’t mean someone is staring at you. But changes like that can certainly trigger a “check my surroundings” reflex. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/23 "2013-03-13T19:58:46Z")
Is it woo though? I’m quite sure we do not fully understand the depth of our own senses. Malcolm Gladwells book “Blink” explores this concept. It seems our instincts are more reliable than we may realize. I wouldn’t dismiss this idea out of hand. I can’t say for certain this particular phenomena has occurred with me, but I can tell you there’s plenty of times when I just “know” something. Kind of makes me think of a similar uncertain concept… ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/24 "2013-03-13T20:14:21Z")
I can’t tell when someone is staring at me, but I can tell when someone is reading my posts. Like right now! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/25 "2013-03-13T20:23:39Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > I can’t tell when someone is staring at me, but I can tell when someone is reading my posts. > > Like right now! No I wasn’t! I was just admiring the Post Reply button, when my gaze just drifted up a little. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/26 "2013-03-13T20:31:44Z")
When I wake up in the morning very often a cat is staring at me. Is that what wakes me up? Is he silently shouting “feeed meee” and I ESP it? ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/27 "2013-03-13T22:08:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Woo, plain and simple. RIght up there with Deja vu, past lives and dowsing. I agree with it being up with deja vu, not with dowsing and past lives. Those first two are real. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/28 "2013-03-14T03:34:31Z")
I have never felt anyone staring at me and have always put it down to a literary device, like people sweating when nervous or otherwise under pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/29 "2013-03-14T04:43:13Z")
I’ve on occasion had the feeling that someone was staring at me, looked…_and nobody was_. _(Dun Dun DUUUNNN!)_ I think my psychic powers are defective. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/30 "2013-03-14T10:24:41Z")
Apparently, judging from all the joking, not everybody has this ‘sense’ develloped to the same level. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/31 "2013-03-14T10:49:20Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > When I wake up in the morning very often a cat is staring at me. Is that what wakes me up? Is he silently shouting “feeed meee” and I ESP it? If he’s anything like my cats, you wake up because he’s standing on your bladder. Sometimes your larynx. They like to change it up. ---
**Author:** ![Kepler1571](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@Kepler1571](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepler1571)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/32 "2013-03-14T12:23:24Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > Malcolm Gladwells book “Blink” explores this concept. It seems our instincts are more reliable than we may realize. Except that book was garbage pseudo-science. ---
**Author:** ![Kepler1571](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@Kepler1571](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepler1571)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/33 "2013-03-14T12:25:07Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > If he’s anything like my cats, you wake up because he’s standing on your bladder. Sometimes your larynx. They like to change it up. You haven’t lived until you wake up staring into your cat’s anus. Helluva species. I don’t know if they’re pranksters or just kinky. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/34 "2013-03-14T17:38:05Z")
> [@Kepler1571](#): > > Except that book was garbage pseudo-science. Is it? What makes you say that? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/35 "2013-03-14T19:38:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Confirmation bias. If you look behind you, then most anyone behind you walking in the same direction will _naturally_ be looking in your direction. When you look backwards, some will look at you to see why you are doing so. This is why campus statistics departments are the best place for staring endlessly at butts and cleavage. When caught, “That’s just confirmation bias, baby”. Once through the doors you need never make eye contact at all. ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/36 "2013-03-19T19:59:30Z")
Cats are great pattern matchers and they don’t need anything beyond their memory and senses to know what’s going to happen a lot of the time. Before you wake up, you probably make certain sounds or movements that the cat has noticed often immediately precede your waking, so it stares at you to see if it should race to its dish and wait expectantly for food. I feed two of my cats in the kitchen. When I start getting their food out, they both race into the kitchen without my having to call them. Not ESP (Extrasensory Supper Perception) but recognizing the sound of the can being opened or the refrigerator being opened - the clink of their metal food bowls on the counter - even a soft sound is loud enough for their alert ears. If they were asleep sometimes I have to tap the bowl on the counter again 🙂 My old cat used to wait at the window for me to arrive home from work. My husband said he would head to the window a minute or so before I got to the door. I think he learned what my car sounded like when I pulled up outside! Pretty amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/37 "2013-03-19T21:57:34Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > Is it woo though? I’m quite sure we do not fully understand the depth of our own senses. Malcolm Gladwells book “Blink” explores this concept. It seems our instincts are more reliable than we may realize. I wouldn’t dismiss this idea out of hand. I can’t say for certain this particular phenomena has occurred with me, but I can tell you there’s plenty of times when I just “know” something. I don’t know anything about Gladwell or his book, but this (that our instincts are more reliable that we realize) can be true without any need for extrasensory perception or supernatural connections. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/38 "2013-03-20T19:01:17Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’ve on occasion had the feeling that someone was staring at me, looked…_and nobody was_. _(Dun Dun DUUUNNN!)_ > > I think my psychic powers are defective. I, on the other hand, can quite reliably tell when nobody is staring at me. Just right now, I had the strongest feeling that nobody was staring intently at the back of my head, turned around—and in fact, nobody was doing so! What’s more, there wasn’t even anybody in the room! Now, how on Earth could I have known that?? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/39 "2013-03-20T19:57:47Z")
I think we need **Donna Lange** to get out her magic marker and camera\* and take a few more pictures > **[Men who stare... and act ashamed about it.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=685266)** > > I preface this with the fact that there are many other women who would keel haul me for even saying what I am about to say and I expect to possible be attacked for it. But here goes… Guys, if I wear a low cut top and you can’t help but look at my... \*and maybe a mirror ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812/40 "2013-03-21T00:17:20Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > I don’t know anything about Gladwell or his book, but this (that our instincts are more reliable that we realize) can be true without any need for extrasensory perception or supernatural connections. I didn’t interpret his post as needing such. Though, personally, I think most people trust their instincts way too much. There just may be a few instincts that we ignore too often. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-when-someone-is-staring-at-you-from-behind/652812.md?page=3)