Hasty Generalization

making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on a sample that is inadequate (usually because it is atypical or too small). Stereotypes of people ("librarians are shy and smart, "wealthy people are snobs" etc.) are common examples of the principle underlying hasty generalization.

Definition

Hasty Generalization

Examples

1.)Librarians are shy and smart.

2.)Wealthy people are snobs.

3.)

People often commit Hasty Generalizations because of bias or prejudice. For example, someone who is a sexist might conclude that all women are unfit to fly jet fighters because one woman crashed one. People also commonly commit Hasty Generalizations because of laziness or sloppiness. It is very easy to simply leap to a conclusion and much harder to gather an adequate sample and draw a justified conclusion. Thus, avoiding this fallacy requires minimizing the influence of bias and taking care to select a sample that is large enough.

Visual Representation

"Typical" PerryHall girl's outfit.

A Hasty Generalization, like any fallacy, might have a true conclusion. However, as long as the reasoning is fallacious there is no reason to accept the conclusion based on that reasoning.

Original example

Since black people eat fried chicken and drink koolaid, all black people eat fried chicken and drink koolaid.