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This short article explains the nature of groupthink as a deterrent to participatory decision
making in groups.
Introduction
In groupthink, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what he or
she believes is the consensus of the group.
Learning Objective
Key Points
Key Terms
Example
"Groupthink" is a term coined by Yale research psychologist Irving Janis to describe a process
by which a group can make poor or irrational decisions.
In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to
what they believe to be the consensus of the group. While this may seem like a rational approach
to decision making, it can result in the group ultimately agreeing upon an action that each
member individually might consider to be unwise.
Janis originally defined the term as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are
deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their
motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. " The word "groupthink" was
intended to be reminiscent of George Orwell's coinages in his novel, 1984, from the fictional
language Newspeak, such as "doublethink" and "duckspeak. "
Groupthink tends to occur on committees and in large organizations, and Janis originally studied
the groupthink phenomena in historical cases, such as the Pearl Harbor bombing, the Vietnam
War, and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
Managing Groupthink
Anonymous feedback via a suggestion box or online chat has also been found to be a useful
remedy for groupthink. Negative or dissenting views of proposals can be raised without any
individual being identifiable by others as having lodged a critique. In this way, group solidarity
is preserved, as all members have plausible deniability that they raised a dissenting point.