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Apophenia (/ æ p oʊ ˈ f iː n i ə /) is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. [ 1 ] The term ( German : Apophänie from the Greek verb: ἀποφαίνειν , romanized : apophaínein ) was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia . [ 2 ]
The following are types of apophenia: Clustering illusion, the tendency to overestimate the importance of small runs, streaks, or clusters in large samples of random data (that is, seeing phantom patterns). [12] Illusory correlation, a tendency to inaccurately perceive a relationship between two unrelated events. [18] [19]
Apophenia, also known as patternicity, [21] [22] or agenticity, [23] is the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns within random data. Apophenia is well documented as a rationalization for gambling. Gamblers may imagine that they see patterns in the numbers which appear in lotteries, card games, or roulette wheels. [24]
Satellite photograph of a mesa in the Cydonia region of Mars, often called the "Face on Mars" and cited as evidence of extraterrestrial habitation. Pareidolia (/ ˌ p ær ɪ ˈ d oʊ l i ə, ˌ p ɛər-/; [1] also US: / ˌ p ɛər aɪ-/) [2] is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one detects an object, pattern, or ...
This fallacy is the philosophical or rhetorical application of the multiple comparisons problem (in statistics) and apophenia (in cognitive psychology). It is related to the clustering illusion, which is the tendency in human cognition to interpret patterns where none actually exist.
Apophenia can be interpreted as faulty perception that is prevalent in irrational thinking and may also be present in non-pathological and pathological citizens with paranoia or narcissism. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] When processing UAP stimuli intuitively, pareidolia is common, while conspiratorial processing of stimuli normally reflects apophenia. [ 20 ]
The form of the post hoc fallacy is expressed as follows: . A occurred, then B occurred.; Therefore, A caused B. When B is undesirable, this pattern is often combined with the formal fallacy of denying the antecedent, assuming the logical inverse holds: believing that avoiding A will prevent B.
Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher [1] of Skeptic magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. [2]