What is the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon?
An explanation of how you start noticing something all the time
Have you ever heard about a new country, or learnt a new word, something that you were unaware of earlier — and suddenly that word pops up extremely frequently in your daily life?
If you don’t recall such an experience, let me ask you this — do you remember the last time you saw a bright yellow car?
Now, for the next few days, try to count how many yellow cars you see on the road. There’s a good chance you’re surprised by the number of yellow cars you see. The count surely didn’t increase just by you reading this article? It’s just that you started noticing them more — your mind develops a frequency bias.
This frequency bias (or illusion), known popularly as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, is a form of selection bias where something you recently noticed appears much more frequently around you.
Baader–Meinhof phenomenon? That’s a weird name.
The reason for the name Baader-Meinhof phenomenon has an interesting story. The Baader–Meinhof Group, also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF), was a West German far-left militant organization founded in 1970 that grew out of the student protest movement in West Germany. The RAF were the primary forces behind the German Autumn series of events, and were held responsible for thirty-four deaths in their nearly 30 years of activity (in April 1988, they sent a letter to Reuters that the group has dissolved).
And according to the the Pacific Standard:
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon was invented in 1994 by a commenter on the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ online discussion board, who came up with it after hearing the name of the ultra-left-wing German terrorist group twice in 24 hours. The phrase became a meme on the newspaper’s boards, where it still pops up regularly, and has since spread to the wider Internet. It even has its own Facebook page.
So why does this phenomenon happen?
Your mind. Your mind is playing tricks on you.
The new information we picked up is fresh and interesting so we’re unconsciously on the lookout for it, and this ties into the theory of selective attention. Our brain focuses on particular objects in the environment while ignoring the non-relevant information. This is what enables us to keep up a conversation at a party with loud music and multiple conversations in the background.
Perhaps there’s another interesting reason involved — our mind tends to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values. A stronger example of the confirmation bias is in social media where individuals inadvertently seek information that reinforces their own views — whether by seeking it themselves or by recommendation systems like that in Facebook, which tries to show you information that you might like or agree with.
Does the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon affect you in any way?
In addition to you being able to recognize yellow cars more than usual, there are definitely some real-world consequences attributed to this phenomenon.
If you’re a detective trying to solve a case and recently studied a potential suspect, your mind might start seeing random connections between the suspect and the case, causing you to potentially overestimate the person’s involvement.
But my extremely educated guess is that if you’re reading this, you’re probably not a detective (If you are, then you probably know more about this than me anyway). A more relevant example that might be universal to everyone reading this is money.
A new investment opportunity that you hear about might pop up everywhere for the next few days. You’re very tempted to invested your money into this immediately. But beware the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon — your mind might just have a FOMO. The investment opportunity may be good or bad — just be aware of the bias and make sure to do your research before making a call!
Does the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon affect me in any way?
In addition to all of the above, I also got a wonderful name for a blog, and a new take on life.
The phenomenon got me thinking — if it works for cars or fancy investment schemes, would it work for almost anything? If I replace the word ‘cars’ with the word ‘purple’, would I start seeing more of the color purple in my life? Turns out it does. So why not replace ‘cars’ with something that’s good for me (not saying ?
If you appreciate the color purple, you start seeing more purple in life.
If you appreciate positive things, you start seeing more positive things in life.
Welcome to Purple Theory.
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