generalization

Meanings

Plural: generalizations

Noun

• reasoning from detailed facts to general principles
• an idea or conclusion having general application
• the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances
• (psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus
• An act or instance of generalizing; concluding that something true of a subclass is true of the entire class.
• The formulation of general concepts from specific instances by abstracting common properties.
• Inductive reasoning from detailed facts to general principles.
• An oversimplified or exaggerated conception, opinion, or image of the members of a group.
• A proof, axiom, problem, or definition that includes another's cases, and also some additional cases; a conclusion reached by inferring from specific cases to more general cases or principles.

Synonyms

abstraction, despecification, generalisation, generality, generalization, genericization, induction, inductive reasoning, stimulus generalisation, stimulus generalization, universalization

Antonyms

generalization, specialization

Related Words

stereotype