generalization

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.

Examples

• A hypersphere is a generalization of a sphere across more than three dimensions.

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

generalization, specialization

Related Words

stereotype