Frequency illusion, also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency bias, is a

cognitive Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

bias in which, after noticing something for the first time, there is a tendency to notice it more often, leading someone to believe that it has an increased frequency of occurrence. It occurs when increased awareness of something creates the illusion that it is appearing more often. Put plainly, the frequency illusion occurs when "a concept or thing you just found out about suddenly seems to pop up everywhere."

History

The name "Baader–Meinhof phenomenon" was derived from a particular instance of frequency illusion in which the

Baader–Meinhof Group The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "#Name, Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German Far-left politics, far-left Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist Urb ...

was mentioned. In this instance, it was noticed by a man named Terry Mullen, who in 1994 wrote a letter to a newspaper column in which he mentioned that he had first heard of the Baader–Meinhof Group, and shortly thereafter coincidentally came across the term from another source. After the story was published, various readers submitted letters detailing their own experiences of similar events, and the name "Baader–Meinhof phenomenon" was coined as a result. The term "frequency illusion" was coined in 2005 by

Arnold Zwicky Arnold M. Zwicky (born September 6, 1940) is a perennial visiting professor of linguistics at Stanford University, and Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of linguistics at the Ohio State University. Early life and education Zwicky was b ...

, a professor of linguistics at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Arnold Zwicky considered this illusion a process involving two cognitive biases: selective attention bias (noticing things that are important to us and disregarding the rest) followed by

confirmation bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...

(looking for things that support our hypotheses while disregarding potential counter-evidence). It is considered mostly harmless, but can cause worsening symptoms in patients with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

. The frequency illusion may also have legal implications, as eyewitness accounts and memory can be influenced by this illusion. Oliver Sacks noted that he started noticing numerous people with Tourette syndrome only after he first came across the term.

References

Cognitive biases {{psychology-stub

History

See also

References