Fallacy · Bad evidence
Hasty generalization
Also called: Anecdotal evidence, jumping to conclusions
Drawing a general conclusion from too few or untypical cases.
What it is
One vivid story shows that something can happen, not how often it happens. Small or unusual samples swing wildly by chance. A fair general claim needs enough cases, chosen so they represent the whole group.
An example
“My grandmother smoked every day and lived to 95, so smoking can’t be that bad.” One long life says little about the millions of others.
How to spot it
A sweeping claim (“all”, “always”, “they”) resting on one or two examples.
How to answer it
“That shows it can happen. How often does it happen?”
When it is not a fallacy
A single case is enough to disprove an “always” or “never” claim. It cannot prove a general one.
Printable sheet of all fallacies
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A plain reference you can paste into notes or an essay:
Quest2Reason. “Hasty generalization.” https://quest2reason.com/learn/ideas/fallacies/hasty-generalization. Accessed 13 November 2026.