People have a tendency to behave differently when they are by themselves as opposed to being in a group. Groupthink has been linked with negativity since the quality of a groups decision diminishes when a group has no structure or leadership and no real decision-making plans. Although positive groupthink occurs we tend to hear about negative instances of groupthink. My focus will be more around the negative decisions some groups tend to make. Understanding the social processes that occur within groupthink and how a group thinks of its decisions is crucial for people to know. This way it gives insight into how groupthink really works. Studies were done showing whether group size, group pride and the cohesiveness of a group mattered when it came to groupthink. The articles used to describe the processes are; Group Cohesiveness and Quality of Decision Making, Identity and Social Identity …show more content…
When Timothy Piazza needed help, his fellow fraternity brothers decided to not risk getting in trouble or disrupting the harmony of the group. Concurrence pressures have come up in studies showing that it helps reinforce and strengthen an individual’s acceptance of the group's decision. Concurrence seeking correlates with concurrence pressures and cohesiveness. Concurrence seeking is a contributing component to cohesiveness because both initiate conformity. It has been found that cohesiveness has an impact on the quality of decision making of a group when the group size is large. Identity theory and social identity theory combined cognitive processes self-verification and depersonalization occur within the individual trying to go along with group norms. Understanding why groupthink may occur and what is the social processes that occur around is needed to know to further study why groupthink goes bad in a group. Groupthink can have a good or bad effect on group depending on the group's decision-making
A. Preventing "Groupthink" Psychology Today. 20 Apr. 2011. The. Psychology Today.
Groupthink was coined by Janis and is defined as “a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group”(Cherry). So people will essentially forgo their beliefs to conform to the group to obtain harmony or if they don’t agree with a group idea they will simply keep quiet about it rather than challenge ideas. Janis classified eight different “symptoms” of groupthink. They are Illusions of invulnerability, which leads the members of the group to take part in risk-taking and become overly optimistic. Unquestioned beliefs, leads the members to ignore the possible aftermath that their decisions can make. Rationalizing, hinders members from recognizing warning signs and from reexamining their own beliefs. Stereotyping, leads the members of the group to criticize or write off any other group who may have differing opinions. Self-censorship, makes group members who may have differing opinions not disclose them to the group. "Mindguards",certain members of the group who are self-appointed censors that withhold information they find may disrupt group consensus. Illusions of unanimity, leads the members of the group to think that everyone believes the same things. Direct pressure, this is put on members to conform when they do end up expressing their own opinions or the rest of the group feels as if they are having differing opinions. Janis’s work was influential because it helped us examine the
The term groupthink in this report is defined as, the social psychological phenomenon that results in groups during pressure situations. This social psychology theory is broken down into eight signs. Illusion of invulnerability, Collective rationalization, Belief in inherent morality, Stereotyped views of out-groups, Direct pressure on dissenters, Self-censorship, Illusion of unanimity, Self-appointed “mindguards”. According to research conducted by Irving Janis, there are three conditions to groupthink. The first, "high group cohesiveness" which is the direction for a group to be in unity while working towards a goal, or to satisfy the emotional needs of its members. Secondly, the structural faults such as insulation of the group, lack of norms and central leadership, in addition social background of group members. The third, situational context includes the circumstances of the groups meeting, social roles and expected behavior. This notion is exemplified during the movie, "12 Angry Men". The purpose of this essay is to examine the movie content to display the groupthink symptoms in place. Groupthink consists of eight major factors that occur during the film's scenes, as the twelve men debate a premeditated murder court case. All of the factors continue to rise as the jury discusses the young man's fate. During the film, a unanimous vote must be reached, despite this one man refuses to vote guilty. In 1957 the Orson Welles directed film opens as the judge explains the case and its severity. Soon after the group forms as the 12 men enter the jury discussion room. During these scene frames, the case evidence is explained. As the men talk they give details of an old man living beneath the boy testified, that he heard a fight, stat...
The astute reader may notice that this review does not include any papers that did not find a false consensus effect. The reason for this is not that this paper is not representative of the literature, but rather, that it is. The uniformity of the literature suggests that the phenomenon is fairly common. Some interesting arguments as to why this is are motivational or cognitive in nature. The motivational premise is based in the idea that people are motivated to believe that they have a place in their social environment. This argument is a based in self-justification, in that if many people share a given belief or behavior, it makes it easier to justify that this attitude or behavior is either right, or not as bad as it might seem.
In 1972, Irving Janis presented a set of hypothesis that he extracted from observing small groups performing problem solving tasks; he collectively referred to these hypotheses as groupthink¹. He defined groupthink as “a quick and easy way to refer to a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action²” A successful group brings varied ideas, collective knowledge, and focus on the task at hand. The importance of groups is to accomplish tasks that individuals can not do on their own. The Bay of Pigs, Watergate, and the Challenger disaster are all forms of failure within a group. Specifically, you can see the effect of groupthink of Americans before September 11, 2001. The thought of harm to the United States was unfathomable, but only after the attacks did they realize they were not invincible. When a solid, highly cohesive group is only concerned with maintaining agreement, they fail to see their alternatives and any other available options. When a group experiences groupthink, they may feel uninterested about a task, don't feel like they will be successful, and the group members do not challenge ideas. Stress is also a factor in the failure of groupthink. An effective group needs to have clear goals, trust, accountability, support, and training. Some indicators that groupthink may be happening are; making unethical decisions, they think they are never wrong, close-minded about situations, and ignore important information. Many things can be done to prevent groupthink from happening. One way is to make each person in the group a “critical evaluator”. The leader must ...
Turman, P. (October 13, 2000b). Group Decision Making & Problem Solving: Group Communication [Lecture] Cedar Falls, IA. University of Northern Iowa, Communication Studies Department.
Groups are an essential component of society as they allow individuals to affiliate themselves with certain people, typically those who are most similar to themselves. Groups also provide social support and a greater sense of belonging for the individual, which is not provided by crowds. Due to the significance of groups, it is important that groups are maintained in organized structures that encourages group harmony and group cohesion. It is essentially the leader’s task to maintain these ideals since the leader has authority over the members of the group.
Groupthink is the psychological phenomenon in which groups working on a task think along the same lines which could have drastic results. It is the result of group polarization where discussions are enhance or exaggerate the initial leanings of the group. Therefore, if a group leans towards risky situation at the beginning of the discussion on average they will move toward an even riskier position. (Marks, 2015). The idea when everyone think the same no one is really thinking. The drastic outcomes result from people trying to avoid conflict with one another, being highly cohesive, and results is questionable decision making (Oliver, 2013). Houghton Mifflin publication of Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions
There are eight symptoms of groupthink. The first symptom is when all or most of the group view themselves as invincible which causes them to make decisions that may be risky. The group has an enormous amount of confidence and authority in their decisions as well as in themselves. They see themselves collectively better in all ways than any other group and they believe the event will go well not because of what it is, but because they are involved. The second symptom is the belief of the group that they are moral and upstanding, which leads the group to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of the decisions. The group engages in a total overestimation of its morality. There is never any question that the group is not doing the right thing, they just act. The disregarding of information or warnings that may lead to changes in past policy is the third symptom. Even if there is considerable evidence against their standpoint, they see no problems with their plan. Stereotyping of enemy leaders or others as weak or stupid is the fourth symptom. This symptom leads to close-mindedness to other individuals and their opinions. The fifth symptom is the self-censorship of an individual causing him to overlook his doubts. A group member basically keeps his mouth shut so the group can continue in harmony. Symptom number six refers to the illusion of unanimity; going along with the majority, and the assumption that silence signifies consent. Sometimes a group member who questions the rightness of the goals is pressured by others into concurring or agreeing, this is symptom number seven. The last symptom is the members that set themselves up as a buffer to protect the group from adverse information that may destroy their shared contentment regarding the group’s ...
John Donne once said, “No man is an island” (Donne), which really just means that no human being can survive alone. Human beings are communal by nature and should one be isolated, that human would likely go insane with loneliness. So perhaps this explains why humans will conglomerate and follow a certain belief and often will not question dubious morals for fear of being ostracised. ‘Groupthink’ is a term that describes this behaviour. Groupthink is, according to Philosophy: A Text With Readings, “the tendency of cohesive groups to get increasingly out of touch with reality” (Velasquez). Plato’s Allegory of the Cave describes a group of men facing an illusionary world that they perceive as real and when one is removed, he fears being ridiculed
Work groups have a great impact upon the attitude and the conduct of group members. The group with high cohesiveness has more “we” feeling rather than “I” feeling. There is more cooperation and positive work environment when the group has high cohesiveness. The researchers are also trying to explore if this kind of cohesive behavior on groups have any impact upon the citizenship behavior they show. Cartwright (1968) observed that the cohesiveness has a positive impact upon intragroup communication, favorable interpersonal evaluation, and also it influence higher OCB if it matches with the group norms.
What a person in the group may see as necessary for their survival, others outside of the group may see as detrimental or abnormal but when they circumstances surrounding the norms of the group changes then the bonds of the group may become weak and less appealing to the
Working in groups is challenging at times. Other times it is very rewarding. We are so focused on life that we do not take time to reflect on things as much as we should. Being in a Groups class has opened my eyes to a whole new world. I have begun to question, explore, and even understand how things work. I even get how they work sometimes. Not only is there a process involved in making individual decisions, process is involved in group decisions as well. This paper attempts give insight into my reflection of my group decision process.
Lastly, the reflection back is very important to the corrective emotional experience. What I found useful about group cohesiveness is knowing that you are never alone at first; the members feel alone, but they are others who have gone through the same things they have. Group cohesiveness gives members a sense that they belong and are welcomed. The group members are initially very supportive and accepting of new and old members.
Several experiments and researches have been conducted that have focused on how people behave in groups. The findings have revealed that groups affect peoples’ attitudes, behavior and perceptions. Groups are essential for personal life, as well as in work life.