Apophenia, a term coined by the psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in 1958, is the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns, connections or intent in random or unrelated data. It underlies phenomena frequently cited in the study of paranormal belief such as pareidolia, seeing a face or a religious image in a water stain or a cloud, and the perception of significant "signs" in coincidental events, and is invoked across the skeptical literature as a cognitive mechanism that can generate a strong subjective sense of meaning or communication where no genuine pattern or agency exists.
Facts
Evidence
Replication StatusThe tendency to perceive meaningful pattern in random data is well documented and replicated in cognitive psychology; whether it explains any specific instance of claimed paranormal perception is a separate, unresolved question. 1 Research
Principal ResearcherKlaus Conrad, the psychiatrist who coined the term in 1958 1 Classification
Kind of phenomenon Connections
Sources
1. The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions
Robert Todd Carroll, John Wiley & Sons, 2003s.v. apophenia; pareidoliaView the Source 2. The Skeptic's Dictionary: The Skeptic's Dictionary: Apophenia
The Skeptic's DictionaryEntryQuote, Entry
Apophenia is the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena.
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