generalizare

Generalizarea (generalization) is the process of forming broad general concepts from specific observations or extending a rule beyond its original domain. It is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and reasoning and is used across disciplines, including logic, mathematics, statistics, linguistics, and machine learning.

In logic and mathematics, generalization denotes moving from a particular case to a universal statement or extending a theorem to a more general setting. Examples include proving statements for all natural numbers by induction or identifying common structures across different mathematical objects. Generalization helps reveal underlying patterns and unify disparate results under broader principles.

In empirical sciences, generalization refers to extending results from a sample to a population. External validity, sampling methods, and representativeness determine how reliable generalization is. Inductive generalization involves inferring broad tendencies from observed data, while acknowledging uncertainty and the potential for bias or exceptions.

In machine learning and artificial intelligence, generalization describes a model’s ability to perform well on unseen data, not only on the training set. Overfitting harms generalization. Techniques to improve generalization include regularization, cross-validation, simplifying models, and using diverse, representative training data.

In language learning and cognitive psychology, generalization accounts for applying learned rules to new inputs. This can lead to accurate generalization or systematic errors, such as overgeneralization of grammar rules in child language acquisition, where a learner applies a known rule to irregular forms. Generalization is thus a central concept across theoretical and applied domains.