Semi-Fiction By Daniel Rigney
Here’s what I wanted to know: Why does everybody always overgeneralize all the time?
I was curious, so naturally I turned to Wikipedia. I found several good leads in an article there about “cognitive distortion.”
It turns out that overgeneralization, or “generalizing from isolated cases,” is a logical fallacy related to a number of other common cognitive habits, including “all-or-nothing thinking (or splitting),” “hasty generalization,” and labeling (or “nouning,” as I call it).
When I looked up “hasty generalization,” I found a few more leads to my question. “Hasty generalization” pointed me toward articles on topics like “fallacy of insufficient sample,“ “fallacy of proof by example,” and “slothful induction.”
Where does this subject end? One article led me to several others, which led me to several others. Some articles even led me back to where I started. All I wanted in the first place was a simple answer to my question “Why does everybody always overgeneralize?”
It began to seem as though everything was related to everything else in all directions as far as the eye could see. My brain was getting tired of thinking, and things were getting way too complicated.
That's the moment I realized that we all have our own mental Wikipedia, and that the mind itself is a kind of encyclopedia. For example, I have mental articles (or more often, article stubs) on terms I’ve heard somewhere before, maybe in a philosophy class or just reading around, that seem related to overgeneralization: “light-switch thinking (vs. rheostat thinking),” “categorical thinking (vs. statistical or probabilistic thinking),” "dichotemous thinking," “premature induction,” and plain old sloppy and lazy thinking. I had lots of related terms and concepts in my head, but I still didn’t have an answer to my question.
After going in circles on Wikipedia, I decided to go to Google for some more specific, less abstract information. I decided to try to find out what people overgeneralize about. I went to the search box and asked for exact matches for “everybody always.”
Here are the things that everybody is always doing, according to the list of top responses in Google today:
Everybody is always picking on me [from two different popular songs by two different artists – Bloodhound Gang and the Coasters -- from two different eras.]
Everybody always leaves.
Everybody always thinks they are right.
Everybody always loved Raymond.
Everybody always got dat friend who fake as hell.
Everybody is always against Germany [or “so the Germans would have us believe,” as Norm Macdonald used to say with a knowing leer on SNL].
Everybody is always treating me like a glorified meter maid.
Everybody always loved Dixie [from a motel sign in Las Vegas -- reaching out, perhaps, to those of the Southern persuasion].
Everybody is always hatin’ on Glee.
The question “What does everybody always do” is not quite the same as the question “What does everyone always do.” The latter has an entirely different set of top responses according to Google. If you search exact matches for “everyone always” today, here’s what comes up:
Everyone is always writing off Netflix.
Everyone always moves [advice to ice skaters].
Everyone always says that [a certain rock musician’s wife] isn’t pretty.
Everyone is always killing sharks
Everyone is always scratching West Virginia off. [Your tasteless joke here. I’m not even going to swing at this beachball.]
Everyone always remembers the first, not the second [Guess what this refers to? If you said “an early webcam,” you’d be right. One commenter confesses that Jennicam once fascinated “then-me.”]
Everyone always talks about backlinks in SEO [search engine optimization].
Everyone is always playing games on forums (online multiplayer game sites).
Everyone is always stealing your stuff.
It was starting to look as though people overgeneralize about absolutely anything and everything.
Then I had my second realization of the day. I realized that the mind is not just like Wikipedia. It’s also something like Google, cataloguing millions and millions of experiences. The human mind is a Googlepedia?
Too much information! I need a simpler answer to the question “Why do we overgeneralize?” than either Google or Wikipedia is giving me. I need a theory that will pull all this together.
Let me try this: The world is too complicated. We need it to be simpler. Otherwise it seems too scary and overwhelming to handle. We pretend the world is simpler by overgeneralizing. Everybody’s mind works like this all the time. It’s how we get through life.
We can call it complexiphobia theory. Or Googlepedia theory.
Or we can just not think about it.
http://open.salon.com/blog/danagram
Here’s what I wanted to know: Why does everybody always overgeneralize all the time?
I was curious, so naturally I turned to Wikipedia. I found several good leads in an article there about “cognitive distortion.”
It turns out that overgeneralization, or “generalizing from isolated cases,” is a logical fallacy related to a number of other common cognitive habits, including “all-or-nothing thinking (or splitting),” “hasty generalization,” and labeling (or “nouning,” as I call it).
When I looked up “hasty generalization,” I found a few more leads to my question. “Hasty generalization” pointed me toward articles on topics like “fallacy of insufficient sample,“ “fallacy of proof by example,” and “slothful induction.”
Where does this subject end? One article led me to several others, which led me to several others. Some articles even led me back to where I started. All I wanted in the first place was a simple answer to my question “Why does everybody always overgeneralize?”
It began to seem as though everything was related to everything else in all directions as far as the eye could see. My brain was getting tired of thinking, and things were getting way too complicated.
That's the moment I realized that we all have our own mental Wikipedia, and that the mind itself is a kind of encyclopedia. For example, I have mental articles (or more often, article stubs) on terms I’ve heard somewhere before, maybe in a philosophy class or just reading around, that seem related to overgeneralization: “light-switch thinking (vs. rheostat thinking),” “categorical thinking (vs. statistical or probabilistic thinking),” "dichotemous thinking," “premature induction,” and plain old sloppy and lazy thinking. I had lots of related terms and concepts in my head, but I still didn’t have an answer to my question.
After going in circles on Wikipedia, I decided to go to Google for some more specific, less abstract information. I decided to try to find out what people overgeneralize about. I went to the search box and asked for exact matches for “everybody always.”
Here are the things that everybody is always doing, according to the list of top responses in Google today:
Everybody is always picking on me [from two different popular songs by two different artists – Bloodhound Gang and the Coasters -- from two different eras.]
Everybody always leaves.
Everybody always thinks they are right.
Everybody always loved Raymond.
Everybody always got dat friend who fake as hell.
Everybody is always against Germany [or “so the Germans would have us believe,” as Norm Macdonald used to say with a knowing leer on SNL].
Everybody is always treating me like a glorified meter maid.
Everybody always loved Dixie [from a motel sign in Las Vegas -- reaching out, perhaps, to those of the Southern persuasion].
Everybody is always hatin’ on Glee.
The question “What does everybody always do” is not quite the same as the question “What does everyone always do.” The latter has an entirely different set of top responses according to Google. If you search exact matches for “everyone always” today, here’s what comes up:
Everyone is always writing off Netflix.
Everyone always moves [advice to ice skaters].
Everyone always says that [a certain rock musician’s wife] isn’t pretty.
Everyone is always killing sharks
Everyone is always scratching West Virginia off. [Your tasteless joke here. I’m not even going to swing at this beachball.]
Everyone always remembers the first, not the second [Guess what this refers to? If you said “an early webcam,” you’d be right. One commenter confesses that Jennicam once fascinated “then-me.”]
Everyone always talks about backlinks in SEO [search engine optimization].
Everyone is always playing games on forums (online multiplayer game sites).
Everyone is always stealing your stuff.
It was starting to look as though people overgeneralize about absolutely anything and everything.
Then I had my second realization of the day. I realized that the mind is not just like Wikipedia. It’s also something like Google, cataloguing millions and millions of experiences. The human mind is a Googlepedia?
Too much information! I need a simpler answer to the question “Why do we overgeneralize?” than either Google or Wikipedia is giving me. I need a theory that will pull all this together.
Let me try this: The world is too complicated. We need it to be simpler. Otherwise it seems too scary and overwhelming to handle. We pretend the world is simpler by overgeneralizing. Everybody’s mind works like this all the time. It’s how we get through life.
We can call it complexiphobia theory. Or Googlepedia theory.
Or we can just not think about it.
http://open.salon.com/blog/danagram
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