I noticed this a while ago when I started driving a certain type of truck. Every hear of “The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon”? It’s a phenomenon where a person stumbles upon a new word, concept, or piece of information, and then soon after, encounters the same thing multiple times in a short period of time. It’s also known as the frequency illusion or recency illusion.
The phenomenon is named after a German left-wing militant group from the 1970s, the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, which was the subject of a documentary that the two researchers who studied this phenomenon had recently watched. They noticed that after watching the documentary, the group’s name seemed to be popping up everywhere they looked, and thus the phenomenon was named after the group.
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a reminder that our minds are wired to pay attention to new and unfamiliar information, and once we become aware of something, our brains are more likely to notice it in the future. Our brains are also wired to notice patterns, and once we perceive a pattern, our brains tend to look for it everywhere.
It’s an interesting phenomenon that can happen to anyone, and it can happen in any area of life. For example, you might suddenly start seeing a specific car model everywhere after you just bought one, or you might start hearing a song everywhere after you just heard it for the first time.
It’s also important to note that this phenomenon can also happen with negative events, for example, if you’re going through a tough time and you’re feeling down, you might notice more negative news and events happening around you. This is known as the Negative Recency Illusion.
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a reminder that our minds play tricks on us, and it’s important to be aware of this phenomenon and not to jump to conclusions. It’s also a good reminder that once we become aware of something, our brains are more likely to notice it in the future, and it’s important to be open-minded and to not fall into the trap of thinking that something is happening more often than it actually is.
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