(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Cognitive Bias Bootcamp: The Frequency Illusion (AKA the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-05-07 Hello again, folks! I’ve been on a bit of a streak lately, having the gumption to crank out a few Bootcamp entries, and today I’d like to lay out a cognitive bias called the Frequency Illusion, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. Once you know about it, I’m sure you’ll see it all over the place! So, what is it? Have you ever learned something new (for example, a new word or phrase), or purchased something, and then, WOW, it seems like you see it all over the place? So many people are suddenly riding the type of bike you just bought, or driving the type of car you just bought! Sometimes folks will refer to this as something along the lines of “red [or pick a color] car syndrome” — you buy a red car, and suddenly you notice SO many other red cars on the road! Wow, where did all the red cars suddenly come from? It’s the tendency we have, upon recently learning something, or buying something, or first noticing something, to start noticing it everywhere as if it’s a new thing. In fact, it’s probably been like that all along. So, what gives? Our attention is a limited resource. We can’t possibly notice everything around us all the time (see my recent entry on the Inattentional Blindness cognitive bias for more on this), so our brains selectively choose what warrants our attention. When we learn something new or we have new information (like “hey, I have a new red car”), our brains are more attentive to that new information and have a heightened awareness of it. So suddenly, where all those red cars missed your attention, now that you suddenly own one, you notice them all over the place, because your brain now has a heightened awareness of them. Confirmation bias can feed into this as well. After noticing whatever it is (like all those red cars), your own brain might reinforce things — basically, you’re subconscious starts saying “yup, that’s the third one I’ve noticed today, there’s definitely more red cars on the road than there were last week.” An interesting side story on this one. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, a term sometimes used for this cognitive bias, has nothing to do with researchers named Baader or Meinhof, or even to do with psychology. Instead Baader-Meinhof (AKA the Red Army Faction) was a West German anarchist terrorist group from active in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s. The name came from two of the leaders and founders of the group. And now you’re saying to yourself “What the hell? How did this get named after a bunch of German anarchists?” As well you should. The name attached to this cognitive bias in 1994 when a commenter on an online commenting board (ah, those heady early internet days of online comment boards) for Pioneer Press noticed two completely unsolicited and unrelated references to the German group the same day. In explaining it to the comment board, they attached the name “Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon” to the event, and the name stuck. Reality is weird, folks. It really is. Anyway, that’s it for today! Watch out for all those red cars! Or German anarchists. Whichever catches your attention more. And if you’ve enjoyed reading this, consider partaking of some of my other past entries in my Bootcamp series, wherein I explain a logical fallacy, cognitive bias, or expound upon some other aspect of critical thinking! See below for links! Prior Bootcamp Installments Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: The Strawman The Slippery Slope Begging the Question Poisoning the Well No True Scotsman! Ad Hominem False Dilemma Non Sequitur Red Herring Gamblers Fallacy Bandwagon Fallacy Appeal to Fear The Fallacy Fallacy Appeal to Personal Incredulity Appeal to Authority Special Pleading Texas Sharpshooter Post Hoc Appeal to Nature Furtive Fallacy Alphabet Soup Middle Ground Relative Privation Cognitive Bias Bootcamp: Bystander Effect Curse of Knowledge Barnum Effect Declinism In-Group Bias Hindsight Bias Survivor Bias Rhyme-as-Reason Effect Apophenia (& Paradoleia) The Dunning-Kruger Effect Confirmation Bias Anchoring Bias Inattentional Blindness Critical Thinking Bootcamp: Sea Lioning Occam’s Razor [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/7/2167275/-Cognitive-Bias-Bootcamp-The-Frequency-Illusion-AKA-the-Baader-Meinhof-Phenomenon Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/