What is the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?

The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, is a cognitive bias where a person suddenly notices a specific word, concept, or product much more frequently after recently becoming aware of it. The name originated in 1994 from a reader's letter to a newspaper about repeatedly seeing the German militant group's name, and the term frequency illusion was later coined in 2005. Today, algorithmic curation across the internet has further increased how often people experience this phenomenon.

What we know

• The frequency illusion, or Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, is a cognitive bias in which a person notices a concept or word more frequently after recently learning about it. [1, 2]
• The name was coined in 1994 by Terry Mullen in a letter to the St. Paul Pioneer Press after he repeatedly noticed the name of the German militant group Baader-Meinhof. [2]
• Stanford linguistics professor Arnold Zwicky coined the term frequency illusion in 2005 on his blog. [2]
• The occurrence of the phenomenon has increased among the general public due to algorithmic curation across the internet. [2]

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureHow do cognitive biases affect human judgment?
• whoWho was Terry Mullen?
• how it workedWhat role does internet algorithmic curation play in modern information exposure?
• compared withWhat are other well-known psychological effects?
• whenWhen was the term frequency illusion first used online?
• an unexpected connectionHow does internet algorithmic curation relate to the frequency illusion?Modern internet algorithms curate content in a way that actively increases how frequently people encounter newly noticed concepts online.

Sources

• [1]Baader–Meinhof effect (Wikidata Q60769209) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Frequency illusion · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]List of cognitive biases · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]List of psychological effects · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]List of effects · CC BY-SA 4.0