Essay On Groupthink

Groupthink Carol and Simpson are a popular cartoonist team whose main goal is to make light of the social injustice that takes place in corporate America through humor. This particular comic shows viewers how groupthink works. Groupthink is defined by psychologist Irving Janis as “The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.” (Myers) The comic shows the use of irony in a groupthink situation. The comic seems to show what looks like a boss standing at the head of a conference table and his employees sitting in a meeting. (SeekingAlpha) The employees are looking at their boss attentively while he says “We need more dissenting opinions.” (SeekingAlpha) All of his employees say, “We agree 100%!” and “Absolutely sir!”. (SeekingAlpha)
It’s a way of thinking in a group of people that limits creativity and individualism. Groupthink typically happens when people are seeking acceptance in the group. People in these situations suffer from pressures of uniformity. (Meyers) People want a uniformed thought. In most cases, people will put aside their own thoughts in order to adapt to the rest of the group’s opinion. People would prefer to keep the peace rather than speak up and take a chance at being rejected by the group for their opposing views. In this comic, groupthink is accurately portrayed. All the members of the group agree. The humor in this comic is that the boss is suggesting that they should have different opinions when engaging in meetings, but instead of someone disagreeing, they all agree with him. (SeekingAlpha) In a situation that was not considered groupthink, one of the employees would say “no way” or disagree with him in some sort of way.