Don't know about the psychology behind it but I'll add a data point in support of this.
Whenever I do any kind of creative work (programming, music, etc.) I always stall out if I reveal what I'm doing to other people before it's in a near-completed state. Something about the knowledge that other people may be observing causes me to think about a project in terms of how it will be perceived by others as opposed to precisely what I want it to be. The sad thing is that usually probably no one is observing and I'm entirely psyching myself out, but this realization has definitely led me to be more disciplined about secrecy when working on anything.
Whenever I do any kind of creative work (programming, music, etc.) I always stall out if I reveal what I'm doing to other people before it's in a near-completed state. Something about the knowledge that other people may be observing causes me to think about a project in terms of how it will be perceived by others as opposed to precisely what I want it to be. The sad thing is that usually probably no one is observing and I'm entirely psyching myself out, but this realization has definitely led me to be more disciplined about secrecy when working on anything.