Originally published on January 24th 2008. I wrote about a weird contest I spotted in the newspaper. How times have changed. I decided to republish this blog with a completely different post as the title is perfect.
A talent I have developed over the years is spotting the word WIN at 100 paces. It even trips me up occasionally as it will be the word WINGS, WINTER, WIND, etc.
I even joke with my boyfriend that if we are walking down the street and my head snaps around, I didn’t spot a good looking man, I saw a contest.
It’s actually got a name for being aware of sweepstakes.
Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or Baader-Meinhof effect, is when your awareness of something increases. This leads you to believe it’s actually happening more, even if that’s not the case.
Why is your brain playing tricks on you? Don’t worry. It’s perfectly normal. Your brain is simply reinforcing some newly acquired information. Other names for this are:
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- frequency illusion
- recency illusion
- selective attention bias
It’s not for sweepstakes exactly, but it does explain the heightened awareness of winning opportunities.
How far can you spot the word win?
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