(Ävâ²Ä­d) adj. 1. Having or marked by keen interest and enthusiasm: an avid golfer; an avid interest in cooking. 2. Having or marked by strong desire or craving; greedy: an economy with an avid appetite for consumer goods.
Definition: Making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on a sample that is inadequate (usually because it is atypical or too small). Stereotypes about people (âlibrarians are shy and smart,â âwealthy people are snobs,â etc.) are a common example of the principle underlying hasty generalization.
If we reason by paying too much attention to exceptions to the rule, and generalize on the exceptions, our reasoning contains this fallacy. This fallacy is the converse of the accident fallacy. It is a kind of Hasty Generalization, by generalizing too quickly from a peculiar case.