Ever get a case of “new car effect”? You buy an aquamarine Ford Taurus and then SUDDENLY you see them everywhere. “Wow, my ride is suddenly trending.” Another iteration goes like this- one day you learn that the word “peruse” does NOT mean ‘to glance through quickly’ but means much the opposite- ‘to read through very carefully… and then in short order you hear 10 people use it incorrectly.
These are both part of the phenomenon recently called the “frequency illusion” by a professor of linguistics at Stanford named Arnold Zwicky when an idea or item you recently learn of seemingly shows up everywhere. He states that we have selectively- unconsciously or not- decided to pay more attention to those things that come into our awareness. We unknowingly are seeking these coincidences out and therefore, we find them. There is also a layer of confirmation bias added to this phenomenon because each sighting of the coinciding thing seems additional proof that this thing has, indeed, become the next Pet Rock.
See also: Baader-Meinhof phenomenon- an even more interesting take on these occurances!
Friday’s WOD 7 and 9am and again at 3 and 5pm
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
200/150m row
5 power snatch (45/30kg)
Post number of rounds and scaling
Friday’s 4pm Open Training Hour
Saturday BIG WOD at 9:30am
