Key Takeaways
- The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon makes you think you see things more often after you first notice them.
- Selective attention helps your brain focus on certain things and ignore others.
- Confirmation bias makes us believe things we notice are happening more, even if they’re not.
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, is a cognitive bias where something suddenly seems to be everywhere after first noticing it. This effect stems from selective attention and confirmation bias, which cause your brain to focus on and reinforce the new information.
What Is the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, Exactly?
Do you ever hear a new song or learn a new word, and suddenly it seems like you’re hearing or seeing it everywhere? You might be tempted to call it a coincidence or interpret it as some sort of sign from the universe, but there’s actually a term for this common occurrence: the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.
“The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is the idea that you see something a few times, then you start to notice it more, and then you start to find ways to confirm it’s the only truth,” explains Joseph Vacchiano, LCADC, LCSW, a therapist at Serenium Therapy and Wellness. “It can feel like something is happening more often when in reality, you’re simply more aware of it.”
It’s commonly referred to by psychologists as the frequency illusion. It happens because once something has come to our attention, our brains start to notice it more frequently. In many cases, it doesn’t mean that the stimulus is actually more common; it just means that you’re more attuned to it, so it *seems* way more common than it probably is.
Fun Fact
The term “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon” was first coined by a reader of a Minnesota newspaper. They’d had this exact experience after learning about a far-left German extremist group from the 1970s called the Baader-Meinhof Group. The name stuck, even though psychologists later dubbed this type of cognitive bias the frequency illusion.
How It Works: The Psychology Behind the Effect
Seeing the same thing everywhere might seem like a deeply personal sign, but it’s actually the result of how your brain filters information about the world. Specifically, there are two important mental processes at work: selective attention and confirmation bias.
“Selective attention is the ability to notice some things and not others,” explains Alex Dimitriu, MD, double board-certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine
We are surrounded by so much information that it’s just not possible for the brain to process, sort, and remember it all. To make the most of its limited resources, the brain has to filter the sea of noise, sort out what isn’t important, and hone in on the key details. Selective attention is a lot like a spotlight, drawing your brain’s focus onto the main event.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and believe information that supports our existing beliefs. Once we start noticing something (and then notice it again and again), it confirms the idea that it’s appearing more frequently. Even if you aren’t really aware of it, you might start keeping a sort of mental tally that makes the pattern feel real.
Dr. Dimitriu explains that it works like this:
- Frequency bias: You learn about something new, and notice it all over the place.
- Selection bias: You focus more on the new thing you learned, and ignore cases where you don’t see it.
- Confirmation bias: You expect to see the new thing more, and when you do, it confirms your belief that it is more common and important, reinforcing the loop.
The result of these processes is the formation of an illusion: The thing you noticed seems to be everywhere. And because it seems to be everywhere, you might mistakenly believe that it is more common than it really is. This can influence how you see the world and the decisions you make.
Real-Life Examples of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
True to form, once you know about the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, you’ll probably start to notice examples of it everywhere.
You might notice this phenomenon if you are considering buying a new car, Dr. Dimitriu notes. “If you were shopping for a particular car, you might notice cars like it a lot more often on the road. It happens because of selective attention; your brain starts to notice the thing you’ve been thinking about more, while ignoring other things,” he says, “so it looks like you are seeing more of what you have been thinking about.”
Dr. Dimitriu also notes that common examples can be found everywhere, ranging from fashion and style items to psychological concepts (such as gaslighting or love bombing). “You hear it, you buy in, you (selectively) see it everywhere, and you then think, ‘Everyone seems to be doing that,'” he says.
Vacchiano notes that in today’s information-overloaded world, excessive attention to certain topics can adversely affect mental health and well-being. If you’ve ever found yourself doomscrolling, you know just how quickly it can seem that certain events are widely prevalent.
Although it can be important for us to stay informed, it’s more important that we find a way to balance our physical, mental, and spiritual health.
—
JOSEPH VACCHIANO, LCADC, LCSW
“Putting our devices down and getting involved in nature and physical activity can help remove the feeling that the bad things we’re seeing online are happening to everyone all the time,” he recommends. “It will help us start to become more aware of the good things in life and where we do have control.”
Is It All in Your Head? Common Misconceptions
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon can sometimes take on a spiritual significance. You start noticing small things that might remind you of a special moment, give you motivation, or seem like a message from a deceased loved one. It might feel like a personal and meaningful sign from the universe.
Whether you decide to assign it significance is up to you, but it can be helpful to remember that the world hasn’t changed. It’s that your awareness has shifted.
Common misconceptions include:
- It’s more common: In reality, what you are noticing was already there, even if you weren’t aware of it at the time. And by noticing it more, it can reinforce a narrative that something is more common than it really is.
- It’s new: It’s also easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this only happens when something is “new.” However, it’s not just novelty that makes us notice things and seek patterns and meaning. Anything can be affected by the frequency illusion. All it takes is some renewed attention.
- It’s a coincidence: There’s also the tendency to confuse the Baader-Meinhof effect with coincidence. The frequency illusion is more about how you perceive things and not chance. Our brains are good at spotting patterns, even when there isn’t much meaning behind them.
Why Does the Phenomenon Matter?
The Baader-Meinhof might seem like an interesting cognitive anomaly, but recognizing how it works reveals important insights into how the mind works. It also helps us see that the way we perceive the world isn’t 100% objective.
The brain has to constantly filter out information so that it can use its resources to prioritize what really matters. These filtering processes help make things easier to understand and less overwhelming, but they can also cause us to ignore some information or bias our interpretations.
This shapes everything from how we form our opinions to how we make decisions. For example, when you are researching a topic, you might start to notice that topic everywhere. Because your mind has latched onto it, it starts to seem a lot more common, which can then influence your opinions, choices, and perceptions of what’s “normal.”
Consider how that might influence more serious topics, like how people respond to the news or form stereotypes about others. Once a specific narrative grabs your attention, you’ll start to spot more and more examples of it. It can reinforce your assumptions and fears, making it easier to fall into a certain type of thinking without considering alternative viewpoints.
This perception of repetition can contribute to something called the illusory truth effect. Essentially, repeated information is often perceived as more truthful than new information.
Can You Control or Prevent It?
Being aware of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon can help you take steps to minimize this bias, but there’s no way to just turn it off. It’s a part of how your brain operates. In some cases, it can actually be helpful and allow you to focus attention, notice patterns, and learn new things.
For example, researchers suggest it can serve as an important learning tool in medical contexts. Once medical professionals become more aware of the symptoms of a rare condition, the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon may help them better recognize it when they encounter it.
The best things you can do to prevent the frequency illusion from biasing your thinking are to:
- Notice when it’s happening: If something seems like it’s everywhere, try to step back and ask why. Is it something you just learned about? Have you been thinking about it more? Is it really more common, or are you just noticing it more? Reflecting on it can provide some clarity.
- Keep an open mind: Vacchiano notes that while people tend to be more open-minded when they first learn about a topic, they often begin to focus on a single idea they believe is right (even if it isn’t). “It is important to always keep an open mind and be open to other opinions and data to fully make a case for something,” he explains.
- Check your sources: If you are only getting your information from one source, consider branching out and looking for other resources. Social media can also contribute to the frequency illusion. Once you show interest in a topic, your algorithm will naturally start serving up more of the same content. That can distort your perceptions of what’s popular and relevant.
- Fact-check information: When possible, look for objective data to confirm or refute whether something really is more common. “Encourage yourself and others to research the topic from reputable sites, continue to ask questions, get curious, and learn from people that are different from you,” Vacchiano says.
- Be mindful: You can’t stop your brain from noticing patterns (nor would you want to), but you can be more mindful about your interpretations of those patterns. Knowing that biases like the frequency illusion can affect your thinking can help you avoid being overly influenced by social media algorithms and echo chambers that make you think certain patterns are more common than they really are.
The goal isn’t to stop your brain from noticing patterns; it’s to strengthen your sense of curiosity and critical thinking.
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