# Quick, what do you call that one cognitive bias...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387 "2011-06-22T04:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BornOfStardust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BornOfStardust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornOfStardust)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/1 "2011-06-22T04:39:21Z")
The one where you either first learn about something or just are exposed to it, and then you feel like you see references to it everywhere? There may be a scientific name for it, but I’m also looking for a more colloquial name. Not sure how popular the latter is, but I was linked to a blog post about it several months back where somebody gave it a name based on a particular (movie, maybe?) that he had experienced the phenomenon with, and it was cute and I can’t for the life of me remember where I read it and it’s BOTHERING ME so help plzkthx 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/2 "2011-06-22T04:48:57Z")
**Confirmation bias** is the general term, but I’m not aware of one specifically about things you’ve just become aware of. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/3 "2011-06-22T04:56:58Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > **Confirmation bias** is the general term, but I’m not aware of one specifically about things you’ve just become aware of. Confirmation bias has nothing to do with the description the original post gave. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/4 "2011-06-22T05:00:16Z")
[Synchronicity](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/synchronicity)? ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/5 "2011-06-22T05:28:14Z")
You may be thinking of [Baader-Meinhof](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/). There was a [2008 film](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baader_Meinhof_Complex) with a similar name - but it’s unrelated. Reading around the 'net a bit, it would appear that synchronicity, as **Implicit** suggests, is a more widely-accepted term. Thanks for asking this question - I keep meaning to (and then forgetting) look up what this is called. ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/6 "2011-06-22T05:30:01Z")
Ach. Double post. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/7 "2011-06-22T05:53:31Z")
Availability bias perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/8 "2011-06-22T12:54:43Z")
> [@BornOfStardust](#): > > first learn about something Primacy effect > [@BornOfStardust](#): > > just are exposed to it Recency effect ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/9 "2011-06-23T20:31:35Z")
I don’t know if this is the colloquialism you had in mind, but in one of Cecil’s columns ([“Can some people extinguish streetlamps by means of their bodily emanations?”](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/966/can-some-people-extinguish-streetlamps-by-means-of-their-bodily-emanations)), a reader stated it as “The van is always on the corner”. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-what-do-you-call-that-one-cognitive-bias/586387/10 "2011-06-23T22:33:28Z")
Did you post this thread on ten other boards after this one?