overgeneralising
Drawing sweeping conclusions
Overgeneralising is drawing broad conclusions from limited evidence, or applying a rule too widely.
Someone who meets one rude New Yorker and declares all New Yorkers rude is overgeneralising.
The tendency appears in everyday reasoning and formal fallacies alike: You're overgeneralising from a single bad experience.
Also spelled overgeneralizing.
Assertion applied universally
- all-or-nothingWithout partial outcomes
- black-and-white thinkingSeeing only extremes
- absolutismUnrestricted governmental authority
- universalizingExtending to all cases
totalization · exaggeration · hyperbole · overreach · overstatement · distortion · misrepresentation · straw man
Oversimplified group-based judgments
- prejudicePreformed unfavorable opinion
- profilingCharacterizing by patterns
- pigeonholingAssigning to narrow categories
- labelingAssigning identifying markers
typecast · categorization · stigmatization · confirmation bias · halo effect · cognitive distortion · snap judgment · preconception
Excessively quick, ill-considered
- sweepingExtensive and far-reaching
- blanketSoft bed covering
- broad-brushGeneral, not detailed
- jumping to conclusionsForming judgments prematurely
inductive · extrapolation · inference · leap · conjecture · presumption · assumption · unwarranted
Stripping complexity unfairly
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- conflationMerging distinct concepts incorrectly
- blurringMaking less distinct
- vaguenessAbsence of precision
imprecision · inexactness · broad · unspecific · undifferentiated · indiscriminate · homogenizing · glossing over
blanket statement
Assertion applied universally
- all-or-nothingWithout partial outcomes
- black-and-white thinkingSeeing only extremes
- absolutismUnrestricted governmental authority
universalizing · totalization · exaggeration · hyperbole · overreach · overstatement · distortion · misrepresentation · straw man · false equivalence
stereotyping
Oversimplified group-based judgments
- prejudicePreformed unfavorable opinion
- profilingCharacterizing by patterns
- pigeonholingAssigning to narrow categories
labeling · typecast · categorization · stigmatization · confirmation bias · halo effect · cognitive distortion · snap judgment · preconception · unconscious bias
hasty
Excessively quick, ill-considered
- sweepingExtensive and far-reaching
- blanketSoft bed covering
- broad-brushGeneral, not detailed
jumping to conclusions · inductive · extrapolation · inference · leap · conjecture · presumption · assumption · unwarranted · premature
oversimplification
Stripping complexity unfairly
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- conflationMerging distinct concepts incorrectly
- blurringMaking less distinct
vagueness · imprecision · inexactness · broad · unspecific · undifferentiated · indiscriminate · homogenizing · glossing over · decontextualization
overgeneralisingspecifying
Stating precisely
particularising · differentiating · distinguishing · individualising · detailing
general, generation, generic, generate, generally, generator, generality, generalist, generalise