Overgeneralizing and Undergeneralizing

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Just wondering which, and to what degree, you find that you identify with these two traits.

I seem to do both;
overgeneralizing when it comes to things like assuming that everyone will react the same way as me when I say something that I find humorous....
And undergeneralizing when it comes to things like not calling home when I'm going to be late during the day, because I was told to call home if I was going to be late AT NIGHT.

In both cases, I miss the point, and assume wrong things.

How do you find that you generalize?

I feel for ya. I have that same problem - I don't know when to generalize, so I tend to either do it excessively or don't do it at all.

I tend to take some social rules pretty literally. The consequence can be both overgeneralizing and undergeneralizing. For example, at my current place (particular ward in psych institution) there's the rule that patients should formally not stay longer than one year. From this place, people often go to group homes, supported living, etc., for which waiting lists ar elong, so I get worried that I'm not on any waiting list yet after 4 1/2 months on this ward. The reality is that this rule is in the leaflet so that people won't come here if they have no desire to move on to a more community-based setting or fi they are not expected to make progress that will enable them to move to a community setting, and that it is a guideline to have people here about one year. However, I take the rule and obsess over it.

Undergeneralizing happens iwht most situations of social behavior expectations, when overgeneralizing won't work. For example, you are supposed not to snap at people, but that is so general that I don't understand it or can't apply it in everyday situations. So I get like "I can't say ___ to person X", etc.

Oh, as a side note, I am not literal-minded in other aspects at all, like language.

Oh, I'm sorry; I know I shouldn't laugh, but you hit the nail on the head about a major weakness of us aspies. I've learned to not even try to tell jokes. I don't have the timing for it.

once i finally figure out an unspoken social rule, i overgeneralize it until it's basically a lifeless pulp. i'm trying to figure out how not to do this. mixed success.

I'm not sure which one I do more or less. I don't understand what undergeneralizing means either.

I guess the biggest issue with overgeneralizing I have is assuming that everybody else's memory is as good as mine. Not to say my memory is infallible, but I tend to remember things most everyone else forgets. It's led to several instances of disappointment when I remembered some small detail about a person's life that I used to try and cheer them up or show I care, but then they can't seem to remember even the most basic information about me that I've mentioned several times before.

One time it led to an argument with my boss when he couldn't remember something I had told him several times (work-related). I "suggested" that he forgot on purpose and he "suggested" I get as far away from him as possible. Oops.

I under-generalize. I find induction to be the least convincing form of inference. When asked to describe something, I reply with exactly what I see or hear or touch. For example if asked what color that car over there is, I would answer something like this: green on the side facing me.

ruveyn

I see it like this... Undergeneralizing means not widely applying a learned concept to novel, but related situations; or being overly specific about things. Like my example in my original post. I didn't seem to generalize that I should call home whenever I was going to be late, regardless of whether or not it happened at night.

Ruveyn groks.