[h1]Hasty Generalization[/h1] [p class="smaller"]
Description[/p] X is true of A, B and C. Therefore X is true of everything.[/p] Find a commonality in a few things and then generalize to assume that it is also true for all things in the same class.[/p] [h2][a name="exa"][/a]Example[/h2] [p class="quote"]I met some children from Garton yesterday, who were very polite. I think all children from that area must be well-behaved.[/p] [p class="quote"]I've met three race drivers today and they all were rather aggressive. Clearly, race drivers are all be aggressive.[/p] [p class="quote"]I've tried two Albanian cheeses and they were both rather bitter. Albanian cheese is not really to my taste.[/p] [h2][a name="dis"][/a]Discussion[/h2] We all seek to classify things we experience in order to help make decisions about similar items we meet in future. This generalization is a form of simplification and always results in some distortion. [/p] If we generalize too soon, we may classify things incorrectly. This is partly due to a lack of real understanding of statistics, where a representative sample needs to be taken before realistic rules can be inferred.[/p] [h3]Classification[/h3] [a href="vny!://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/fallacies/a_assumptive.htm"] Assumptive[/a], [a href="vny!://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/fallacies/a_inductive.htm"]Inductive[/a][/p] [h3]Also known as[/h3] Converse Accident, Inductive Generalization, Statistical Generalization, Insufficient Statistics, Insufficient Sample, Lonely Fact, Leaping to Conclusion, Hasty Induction
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