Whether you like it or not, we continue to evolve, we never stay in one place or rut, we grow. I wrote this article three years ago, and now it’s time to update it. Why? Well, I have learned more in those three years and recently became of something that is particularly relevant to this piece. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.
Go on, think of the colour red, do it now – I’m waiting – go on, do it now… Thank you. I need you to focus on that colour for a while. Now, get up, go for walk, a drive, go out on your bike, spend some time on public transport, or just wander about your domain. When you’re doing this I still need you to think about that colour – don’t worry, I’ll be here when you get back.
OK, so did you do that? – if you didn’t and thought you could skip the effort, then fine, but you’re probably not going to get much out of the rest of this fascinating article until you do.
This is a simple concept and it’s easy to do. You just need to pick a colour and think about it, what’s the problem?
I have had the idea of writing this article for a while now, however, it came back to my consciousness recently when I was on an early morning bus to meet a friend for breakfast in Bath. Sat on the X31 I made the decision to think about the colour Red. I immediately scanned my environment and every sign, piece of clothing worn by my fellow passengers, advertisement, leaflet and passing car, were red. If not entirely red, it was just a red accent or splash of colour. It was as if everything red just ‘popped’ out of a monotone background. I quickly changed my thoughts to Blue and immediately, I noticed everything that was blue. When I was thinking about Red, I had no consideration for Blue.
It appears this phenomenon is as old as time, but people smarter than I have identified it as Frequency Illusion.
In 2005, Stanford University linguist Arnold Zwicky discussed what he termed the “recency illusion,” defining it as “the belief that things YOU have noticed only recently are in fact recent.” He also discussed “frequency illusion,” describing it as “once you’ve noticed a phenomenon, you think it happens a whole lot.”
According to Zwicky, the frequency illusion involves two processes. The first is selective attention, which is when you notice things that interest you most while disregarding the rest. The second is confirmation bias, which is when you look for things that support your way of thinking while disregarding things that don’t. Basically, when we focus on something, we notice a lot more of it.
To many of you, this will not be ground-breaking science, you’ve heard tales of these experiments and some you may even have tried something similar once or twice. Now, go deeper and work a little harder to develop this simple concept for your own benefit. Many elite sports people who use visualisation techniques – Imagining the golf ball dropping in the hole, seeing themselves breaking the tape at the end of the race, or thinking about how good it feels to jump that hurdle. You can read about the tools that can help you, but you need to develop your own personal method to make it work for you.
So how did the Baader-Meinhof gang achieve the credit for this phenomenon?
The Baader-Meinhof Gang was a West German terrorist group that was big in the 1970s. So, you probably wonder how the name of a terrorist gang became attached to the concept of frequency illusion. Well, just as you might suspect, it appears that it was born of the phenomenon itself. It goes back to a discussion board in the mid-1990s, someone became aware of the Baader-Meinhof gang, then heard several more mentions of it within a short period.
Lacking a better phrase to use, the concept simply became known as Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. And it stuck.
By the way, it’s pronounced “bah-der-myn-hof.”
So there we go. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is about when something you have recently become aware of (a colour, make of car), ‘suddenly’ starts to be Here, There and Everywhere. Alas, it is NOT! This is just your frequency Bias talking to you. A simple concept that you could simply swat away or swipe left.
But wait!… Start thinking about how you can take this simple concept further and use it to benefit yourself. If you can focus on a simple colour, what else could you focus on and see more of in your life? Success?, Smiles?, Happiness?, Laughter?, Love? What do you want more of in your life? Don’t just wish and dream it, start by doing something about it. Start by dedicating your focus to that goal. You know it works. Focus on a colour, you see more of it. Now get selfish and focus on what you want more of in your life.
You’re in control of your mind, so you can take control of your life.
You just have to change the way you Think.
