The Mind’s Search for Meaning |
Have you ever experienced an encounter with an image in the sky or thought that the lyrics to your favourite song related to your personal life? These are examples of having moments that are either unsettling, poetic, or just plain strange.
Such experiences are known as apophenia, expressions of our innate tendency to find patterns and attribute meaning to things that are random. The tendency we all have to engage in apophenia is not merely a harmless quirk. Instead, it shows how deeply our brains seek to make sense of everything around us through order, narrative, and explanation.
Apophenia can be evident in everyday life and can present itself in how we hear a voice over the hum of an air conditioner or perceive a coworker's comment as having ulterior motives. Apophenia also informs our belief systems, inspires creativity, and can lead us to incorrect conclusions (Brugger, 2001).
We're Wired to See Patterns Even When They're Not There
Our ancestors lived in dangerous environments; spotting a predator's shape in the bushes or noticing seasonal changes could be a matter of life or death. In those high-stakes situations, it was safer to mistakenly assume there was something there than to miss a real threat. That's why our brains evolved to prefer false alarms over dangerous misses, what scientists call the "smoke detector principle" (Haselton & Buss, 2000).
The ancient wiring behind such a sensitive detection system still operates today. Our minds are so eager to make sense of things that we often "complete" patterns before we've checked the facts. A rustle in the dark makes us uneasy before we confirm it's just the wind. A strange coincidence might spark a theory before we have any real evidence.
Rapid pattern recognition once helped us survive. Now it can lead to faulty conclusions, especially in the modern world, where threats are rarely life-and-death (Kahneman, 2011).
How Emotions Shape the Patterns We Think We See
Our emotions significantly influence our ability to perceive (or create) patterns. When we are anxious or uncertain about something, our brains go into overdrive trying to figure things out. At that point, apophenia comes into play.
For instance, if you're waiting for an........