Overgeneralization

[[File:Hasty Generalization.png|right|thumb|350px|upright|Everything you need to know.]]
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{{hatnote|Not to be confused with [[Sweeping generalization]].}}
{{cquote|[Y]ou'll be familiar with the idea that a sample can be systematically unrepresentative: if you want to know about the health of the population as a whole, but you survey people in a GP waiting room, then you’re an idiot.|||[[Ben Goldacre]]}}
'''Overgeneralization''' is a [[logical fallacy]] that occurs when a conclusion about a group is drawn from an unrepresentative sample, especially a sample that is too small or too narrow. It is the opposite of [[slothful induction]].

The fallacy is an [[imprecision fallacy]] and an [[informal fallacy]].

==Alternate names==
*argument by generalization
*argument/statistics from small numbers
*faulty generalization
*hasty conclusion
*hasty generalization
*inductive generalization
*insufficient sample
*insufficient statistics
*lonely fact fallacy
*over-generalization
*unrepresentative sample

==Form==
{{syl
|2=Sample '''S''' of population '''P''' has quality '''Q'''.
|4=Sample '''S''' is not representative of population '''P'''.
|5=C|6=Population '''P''' has quality '''Q'''.
}}

==Examples==
===Limited sample size===
:Three senior citizens died after receiving [[swine flu]] vaccine in 1976.
:[[Anti-vaccination movement|Vaccines are bad for you]].
What isn't stated is that 48,161,019 people were immunized, only 532 had any negative reactions after the vaccinations (.001%). Eventually 25 people had fatal reactions from [[Guillain-Barré syndrome]], which was an unknown reaction to a relatively new vaccination at the time. By contrast it is estimated at least 50 million (high estimates put it at near 100 million) people died from the [[Swine flu#Historical precedents|1918 swine flu epidemic]].

===Non-representative samples===
:There have been a number of scandals involving financial firms committing fraud.
:All financial firms and workers are thieves stealing money from society.
It is part of the [[spotlight fallacy]] to come up with a "sample", which is often utilized by [[Michael T. Snyder|economic conspiracy theorists]].

[[Stereotype|Stereotyping]] is a type of overgeneralization based on characteristics held by a single person or a small selection of individuals that are actually dangerous, but instead are used to smear an entire group based on association. For example: [[demonization]] and [[bullshit]] used by [[racist]]s and [[bigot]]s.

*{{wpl|MS-13}} is an ultra-violent Mexican criminal gang. [[DAESH|ISIS]] is a Sunni Muslim [[terrorist]] organization.
*The [[bullshit]] that "not all terrorists are Muslims, but all Muslims are terrorists."
*All Latinos are members of violent gangs.

===As a defense for cranks===
In a mixture with the [[association fallacy]], overgeneralization has been used to ward off criticisms of [[wingnuts]] in an attempt to associate themselves with more mainstream groups. It is often used to portray the entire [[fringe]] group as "victims" of the attack, in order to motivate a larger group to respond in their defense.
*[[Stormfront]] and other [[neo-Nazi]] groups often try to portray attacks against their hate as an attack against all Caucasians or all [[Christians]].
*Any criticism on [[fundamentalist]]s is generalized to be about everyone who portrays that religion.<ref>[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Essay_talk:Conservapedia_and_Fascism Are you attempting to make that claim the fascism is Christian]</ref>
*[[Survivalist]]s often claim that criticizing their constant rants that the [[end of the world]] is nearly here is a criticism of making preparations for emergencies encouraged by governmental agencies.  More sane people have started calling themselves "Preppers" in an attempt to stop this overgeneralization.
*In a 
stunning
 normal display of claiming to be a victim of media criticism, [[Sarah Palin]] has claimed that any criticism of what she says is a [[misogynistic]] attack against all women.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQFMWfVT2mI Liberal Media Attack on Sarah Palin Backfires]</ref><ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/palin-claims-done-whining-media-20110327-142300-258.html Palin Claims to Be Done 'Whining' About Media - Yahoo! News]</ref><ref>[http://wonkette.com/414741/barack-obama-insults-all-women-sarah-palin Barack Obama Insults All Women (Sarah Palin!)]</ref>
*[[Pol Pot]] supporters deny that Pol Pot persecuted people who wore glasses, arguing that Pol Pot himself had a photo wearing glasses.

==See also==
*[[Pragmatic fallacy]]
*[[Slothful induction]]
*[[Stereotype]]
*[[Cherry picking]]
{{otherlang
|pt=Generalização precipitada}}

==External links==
*{{wpa|Hasty generalization}}
*{{wpa|Secundum quid}}
*[http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/hasty-generalization.html Fallacy: Hasty Generalization], [[Nizkor Project]]
*[http://www.fallacyfiles.org/hastygen.html Hasty Generalization], [[Fallacy Files]]
*[http://www.logicallyfallacious.com/index.php/logical-fallacies/101-hasty-generalization HASTY GENERALIZATION], Logically Fallacious
*[http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/hasty.htm Hasty Generalization], One Good Move

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Cognitive biases]]
[[Category:Imprecision fallacies]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

Categories: Cognitive biases, Imprecision fallacies, Statistics