apophenia

Advancedzipf 1.21

Pronunciation

/ˌæpəˈfiːniə/(ap-uh-FEE-nee-uh)

Part of speech

nounformal

Chinese

空想性错视；模式幻觉

Definition

The tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things; seeing patterns where none exist.

Word family

  • apophenic/ˌæpəˈfɛnɪk/(adj)模式幻觉的

Collocations

  • cognitive apophenia
  • suffer from apophenia
  • apophenia in data
  • classic apophenia

Examples

  1. 1.Conspiracy theories often arise from apophenia — connecting unrelated events into a false narrative. (false pattern recognition)
  2. 2.Seeing faces in clouds is a harmless form of apophenia. (perceiving patterns in randomness)

Synonyms

  • pareidolia/ˌpærɪˈdəʊliə/— seeing faces in random patterns, more specific
  • (no precise synonym — this is a specific psychological term)

Etymology

coined by German psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in 1958 — from Greek "apo-" (away from) + "phainein" (to show) — seeing something that isn't really shown