I have a soft spot for how-to books. I think it’s partly because I like learning how to do things, but there’s probably also a voyeuristic aspect to it. I like to learn things by peering over people’s shoulders, and how-to books give me that kind of experience. When I was a kid, I liked watching the way my dad turned the garden soil over in the spring, and I tried to do it just like him. I watched how my mom spaced her cookies out on the cookie sheet, and I did it the same way. But it’s not always easy to find someone to show you how to do something, and that’s where how-to books come in. Plus, you get a lot of additional insight: why they do things certain ways, how this skill is helpful in their lives, and ultimately, how other people live.

So I recently listened to an audiobook about how to design and organize one’s home in the French way. It sounded interesting. I was going to be spending a few days in France, and I have some French friends I rather enjoy and admire.

I picked up some interesting tips and bits of information from the book, but there was something that just drove me crazy: the generalizations!

Some Generalizations are Necessary and Helpful

Now, I know that some amount of generalizing is necessary for our human brains. Without the ability to generalize, we’d get bogged down in the endless variability all around us. Talk to any toddler, and you’ll see that she’s just learning how to generalize. For instance, it’s not uncommon for toddlers to call all children “babies,” even children who are clearly not babies anymore. Toddlers just don’t have enough life experience to know all the different categories and vocabulary words that older people use to describe young children.

When we don’t know a lot about something, we tend to use generalizations, and that’s fine. For example, if I see an 8-legged creature creeping around on the floor of the kitchen, I’m likely to say, “Ach! There’s a spider!” That’s a generalization. Someone with more knowledge (like an entomologist) might say, “Ach! There’s a gasteracantha cancriformis!”

I would sound silly trying to be that specific in such a situation--and those long Latin words would be crowded out by my adrenalin. A generalization works much better. And besides, I don’t even know how to pronounce that name.

Generalizations and Stereotypes

Problems occur when generalizations cross over into stereotypes, and this is where I had a problem with the homemaking book I just read.

In the book, the author talks about how it used to take her an hour to find a specific piece of paper in her home--like an insurance policy summary, for example. Why did it take so long? Because Americans don’t have systems for organizing their papers, of course.

I scratched my head when I came across this generalization. I know plenty of Americans who own and use filing cabinets or other organizational systems that allow them to put their hands on specific documents rather quickly. I also know Americans who are hoarders and wouldn’t be able to find a birth certificate if their lives depended on it. I suspect that a range of organizational skills exists in France as well. So why make such a generalization? Why employ a stereotype?

In another section of the book, the author alleges that Americans all eat dinner in front of the television. Again, I was confused. Did the author think that just because she always ate in front of the TV, that meant that everyone else in her neighborhood, state, and nation did the same thing? And just because her French in-laws didn’t eat in front of the TV, all other French people sit down with their families for a full meal every night?

These stereotypes distracted me from what the author set out to accomplish: to explain to readers the unique elements that add up to a French home. Since I knew that her generalizations about Americans didn’t exactly ring true, it made me wonder if her information about French homes was accurate. In other words, the author’s use of generalizations made me question her credibility. When you’re writing, that’s the last thing you want to do. Undermining your own authority is a big problem.

How and When to Use Generalizations

I’m always trying to fine-tune my writing skills, so this could change in the future, but at this point in my writing life, here’s my rule for using generalizations. If I can’t back up the generalization with facts or legitimate examples, I don’t use it.

Here’s an example. I might want to say, “Middle school students spend too much time on their phones.” But is this true? Do all middle school students spend too much time on their phones? How much time is too much? Do all of these students actually have phones? The ambiguity of the statement is a big part of the problem here, and because the statement is so ambiguous, readers would rightly question my thinking.

If it’s important for me to include this statement, there are several things that can be done to fix it:Qualify it. “Some people think that middle school students spend too much time on their phones.” By adding a qualifier (“some people think”), it becomes true. It’s true that some people think that.Quantify it. Instead of making a broad generalization, find a statistic to make your point: “Researchers at the University of Chicago found that 92% of younger people own smartphones and that their presence in the classroom can undermine learning.” With a link to this research, your credibility has just increased, and you’ve made a much more interesting and compelling statement.Frame it. If the generalization is your opinion, frame it in a way that it will matter to readers. Here’s an example: “After watching several generations of middle school students come through my 8th-grade science classroom, I’ve come to the conclusion that middle school students spend too much time on their phones.”Delete it. In many cases, generalizations are the result of lazy thinking. Your piece might just be better off without the generalization. People crave specifics. Give them details, sources, direct quotes, and evidence.
In conclusion, generalizations are generally bad, but they’re not always bad. Sometimes there’s no way around using a generalization. But be careful with them. Realize that your credibility is on the line. If you make a false generalization, your readers might start to distrust everything you say, and rightly so.