Thejaswini...Knowledge Contributor
What is the term for the psychological phenomenon where people perceive patterns or connections in random data or events?
What is the term for the psychological phenomenon where people perceive patterns or connections in random data or events?
Apophenia, also known as patternicity, means seeing patterns in random events. It also applies when people deduce meaning from numbers, images, shapes, or any other objects that are truly random. Apophenia can also be the result of training. Some scientists and medical professionals connect facts and data to make diagnoses. But sometimes this skill can turn into a bias, where people see patterns that aren’t there.
Types of apophenia:-
*Pareidolia: seeing an image or sound from random visual or auditory stimuli.
*Clustering illusion: seeing patterns in events and data when there is no connection between data points.
*Confirmation bias: tendency to only accept information that confirms prior beliefs.
*Gambler’s fallacy: believing that a prior series of events affects a future event, even though the two are unrelated.