Psychology of Sweeping Generalizations:

Sweeping generalizations are typically false. None, All, Never, Ever are words that indicate tendency for over simplification. Example, all politicians are crooks, all men are untrustworthy, all women are weak, all scots are miserly, etc. For most such assertions especially relating to people and social sciences, it is often easy to find an exception that will negate the assertion. This in psychology is also known as “global thinking” that is considered to be a major determinant of depressive behaviors. 

کیا سب چور ہیں
اگر آپ کو ہر انسان غلط لگ رہا ہے تو پھر یہ دیکھیں کہ کہیں آپ تو غلط نہیں

This is a basic principle. A person who is a habitual liar can not conceive of any one except being liar. 
جھوٹے کو سب جھوٹے لگتے ہیں، دھوکہ باز کو سب دھوکہ باز لگتے ہیں، وعدہ خلاف کو سب لوگ uTurn کرتے ہوئے نظر آتے ہیں, اور چور کو ساری عوام چور نظر آتی ہے

This is often the problem with sweeping generalizations. If someone claims that “everyone” is corrupt then:
  1. “Everyone’ also includes him, and the person making the claim must by definition also be corrupt, that is the person admits to him being corrupt. 
  2. By the same token, we can also be sure that he knows well his father, mother, uncles, brothers, sisters, and other close relatives, and therefore this “everyone” also includes these close relatives and hence, we can be sure that he is calling all of them corrupt. 
  3. Not only that but the sweeping generalization also indicates the person’s psychological state where his mind is corrupted to an extent that he can’t find even a single person in the whole country (200million+) who is not corrupt! The latter is a more problematic psychological state. 
  4. I for one know for sure at least hundred people in my contacts who I can vouch for that they are not corrupt. I can actually present such people as a counter example and submit them to any type of scrutiny. 
  5. I am also sure that there are some very authentic people in this group who have a much larger contact circle and they can present thousands about whom the corrupt title can not be ascribed. 


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