Baader-Meinhof is a cognitive bias. Like other psyche biases it enables the brian to sift information. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon captures the brain becoming aware of something, which it then recognises over and over making you think that it’s everywhere.

If you bought a red car you might notice a lot more red cars. After a break up you might think there are love songs everywhere. There aren’t any more red cars or love songs around you just notice them more. A kind of frequency illusion.

Its origin is based on the Baader-Meinhof Terror Group: where the fear of a terrorist attack heightened the frequency illusion of hearing the group’s name. Why would the human brain have this frequency illusion? 

Useful for the brain would be an alert system. And this is what it is. Combined with a strong emotion like a threat it would be useful to be able to focus in on the threat and recognise it more often. In other words it is a survival mechanism. Primitive people could focus on animal threats and become heightend to notice them.

Like self awareness noticing the self and being alert to what we are feeling is an advantage. It gives us more skills in life situations, and creates more meaning for ourselves and those close to us.

Copyright Adrian Scott
North London Counsellor Blog 2020
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Disclaimer: This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only
This article is designed to provoke argment and critique