Victims Of Groupthink Analysis
On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked by terrorists, leading to a perfect opportunity for George W. Bush and his administration to have a reason to go to war against Iraq. In 2003, after much manipulation to the public, the United States was joined by their alliance (United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, and Poland) in invading Iraq; resulting in the 2003 Iraq War, which would be called Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although the Bush administration said there were weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq and Saddam Hussein was a national threat to the U.S., this decision to enter Iraq was highly controversial, within the U.S. and internationally. Even over a decade, the Iraq War is still being seen as “the worst foreign policy blunder
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Groupthink Model
In American psychologist Irving Janis’ work Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascos, Janis defines groupthink as the “psychological drive for consensus at any cost that suppresses disagreement and prevents the appraisal of alternatives in cohesive decision-making groups” (Janis 9). Janis successfully links the groupthink theory to events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Iran-Contra affair, the escalation of the Vietnam War in the 1960’s, and domestic scandals, such as the cover up of Watergate (Hart; Janis). To support the likeliness of the Bush administration suffering from groupthink, Janis terms three casual antecedent conditions and lists the eight symptoms of groupthink. The three antecedent conditions are: 1) group cohesiveness; 2) structural faults; 3) provocative situational context. The first antecedent condition, group cohesiveness is ambiguous, but the second (structural faults) and third (provocative context) conditions are certain. The eight symptoms of groupthink, defined by Janis, are: 1) Illusion of invulnerability; 2) Collective rationalization; 3) Belief in inherent morality; 4) Stereotyped view of out-groups; 5) Direct pressure on dissenters; 6)
Groupthink Model
In American psychologist Irving Janis’ work Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascos, Janis defines groupthink as the “psychological drive for consensus at any cost that suppresses disagreement and prevents the appraisal of alternatives in cohesive decision-making groups” (Janis 9). Janis successfully links the groupthink theory to events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Iran-Contra affair, the escalation of the Vietnam War in the 1960’s, and domestic scandals, such as the cover up of Watergate (Hart; Janis). To support the likeliness of the Bush administration suffering from groupthink, Janis terms three casual antecedent conditions and lists the eight symptoms of groupthink. The three antecedent conditions are: 1) group cohesiveness; 2) structural faults; 3) provocative situational context. The first antecedent condition, group cohesiveness is ambiguous, but the second (structural faults) and third (provocative context) conditions are certain. The eight symptoms of groupthink, defined by Janis, are: 1) Illusion of invulnerability; 2) Collective rationalization; 3) Belief in inherent morality; 4) Stereotyped view of out-groups; 5) Direct pressure on dissenters; 6)