To generalize is to believe all of a group are like one of a group. A person or thing with certain characteristics represents the whole group that person or thing belongs to or is identified with. Generalizations are by nature inaccurate (and that’s a generalization) because no group has members who are all the same. The crucial thing is to be aware when we generalize and watch what we do with our generalizations.
Even though generalizing can cause problems, there are benefits:
~~ It helps us make good guesses. We gift flowers because they’ve delighted in the past. Even if we don’t choose the person’s favorite blossom, it’s a pretty safe bet flowers will bring pleasure this time.
~~ It helps us make practical decisions. “Safeway is a good grocery store.” Although not all Safeways are necessarily good, our experience of a few allows us to make that generalization. It also lets us go directly to Safeway when we need food. If we didn’t generalize from the few to the many, we’d constantly be reevaluating where to shop.
~~ It helps us have faith in basic truths. If we had to look into how the sun rises to determine the probability of it coming up today, instead of generalizing from our experience of a lifetime, we’d drive ourselves mad.
The dangers of generalizing come when we judge other human beings or ourselves. If we identify people by skin color or the way they dress or because they claim to belong to a certain group, we might think we know about all the members of that group. We can hate, harm, harass before we have a chance to learn. If we say to ourselves, “I always do that” or “I never accomplish what I want to,” we do ourselves an injustice.
Examples of group generalizations are: lesbians are men-haters, Mexicans are lazy, Republicans are wealthy, old people are wise, men are controlling bullies, women are over-emotional, Whites are racist, Muslims are terrorists, Jews are good with money, Christians are fair-minded.
Generalizations create expectations of the person in front of us. Think how you treat your friends or partner. How many times do you think you are “right” about that person? We generalize from past experiences: she cheated on her taxes once, so she’ll likely do it every year. And we may miss any changes she’s made.
Maybe worst of all, we can justify our actions based on generalizations. We tell ourselves it’s “right” not to speak to any member of a certain group because “they’re all like that one I met awhile back—rude and nasty.” It slams the door on new information, on individuality and generates fear and anger towards whole groups of human beings.
We have to generalize or we wouldn’t be able to function. So the key is to realize when we’re doing it, when it’s helpful and when it leads to mistakes and injustices. As writer Marty Rubin said, if we’re not careful, “Out of ignorance or expediency we give all snowflakes the same name.”