The illusion of frequency (the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon) We have already met... Surely it has happened in your life that, after reading something interesting, or simply receiving new information, you began to encounter it in real life at every step. Well, for example, this morning you heard on the news that the incidence of influenza is growing, and already on the way to work, you notice that a lot of people have appeared wearing protective masks. Yesterday there were just as many of them, but you didn’t notice. This is by no means a coincidence, this is one of the effects of the psyche. This effect is called the “frequency illusion.” This implies that recently learned information that appears again after a short time is perceived as very frequently repeated. This effect is the result of two features of our psyche: - focus of attention (or selectivity of attention), - the need to confirm our point of view. We often encounter the same information. But we do not pay attention to it until we have formed an understanding of the subject or the essence of this information. But as soon as we form this concept, we actually create a certain filter through which we begin to perceive this reality. Consequently, we are now looking in the world around us for something that can confirm our experience. And we naturally find these confirmations. This happens not because this event or this fact began to happen more often, but because we began to pay attention more often. We have created a certain “passage, door” into our consciousness. In addition, we tend to find patterns in all events. And when we begin to encounter something that we have just learned about, the brain tells us: “Oh! This is no ordinary coincidence!” Although this is nothing more than a “focus of attention” effect. It’s easier for us to say that a horoscope we heard in the morning came true in the evening than to remember a thousand cases when this did not happen. The phenomenon of “frequency illusion” is purposefully used in advertising. Having heard the name of a new brand, or seeing it, we unconsciously increasingly fix our attention on it already in everyday life, in stores, somewhere else. Or, for example, a client, having visited a psychotherapist for a consultation and discussed with them his maladaptive ways of reacting, then increasingly pays attention to them. And then he tries to correct them. This creates the necessary therapeutic effect. In general, there is an explanation for everything..._________________________________________________________________ Friends, if you find this topic interesting and subscribe, I will be grateful! My page https://www.b17.ru/support33/, you will receive the following articles automatically )))