Hasty generalization
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Hasty generalization is a logical fallacy of faulty generalization by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence. It commonly involves basing a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population.
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[edit] Examples
Person A travels through Town X for the first time. He sees 10 people, all of them white. Person A returns to his town and reports that there are no minority residents in Town X.
Person A and Person B walk past a pawn shop. Person A remarks that a watch in a window display looks like the one his grandfather used to wear.
- Person B concludes that Person A's grandfather pawned his watch
- Person B concludes that Person A's grandfather had expensive tastes in jewelry
- Person B concludes that Person A's grandfather was ostentatious
- Person B concludes that Person A's grandfather can not tell the time any more
[edit] Alternative Names
The fallacy is also known as: fallacy of insufficient statistics, fallacy of insufficient sample, fallacy of the lonely fact, leaping to a conclusion, hasty induction, law of small numbers, unrepresentative sample and secundum quid.
[edit] References
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[edit] See also
[edit] External links and references
- Fallacy: Hasty Generalization, Michael C. Labossiere's Fallacy Tutorial Proes:Generalización apresurada
he:הכללה חפוזה hu:Secundum quid nl:Overhaaste generalisatie ja:早まった一般化 ro:Generalizarea pripită
