Groupthink, a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis, occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”. Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.
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.
Sound familiar?
5
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The thing is, this can be applied to almost any group, including both Republicans and Democrats. So when someone says, "Sound familiar?", it's kind of ironic. Please don't take that as an insult, because it's not.
Piece2YourPuzzle
Level 8
Apr 28, 2019
1
if you care to check you'll find that Orwell in his "1984", published in 1948, came up with "groupthink" way before janis.
callmedubious
Level 8
Apr 28, 2019
2
Was groupthink actually a concept used in that book? I remember "crimestop", "unperson", and "newspeak" but I don't specifically remember groupthink, although that phrase sounds a lot like the types of words found in the newspeak language that is the core concept of the book.
@Happy_Killbot ,
pretty sure groupthink was in there.
The only way to protect yourself from group think is to deliberately try to understand things from another perspective, and that is a lot of work because you never know what set of assumptions and world views the other may be operating under, possibly they don't know either.
Happy_Killbot
Level 7
Apr 28, 2019
1
It's a process bound to continuous improvement. We are coming from caves and nomads to getting together in groups, not much thinking initially and now we are going through that phase over the span of thousands of years. We can see our past, we can enjoy our present and we can steer to our future.
IamNobody
Level 8
Apr 28, 2019
1
The irony is that those caught up in groupthink don’t know they are engaged in groupthink. If it’s someone else’s group it’s very easy to make that characterization—to view them that way. But remember, from their perspective it might be you who are caught up in groupthink.
Maybe it’s not absolute. Maybe there are elements of groupthink in all of us from time to time, but we also are critical thinkers in some areas.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
Apr 27, 2019
1
No. What conclusions do you want us to draw? Why are you bringing this to people's attention?
citronella
Level 7
Apr 27, 2019
2
I think it is very relevant today in helping us to understand the motivations and actions of extreme political and terrorist groups.
1of5:
My god, this is the conclusion.
It is a worldwide issue right now and not in a good way!
patchoullijulie
Level 8
Apr 27, 2019
0
And most importantly-group think is extremely dangerous.
think-freely
Level 4
Apr 27, 2019
0
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