First, a definition, as the backdrop to my story and subsequent experiment on you, gentle reader:

From Wikipedia: “The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon occurs when a person, after having learned some (usually obscure) fact, word, phrase, or other item for the first time, encounters that item again, perhaps several times, shortly after having learned it. This is a specialised version of the effect of serendipity.”

There are several theories about the psychological explanation of the phenomenon, including a popular one that cites its primary cause as being the recency effect, in which the human brain has a bias that lends increased prominence to new or recently acquired information.”

Now, a specific example pertinent to my own personal life. Browsing Etsy for Christmas gifts, I noticed this design on several pendants:


I didn’t pay it much attention aside from thinking it was a nice sentiment, until I noticed it was on a few designs from multiple sellers. Surely, I thought, this must mean something. The design haunted me a bit. Perhaps “haunted” is too serious a word, but as a member of the microwave generation, which has grown up with information at our fingertips, the fact that I knew it meant something but didn’t know what that something was began to very subtly annoy me.

I had more pressing things to attend to, so ignored this subtle annoyance, but the next morning got an email from my favourite online tshirt store only to be slapped in the face with a reminder of my annoyance:


An obvious play on the original. I had to know: what the heck was this from? What did it mean? What was it’s significance, and why was it so influential that my favourite tshirt site was satirizing it? I did the obvious Google search and found the history of the design, an interesting little story. My curiosity appeased, I was now a happily satiated information junkie.

At lunch I noticed a poster directly outside my building, which convinced me once and for all that this slogan was now following me about. Hours later after dinner, I found it again outside Hops and Chops at Linda’s, waiting for me without any hint of shame. I took a photo on my trusty iPhone:

Now, the funny thing about this slogan and design is that now I know about it, I am keen to notice it everywhere. That’s the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon at work. It is like buying a Dodge Neon, and then suddenly noticing Dodge Neons everywhere.

And of course, it’s sort of a Catch-22. Now that I know about the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, I’ve been noticing examples of it in my own life, like my little story above. My “Keep Calm and Carry On” instance happened only a week or two after I’d discovered Baader-Meinhof. And I’d already been meaning to write about the phenomenon because I’m curious to see if once people are informed of it, it starts popping up into their lives as well. So if you read this, I’m somewhat sorry, it’s like opening one of those vile chain letters that say you’ll now have to forward this to six people to kiss someone at midnight, et cetera… because the way the brain works, now that it has a label for it your brain will start to look for these Baader-Meinhof patterns whether you like it or not. I know mine certainly did. I’d like to hear about it if yours does too.

The brain is an amazing machine.

(For even more info on the origin of the phrase: See Damn Interesting: The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon)