While participating in groups, members need to avoid common traps that ruin group communication. One trap I want to discuss in detail is "Overgeneralizations". Overgeneralizations occur when one piece of data concludes that all other comparable data is similar. For example, if you assume that all teenagers will go to college, then you are overgeneralizing. Another example, if you assume that all teenagers will experiment with drugs, then you are overgeneralizing. One step to make sure you don’t fall into this trap is to determine whether the basis of this support is biased in any way. As a critical thinker you need to look at the facts and experiment if your assumptions are true or not. If you say ALL teenagers will experiment with drugs, then you are implying that every teenager in the world will experiment. To make people believe your assumption, you will have to provide a lot of evidence. The next time you overgeneralize data, make sure it’s rational and valid.
I agree with your post. Nowadays people overgeneralize about a certain group of people based on little of what they see. If they see a group of teenagers in college experimenting with drugs they automatically assume that all teenagers in college will eventually experiment with drugs. Most people don't really see the big picture in a topic which causes them to overgeneralize. I also agree that people need to get their facts straight and make sure the data they have valid because they could be feeding lies to people that won't have any knowledge of the subject. People should truly find out if their assumptions are true by conducting experiments and researching to find the truth.
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