Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

Have you ever learned a new word or concept and then started to see it everywhere? Or have you ever thought about buying a certain car or product and then noticed it on every street or advertisement? If so, you have experienced the Baader Meinhof Phenomenon, also known as the Frequency Illusion.

The Baader Meinhof Phenomenon is a cognitive bias that makes you notice something more frequently after you learn about it for the first time. For example, if you hear a new song and found details about it, you may start to hear it everywhere. This does not mean that the song is more common, but that your brain is paying more attention to it.

The phenomenon is named after a German terrorist group called the Baader-Meinhof Gang, which was active in the 1970s. A journalist named Terry Mullen coined the term in 1994, after he mentioned the name of the group and then noticed it everywhere. However, the phenomenon is also known as frequency illusion, recency illusion, or selective attention bias.

The main psychological processes behind the phenomenon are selective attention and confirmation bias. Selective attention means that your brain filters out irrelevant information and focuses on what is important or interesting to you. Confirmation bias means that your brain looks for evidence that supports your beliefs or expectations, while sometimes overlooking evidence that contradicts them. These processes can make you perceive something as more frequent or recent than it is.

This phenomenon can have both positive and negative effects. While on one hand, it can help you learn new things and remember them better, on the other hand, it can make you overestimate the importance or popularity of something or lead you to false conclusions. This phenomenon is common in fields, such as linguistics, medicine, and marketing.

Some examples of the phenomenon are:

• Noticing linguistic trends, such as new words, slang, or grammar rules.
• Detecting rare diseases, symptoms, or treatments.
• Buying popular products, brands, or services.
• Encountering coincidences, synchronicities, or patterns.
• Developing superstitions, beliefs, or biases.

The Baader Meinhof Phenomenon is a fascinating example of how our attention and perception work. It shows that our reality is not always objective but influenced by our prior knowledge and expectations. It also reminds us to be curious and open-minded about new things, but also critical and sceptical about what we see and hear.

If you want to learn more about the Baader Meinhof Phenomenon, you can check out these sources:

Frequency illusion — Wikipedia

What is the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? | The Lighthouse

The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon | Doctor Spin

The Baader–Meinhof Phenomenon Explained — Scribbr

The Baader Meinhof Phenomenon — Is the universe telling me something?

Photo Credit: Photo by Edward Jenner