Ok this is crazy, I just saw this word earlier today in the book I was reading—I know it’s primed in my brain now, but really, what are the odds of seeing this again?
Depends, why do you believe you are seeing more often a particular word?
The reason defines whether it is apophenia or not. If you are delusional that it is an alien entity trying to communicate secret information to you in particular, by exposing you to a word more frequently, that’s apophenia. If you know it is the frequency illusion and just find it kinda funny how it feels, then it isn’t. Anyways, it is more often associated with the perception of patterns of causality in things that are random or banal. I’m of the opinion that this comic in particular is not a good representation of apophenia, other than the fact that the protagonist is certainly disconnected from reality.
It is a clinical term, it doesn’t describe a feeling. If you are not disconnected from reality you do not have apophenia. It can be sub clinical or non pathological, but it is not a vague feeling. It is a concrete belief. I’m sorry if I’m harsh with this. I just hate pop appropriation of psychological terms. They always end up distorted into tiktok garbage.
I think it has gained new meaning beyond being a symptom for schizophrenia, such as the tendency for gamblers to believe they’re on a lucky streak or other illusions that trick the brain into seeing patterns that aren’t there.
Exactly, they do believe it. It’s not a vague feeling that is kind of funny but they actually still know logically it isn’t true. For the person with apophenia, it is true. The gambler does believe in the pattern of the numbers and their luck is due to come. It is not a vague feeling, it is a belief that has overridden their contact with reality. It can be non pathological or sub clinical, as in, it doesn’t affect their day to day life and causes no suffering to themselves or others. But they absolutely believe it and behave accordingly to said belief.
Okay, pareidolia is also a form of apophenia. You can “see” a face in a pile of rocks and be creeped out by it while still understanding that the pile of rocks is not actually a face. Belief doesn’t have to override contact with reality, it merely needs to be present.
A gambler feeling lucky might still understand that luck isn’t real, but the feeling persists.
Ok this is crazy, I just saw this word earlier today in the book I was reading—I know it’s primed in my brain now, but really, what are the odds of seeing this again?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion
And, interestingly, I think the feeling of seeing a new vocab word more often is also apophenia.
Depends, why do you believe you are seeing more often a particular word?
The reason defines whether it is apophenia or not. If you are delusional that it is an alien entity trying to communicate secret information to you in particular, by exposing you to a word more frequently, that’s apophenia. If you know it is the frequency illusion and just find it kinda funny how it feels, then it isn’t. Anyways, it is more often associated with the perception of patterns of causality in things that are random or banal. I’m of the opinion that this comic in particular is not a good representation of apophenia, other than the fact that the protagonist is certainly disconnected from reality.
I think apophenia describes the feeling of a pattern too, even if you intellectually understand that there isn’t a pattern.
It is a clinical term, it doesn’t describe a feeling. If you are not disconnected from reality you do not have apophenia. It can be sub clinical or non pathological, but it is not a vague feeling. It is a concrete belief. I’m sorry if I’m harsh with this. I just hate pop appropriation of psychological terms. They always end up distorted into tiktok garbage.
I think it has gained new meaning beyond being a symptom for schizophrenia, such as the tendency for gamblers to believe they’re on a lucky streak or other illusions that trick the brain into seeing patterns that aren’t there.
Or the wikipedia article is wrong.
Exactly, they do believe it. It’s not a vague feeling that is kind of funny but they actually still know logically it isn’t true. For the person with apophenia, it is true. The gambler does believe in the pattern of the numbers and their luck is due to come. It is not a vague feeling, it is a belief that has overridden their contact with reality. It can be non pathological or sub clinical, as in, it doesn’t affect their day to day life and causes no suffering to themselves or others. But they absolutely believe it and behave accordingly to said belief.
Okay, pareidolia is also a form of apophenia. You can “see” a face in a pile of rocks and be creeped out by it while still understanding that the pile of rocks is not actually a face. Belief doesn’t have to override contact with reality, it merely needs to be present.
A gambler feeling lucky might still understand that luck isn’t real, but the feeling persists.
Yes, exactly. It is very meta.
Yeah? Well, maybe yours is an illusion, but how to you explain all the dodge rams on the road after I bought mine?
It’s a memory optimisation invented by GTA
I’m not sure I’d admit to buying a Dodge Ram on the internet…
(Here’s the secret part, I didn’t.)
That’s exactly what a Dodge Ram buyer would say…
Just because I want to have sex with a sexy car with nuts on the back doesn’t mean I’m weird.