Hey all,
Welcome to Human Nature, the illustrated psychology newsletter.
This month’s theme is cognitive biases. These are systematic errors in thinking that we all make and that affect our judgement and behaviours. We humans like to believe we’re rational thinkers, but our brains aren’t quite wired that way. Cognitive biases are just one of the ways in which our thinking is flawed, so it’s good to be aware of them.
There are hundreds of cognitive biases that have been identified, so it would be impossible for me to cover them all here. Instead, I will share the ones that I find the most interesting (and the most fun to illustrate).
The Frequency Illusion
What it is: Also called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, the frequency illusion refers to the cognitive bias in which something suddenly seems to appear everywhere after we learn about it for the first time. For example, you might notice that you see the term frequency illusion pop up unexpectedly after reading this.
How its was discovered: In 1994, a man named Terry Mullen talked to his friend about the Baader-Meinhof gang, only to see a newspaper reference the same obscure gang the next day.
How it works: Of course, information doesn’t become more frequent after we become aware of it. Instead, our brains are wired to pay attention to things that it considers relevant (selective attention), and seek evidence that confirms our beliefs (confirmation bias). Therefore, newly learned information only appears to become more frequent.
Thank you for reading, see you next time!