Preconceptions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Opinions or beliefs formed prior to having full knowledge or experience, often leading to bias or misunderstanding
2. Assumptions or judgments made before encountering facts, affecting perception and decisions
3. Mental notions adopted early that may influence how new information or situations are interpreted

Etymology: The word is a simple compound: "pre-" (meaning "before") attached to "conception," so a preconception is an idea formed before one has examined the evidence. The "pre-" prefix comes into English from Latin "prae," "in front of" or "before," and it has been used freely to build words like "preface" and "prepare." "Conception" is the more interesting half. It descends from Latin "conceptio," a noun from "concipere," literally "to take in" or "to take together," built from "com-" (together) and "capere" (to take). The same root sits behind "capture" and "receive." The sense of forming a notion in the mind came from the older idea of taking something in, first as a physical sense and then as an image or thought. English took "conception" in from Old French in the Middle English period, and the mental sense of a rough idea developed from there. Put together, a "preconception" is literally a thought taken in before the facts arrived, which is exactly how the meaning works today.

Synonyms: assumptions, biases, stereotypes, prejudgments, prejudices

Antonyms: open-mindedness, objectivity, neutrality