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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize
conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and
evaluating ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking
are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of
reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtained by
making decisions as a group.[1] During groupthink, members of the group avoid
promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of consensus thinking. A variety
of motives for this may exist such as a desire to avoid being seen as foolish,
or a desire to avoid embarrassing or angering other members of the group.
Groupthink may cause groups to make hasty, irrational decisions, where
individual doubts are set aside, for fear of upsetting the group s balance. The
term is frequently used pejoratively, with hindsight.
Causes of groupthink
Highly cohesive groups are much more likely to engage in groupthink. The closer
they are, the less likely they are to raise questions that might break the
cohesion. Although Janis sees group cohesion as the most important antecedent
to groupthink, he states that it will not invariably lead to groupthink: 'It is
a necessary condition, but not a sufficient condition' (Janis, Victims of
Groupthink, 1972). According to Janis, group cohesion will only lead to
groupthink if one of the following two antecedent conditions is present:
tradition of impartial leadership, lack of norms requiring methodological
procedures, homogeneity of members' social background and ideology.
failures, excessive difficulties on the decision-making task, moral dilemmas.
Social psychologist Clark McCauley's three conditions under which groupthink
occurs:
Symptoms of groupthink
In order to make groupthink testable, Irving Janis devised eight symptoms that
are indicative of groupthink (1977).
1. Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging
risk taking.
2. Rationalising warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions.
3. Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore
the consequences of their actions.
4. Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, disfigured,
impotent, or stupid.
5. Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group,
couched in terms of "disloyalty".
6. Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
7. Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
8. Mindguards self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting
information.
Groupthink, resulting from the symptoms listed above, results in defective
desision making. That is, consensus driven decisions are the result of the
following practices of groupthinking:
1. Incomplete survey of alternatives
2. Incomplete survey of objectives
3. Failure to examine risks of prefered choice
4. Failure to reevaluate previously rejected alternatives
5. Poor information search
6. Selection bias in collecting information
7. Failure to work out contigency plans.
Preventing groupthink
According to Irving Janis, decision making groups are not necessarily destined
to groupthink. He devised seven ways of preventing groupthink (209-15):
1. Leaders should assign each member the role of critical evaluator . This
allows each member to freely air objections and doubts.
2. Higher-ups should not express an opinion when assigning a task to a group.
3. The organization should set up several independent groups, working on the
same problem.
4. All effective alternatives should be examined.
5. Each member should discuss the group's ideas with trusted people outside of
the group.
6. The group should invite outside experts into meetings. Group members should
be allowed to discuss with and question the outside experts.
7. At least one group member should be assigned the role of Devil's advocate.
This should be a different person for each meeting.
By following these guidelines, groupthink can be avoided. After the Bay of Pigs
invasion fiasco, John F. Kennedy sought to avoid groupthink during the Cuban
Missile Crisis.[4] During meetings, he invited outside experts to share their
viewpoints, and allowed group members to question them carefully. He also
encouraged group members to discuss possible solutions with trusted members
within their separate departments, and he even divided the group up into
various sub-groups, in order to partially break the group cohesion. JFK was
deliberately absent from the meetings, so as to avoid pressing his own opinion.
Ultimately, the Cuban missile crisis was resolved peacefully, thanks in part to
these measures.