GROUPTHINK THEORY Groupthink is a concurrence-seeking tendency that can deter collective decision-making processes and lead to poor decisions that induce fiascos‚ (Janis‚ 1972‚ 1982). Janis (1972) defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group‚ when the members’ strivings for agreement override their motivation to realistically review alternative courses of action. Janis listed eight symptoms of group think: Illusions of invulnerability
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terrible decision? You may have been part of a groupthink event. Groupthink is a term coined by Psychologist Irving Janis. He determined cohesive groups try to maintain unanimity rather than utilize all data to make a good decision (Whyte‚ 2000). Some historic examples of groupthink are the attack on Pearl Harbor‚ Iranian hostage rescue attempt‚ and the Holocaust. The attack on Pearl Harbor may have been thwarted‚ or damage minimized‚ if groupthink was not present. Ambassador Grew sent a warning
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Janis’ concept of Groupthink Janis’ (1972) concept of Groupthink sets out symptoms and characteristics that can occur within cohesive groups. This behaviour can have significant negative influences on the decision making process within the group. Janis further classifies six main symptoms which can be found in groups suffering from Groupthink. The story of ‘The Bay of Pigs’‚ and the case study of the pharmaceutical industry‚ will help us to illustrate differences between the characteristics
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GROUPTHINK THEORY COMM410 As people‚ when confronted with a problem where a solution must be found‚ our ideal situation is to come up with the best possible one. To do this‚ we ideally gather the most knowledgeable‚ intelligent individuals into a group and attempt to derive the best solution to the problem. With the collection of these people‚ one would think that finding the best possible answer to the problem would be a rather simple task. However‚ what has happened in many situations is
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Surprises Found in Studying Groupthink There are many things that groups of people are capable of that might be surprising to someone who has not studied the theory. As there have been more tests throughout the theories history‚ scientist have found fascinating results. The first interesting discovery made while studying groupthink is‚ “Group deliberation often produces worse decisions than can be obtained without deliberation. (Often enough for epistemic concern.)” (Solomon‚ 2006). Despite most
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concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action”1. The group’s original purpose of creation becomes more and more ineffective as long as groupthink festers without treatment. What is groupthink exactly? According to psychologists is “deterioration in mental efficiency‚ reality testing and moral judgments as a result of group pressures”1. In simpler terms it is the fear of ruining group cohesion and uniformity by
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Superficially the ideas promoted through groupthink often result in decisions appearing well founded and heavily supported‚ however the outcomes of such decisions are most frequently detrimental. Factors of cognitive dissonance are quite often evident in members of groupthink decisions‚ with individuals finding in reflection that they generally possessed ideas starkly contrasting the concepts which they just publically supported. Such incongruity in beliefs and decisions according to Hackman and
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you did not want to appear unsupportive of the group’s efforts? If so‚ you have probably been a victim of "Groupthink". Irving Lester Janis (26 May 1918 - 15 November 1990) was a research psychologist at Yale University and most famous for his theory of "groupthink" which described the systematic errors made by groups when taking collective decisions(Wikipedia).Janis described “groupthink” as “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group.When the
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Q 2.What is groupthink. Explain Groupthink occurs when the pressure to conform within a group interferes with that group’s analysis of a problem and causes poor group decision making. Individual creativity‚ uniqueness‚ and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness‚ as are the advantages that can sometimes be obtained by making a decision as a group—bringing different sources of ideas‚ knowledge‚ and experience together to solve a problem. Psychologist Irving Janis defines
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Perry w. James April 8‚ 2010 The Dangers of Groupthink Question 1 – One factor was that there appeared to be group unanimity in the new steps with the mail delivery system and appeared to be a consensus. The civilian worker was horrified with the process but lacked the confidence to speak up. Also‚ group members seemed to rationalize that the assumptions made were good because they had the majority. I think in the future after the teams have discussed the issues‚ they can take a discreet
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