Overgeneralizations (DW#489)
All of us (that’s a generalization by the way!) have made a generalization or a broad statement to a group of people or things. Basically, our minds are so hungry for the impression of knowledge and certainty about our circumstances that they automatically form broad, sweeping conclusions based on very little information or experience. This is particularly true when we’re under the influence of strong negative emotions.
The problem with generalizations is that they are seldom true and can be the basis of prejudice and racism if they embody negative assumptions about entire groups of people.
As Albert Einstein said: All generalizations are false, including this one.
When we say things like "She always", "You never", "Some people are so . ." we are making assumptions not about groups but about particular individuals.
We are also making assumptions about what someone is likely to do based on (perhaps a single) previous experience. As you can imagine, this leaves people little room to change and our assumptions are generally (not always!) realized.
Additionally, when we are sharing our overgeneralizations with another person (sometimes in the form of a criticism – you always, you never . . .etc) they are not open to listening because their mind is busy coming up with exceptions to the overgeneralization.
I don’t ALWAYS do that.
You never: What do you mean I never - Just last week I did that
You get the picture? While our minds like to generalize about other people, we do not like to be the subject of an overgeneralization!
In order to work through the habit of overgeneralization, we can begin to question our assumptions about always and never. We can also intentionally begin to look for exceptions to our assumptions rather than look only to confirm them (which is what the mind does automatically, by the way – look for evidence to confirm the ideas that it has).
To begin the process of counteracting over-generalizations, we can ask ourselves the following questions when we notice (or are accused of) making generalizations:
Really, always, never?
How do I know this? What’s the real-life experience to prove this?
Have I ignored all the times that this generalization was not true?
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