People lying about something as mundane as their preferred shampoo brand were convinced their deception was nearly twice as visible as it actually was. Tasters predicted 4.91 correct guesses on average; the observers actually managed 3.56, a rate no different from chance guessing at 3.33. Participants and independent observers then rated the speeches on quality and on how anxious the speaker had appeared. Simply naming the gap between felt anxiety and visible anxiety changed the speech itself — the observers grading it had no opinion to be flattered. Whatever room someone is dreading, the heartbeat under the floorboards is usually audible only to the person standing on them.