I recall when I brought my Jeep, with very peculiar and unique grey color, I suddenly I’m seeing grey Jeep everywhere. On my commute, in parking lots, at the grocery store—they’re multiplying like rabbits! Or are they? This phenomenon has a name: selective attention bias.
Let me share what I’ve learned about this fascinating quirk of our minds and how it shapes our daily experiences, both personally and professionally.
What is Selective Attention Bias?
Selective attention bias occurs when our minds prioritize information that aligns with our current focus or interests while filtering out everything else. As cognitive psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” our brains have limited processing capacity and must be selective about what information receives our conscious attention.
“We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness,” Kahneman writes. This blindness isn’t a flaw, it’s a feature that helps us navigate an overwhelmingly complex world.
The “Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon” (or Frequency Illusion)
That experience with my Jeep Compass? It has another name: the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon or frequency illusion. Once something enters your awareness, you start noticing it everywhere.
Stanford linguistics professor Arnold Zwicky coined the term “frequency illusion” in 2006 to describe this cognitive bias. The thing isn’t actually more common, you’re just more attuned to it 😀.
Real-World Brand Examples
The FedEx Arrow
Look at the FedEx logo. Do you see the arrow between the “E” and “x”? Once someone points it out, you can’t unsee it. But many people go years without noticing this clever design element.
Amazon’s Smile
The Amazon logo has an arrow that points from A to Z (suggesting they sell everything) while forming a smile. Before someone mentions it, most people only see the smile without noticing the A-to-Z connection.
Toblerone’s Hidden Bear
The Toblerone logo contains the silhouette of a bear hidden in the mountain imagery, a nod to Bern, Switzerland (known as the “City of Bears”) where the chocolate was created. Once seen, it’s obvious, but many chocolate lovers miss it completely.
How This Affects Our Lives
Making Decisions
We tend to notice information that confirms our existing beliefs while overlooking contradictory evidence. This confirmation bias affects everything from which news sources we trust to which products we buy.
Marketing and Advertising
Marketers leverage selective attention brilliantly. As marketing professor Jonah Berger notes in his book “Contagious,” “People don’t think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives.” Brands create narratives that align with your current focus, making their products seemingly appear everywhere.
Personal Development
Being aware of selective attention bias can help us grow. By consciously exposing ourselves to diverse perspectives, we can counteract our brain’s natural tendency to filter information that challenges our worldview.
A Personal Reflection
Last month, I was researching ergonomic office chairs for myself (exciting, I know). Within days, I started noticing office chair ads everywhere online, colleagues’ chairs during video calls, and even found myself analyzing seating in coffee shops.
Was the universe suddenly obsessed with office furniture? Nope—just my brain selectively focusing on what had recently become important to me.
The Professional Takeaway
Understanding selective attention bias has made me a better professional:
- I deliberately seek diverse perspectives before making decisions
- I question whether I’m seeing patterns that aren’t actually there
- I recognize when I might be filtering out important contradictory information
As American psychologist William James observed back in 1890, “My experience is what I agree to attend to.” By becoming conscious of our selective attention, we gain more control over our experience of the world.
What are you selectively attending to today? Look around, you might be surprised by what you’ve been missing!
