One night while watching the news i came across the term “Groupthink” so thanks to some online research here’s what i found / copy pasted / modified :
Groupthink, a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972), occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”.
Groupthink affects groups who tend to take irrational actions and ignore alternative solutions. It occurs in groups where members come from similar background,when they are insulated fro outside opinions and when there are no clear rules for decision making.
Symptoms of Groupthink:
In 1977 Irvin Janis has documented eight symptoms of groupthink:
- Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks.
- Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions.
- Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
- Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.
- Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views.
- Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed.
- Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
- Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.
Remedies for Groupthink:
Decision experts have determined that groupthink may be prevented by adopting some of the following measures:
- The leader should assign the role of critical evaluator to each member
- The leader should avoid stating preferences and expectations at the outset
- Each member of the group should routinely discuss the groups’ deliberations with a trusted associate and report back to the group on the associate’s reactions
- One or more experts should be invited to each meeting on a staggered basis. The outside experts should be encouraged to challenge views of the members.
- At least one articulate and knowledgeable member should be given the role of devil’s advocate (to question assumptions and plans)
- The leader should make sure that a sizable block of time is set aside to survey warning signals from rivals; leader and group construct alternative scenarios of rivals’ intentions.
A classic examples of Groupthink are the space Shuttle Challenger Disaster (1986) and Bay of Pigs invasion (1959-1962).
Can anyone think of other Groupthink examples?
